Jody Watley. Paradise. Classic Albums and Quality over Quantity

JodyWatley_Paradise_EP_CD_CoverArt

My approach to the making of “Paradise” has always been inspired and rooted in what I consider one of the greatest era’s of music – the 70’s and early 80’s. Many of these songs have been tested and performed live before finalizing the recording process. There are live instruments, bass, guitar and live strings by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson  on the title song. We worked to find a balance of the live element with my love and profession over the 15 years of electronic, club and ambient sounds. It wasn’t uncommon for albums to have 7 songs or less (Issac Hayes classic “Hot Buttered Soul” had 4!) . “Shalamar’s” Big Fun  had 7 songs clocking in at just 37:07. It’s about quality not quantity, so technically the term EP is just a contemporary one, but for me this is a FULL CD. The trend of putting a lot of filler tracks to fill up an album is never something I’ve been agreeable to. In this era, I also feel the attention span of the listener no longer support a lot of songs on one project. Perhaps I’ll inspire other artists to reduce the number of ‘filler’ and go back to making stronger more streamline albums they way it was done in the golden age of music – which fits perfectly with today’s distractions.  None of my solo albums have ever had more than 10 and from start to finish my desire has always been to put my heart and soul into doing the best work for you the fans – and for me, to be proud of beyond a lifetime.