# The Strange Magic of: Lionel Richie



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Pure pop, well-crafted pop, a talented performer, and a wildly appreciative audience. This all adds up to Lionel Richie at the top of his game, singing (with appropriate theatrics and drama) the infectious _Running With the Night_, a quintessential and perfectly-crafted effort by the genius team of Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. Plenty of credit is given to the talents of a certain era of pop composers and lyricists--teams like Weil/Mann, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, Carole King and Gerry Goffin--but it is well-deserved in my view, and can be the source of many years of listening satisfaction. Richie has all the moves, and the crowd just eats it up. No anhedonia on display here!


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## Iean (Nov 17, 2015)

Sorry Adele, but Lionel Richie's "Hello" is better than your current single :angel:


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Can anyone IM me his mobile no? I promised the wife wife I'd get her a private concert featuring his best bit.



Don’t know why but I find him the embodiment of bland soulless modern pop. Add in a personality that seems to me to be false and extremely annoying. What's not to loathe?

I'm fine with to each his own, but when music is blared at you everywhere you go and it's of this quality, becoming an angry old man is inevitable rather than a career choice.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

O


Belowpar said:


> Don't know why but I find him the embodiment of bland soulless modern pop. Add in a personality that seems to me to be false and extremely annoying. What's not to loathe?.


This is the tragedy of anhedonia. Don't let it happen to your loved one!


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Strange Magic said:


> O
> 
> This is the tragedy of anhedonia. Don't let it happen to your loved one!


Or maybe it's just good taste . I'm with Belowpar on this.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

GreenMamba said:


> Or maybe it's just good taste . I'm with Belowpar on this.


Taste, Schmaste. I'll paraphrase Morimur here: "if you don't like Lionel Richie (Morimur was referring to Bach), you must be dead." And be careful--I have a fine, fine Michael Jackson in mind.


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## Iean (Nov 17, 2015)

Lionel Richie's songs have the same effect on me as Bob Dylan's or Bruce Springsteen's tracks :angel:


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

GreenMamba said:


> Or maybe it's just good taste . I'm with Belowpar on this.


I was just thinking of that cartoon myself.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Strange Magic said:


> O
> 
> This is the tragedy of anhedonia. Don't let it happen to your loved one!


Where is this Anhedonia you speak of? Can anybody go there? More importantly, is it guaranteed to be a Ritchie-free zone?


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

As far as pop is concerned you could do worse (much worse) than Lionel Ritchie-a great singer with two near perfect albums. If more pop music was of this high caliber I wouldn't criticize it so much.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

It's Lionel trains and Lionel Stander for me.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

@Morimur: I like the new avatar! And glad to stand with you in appreciation of LR; we'll always have this, and Paris.


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

Commodores I liked somewhat as a guilty pleasure ("easy") but LR solo ? yuk


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Well, the masses like Lionel, and so do I. And so did Morimur, to my amazement. And that's what counts.. Here's _Penny Lover_. The man commands his audience....


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