1999
US
This is the perfect thing if you’re single but still want to get some, or if your partner needs to learn a little about sexy soul power. Barry’s voice and words will lead you to the entry of your own imagination. Through a simple combination of good r’n’b beats and Barry White’s obsessive sex mind, Staying Power ends up raising your sex standards.
“Staying Power” is obviously the jewel in the crown. Although there is an even better version of this song on the album Gold, this rendition is still one of White’s best tracks, ever. Here he shines because he does what he truly loves to do: slow and dirty dancing. If you listen carefully, the song has some naughty innuendos. This simple (and much-welcomed) take on the meetings of bodies delivered via Barry’s strong, male, and utterly cool voice makes me think of Barry White as a messenger sent by God, every time. What he sings could have easily been one of God’s finest messages and it sure would have made the Bible ten times more interesting. In any case, this is a perfect entrée en matière to the album.
In “Don’t play games” the female chorus brings just what is needed to enhance the sweet in Barry’s raucous, cavernous voice, and thereby create a harmonious love and sex story.
In “The longer we make love” and its remix version, both Chaka Khan and Lisa Stansfield continue this harmony, this time bordering more on the sex side of the mix. The song displays the sensual complicity we expect from any woman paired with Barry White. In the Chaka Khan version, the constant female breathing sounds in the background certainly enhance the sexual tone of the song, making it the most straightforwardly sexual track of the album. These breathing sounds and Barry’s “blacker the berry” bit (4:11) remind us a little of the sex power characteristic of black blues.
“I get off on you” is a melody that gets you to sing “Baby, baby, baby, I get off on you” out loud, in public, while moving your shoulders in rhythm! Here, it’s the music that sings to you, and the “baby, baby, baby” just take it a step further as if to say: you know, I really do (get off on you). Barry’s few words might be sweet, talking about flowers, sensitivity and all but my imagination, fostered by the tone of the song, tells me otherwise. This is one of my personal favourites.
“Which way is up” would have been better received as the background of a tv scene featuring the cool cops of Miami Vice, but it still works because it’s strategically placed almost in the middle of the album, surrounded by true pearls. The repetitive beat, the constant clap and the late saxophone or horn (or what sounds like one of the two) deliver just about enough sensuality to cool out our nerves, as if this song was only a transition between what precedes and what follows. If you pay attention to the lyrics, you notice that the song brings a weird change of theme. It’s a good “social” tune about finding one’s own way in(to) today’s crazy world.
“Get up” and “Sometimes” take this theme further. Musically, they work in perfect harmony with the rest of the album. Barry’s wisdom doesn’t limit itself to the sensual realm, these two tracks seem to say. In terms of theme and words, one can find an echo to “Get up” in Macy Gray’s “Do something”. Here, however, the message goes through more easily because Barry doesn’t make us sit and listen to what he has to say as in most socially-aware songs; he offers the possibility of choosing to listen with the mind another time and concentrate for a while on the beat and the body. By the end of
“Sometimes” and its original "pum" which punctuates Barry's talk, delivering a social message (on moving one’s ass to get somewhere) with sensual notes in the background has proven a clever choice. Hooked on the music, you listen with a distant ear thinking it’s just another love-sex song. And before you know it, the words get in your head.
“Low rider” (a cover of Charles Miller and War) relies almost entirely on an excellent beat, a great rediscovery. Its particularity lies in the chorus’s surprisingly “distant” vocals. The catchy words and intonation make sure that these two repetitive sentences will be sung along. The rest of the track is sung by Barry’s cool and confident voice. Add to that some definitely black "humm, humm" (3:36) and some “tingaling” (4:07), and you know he’s mostly enjoying himself because he knows that even with cover songs, he stays in power.
And this is what “Thank you” (a cover of Sly and the Family Stone) confirms. Its best part is the rap which suddenly pops up at 3:09 and saves the song from its repetitive beat and chorus. That’s a dancing tune, slowly drawing you in its cool, confident beat.
“Slow your roll” sounds again like it’s some part of a film soundtrack, but as far as music is concerned it doesn’t betray the quality of the album.
The emphasis of the album is on musical presence and throughout the work the strong and researched music follows its sensual (re)quest: it stays in power.
Even when Barry doesn’t speak about sex, his music sensualizes all of society’s concerns and the world in general. It’s not disharmonious, however, because through communicating to and with the senses, Barry is making difficulties much less distant. Everything becomes personalized in Staying Power, thereby allowing us to feel that power that Barry delivers. It doesn’t matter, finally, whether we do have power or don’t, what matters is that we believe we can and therefore start trying. Staying Power promotes the capacity inherent to human nature to redeem itself, again and again.
While not all tracks shine by their original beat or achieve the peak of sensuality, I, personally, would remove none. They’re all quite good in terms of music and singing, and if some are clearly better than others, none breaks or disturbs the harmony of the album.
If the lyrical content is certainly not enormous, it’s sufficient to make its point. The very personal subject matter(s) and Barry’s intimate singing work to deliver an album more aimed at an audience than there to show off Barry’s qualities. Barry White’s intent seems to have been to redeem blacks’ confidence in who they are and who they can be, but anybody, really, can find themselves in the lyrical message of the work. Staying Power has the purpose of making us more relax and confident in our sexual, dancing, social and personal powers, just as Barry seemed to have been.
All in all, this is a very good album, short, with no extravagant transition in terms of style. Barry knows how to associate intonation, lyrics, beats, sensuality and humour to make something catchy in which his audience gets caught up. As his last album, this is work we expected and work well done. Some would say that Barry White always does the same thing over and over again; I’d answer that he seemed to have had enough humility to know where his power lay, what he could do and what he shouldn’t try. Up to his last album, he stuck to what he excelled in and that’s what made him a respected artist among his followers and such a popular personality among the general public. Much more so than the much referenced “You’re my last, my first, my everything” and the likes, Staying Power is worth the detour if one wants to truly approach some Barry White.
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