Chaka Khan

This was Chaka Khan's solo debut. The strongest track -- and the one that saw the most commercial success -- was the brilliant, Ashford and Simpson-penned "I'm Every Woman." Nothing else on the album lives up to that pop gem, but the album is nonetheless a great introduction to Khan.

Chaka Khanissoul music's ranking tomboy. Her hard-edged sexual exuberance, which
owes as much to rock as to gospel, is the basis for an intriguing but limited vocal personality
that can easily slip into shrill self-parody. Choosing Arif Mardin, that paragon of highclass
pop-soul taste, to produce Chaka, Khan's first solo album apart from Rufus, was shrewd,
since his aristocratic elegance offers a necessary counterbalance to her wild im... More >

Arif Mardin and the usual En Why studio funkies lay down a heavier bottom for Ms. Rufus than her El Lay street bottom for Ms. Rufus than her El Lay street players have in years. She's expressing herself by looking for songs, too, but while every one gives her something to say, only Ashford & Simpson's "I'm Every Woman" is up to her human potential. (Grade - B)