Blue Lights in the Basement
Blue Lights in the Basement is the sixth studio album by American singer Roberta Flack released by Atlantic on December 13, 1977. The album was a commercial success, peaking at number eight on the US Billboard 200, becoming her third consecutive top-ten album on the chart and reaching number five on the R&B albums chart. On February 27, 1978, the album received a Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments over 500,000 copies.
The album features the single "The Closer I Get to You", a duet with best friend and fellow soul musician Donny Hathaway, which became the biggest hit from the album, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reaching #1 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. The collaboration with Hathaway would be one of his final singles released in his lifetime before his death in 1979.
The Blue Lights in the Basement track "After You" would be the first of several Michael Masser compositions Flack would record : in 2008 Flack would cite "After You" as one of her favorite recordings.
Track listing
| Track No | Song title | Songwriter |
| 1 | "Why Don't You Move in with Me" | Gene McDaniels |
| 2 | "The Closer I Get to You" Duet with Donny Hathaway | Reggie Lucas, James Mtume |
| 3 | "Fine, Fine Day" | Rachel Perry |
| 4 | "This Time I'll Be Sweeter" | Pat Grant, Gwen Guthrie |
| 5 | "25th of Last December" | Gene McDaniels |
| 6 | "After You" | Michael Masser, Ron Miller |
| 7 | "I'd Like to Be Baby to You" | Morgan Ames |
| 8 | "Soul Deep" | Wayne Carson |
| 9 | "Love Is the Healing" | Gene McDaniels |
| 10 | "Where I'll Find You" | David McHugh |
Personnel
- Roberta Flack – keyboards, vocals, arrangements
- Paul Griffin – keyboards
- Ronnie Foster – keyboards, background vocals
- Don Grolnick – keyboards
- Rob Mounsey – keyboards
- Leon Pendarvis – keyboards, background vocals, musical arrangements
- Harry Whitaker – keyboards, musical arrangements
- Reggie Lucas – guitar
- Hugh McCracken – guitar, musical arrangements
- Jeff Mironov – guitar
- David Spinozza – guitar
- John Tropea – guitar
- Michael Kamen – oboe solo, musical arrangements
- Anthony Jackson – bass guitar
- Basil Fearrington – bass
- Will Lee – bass guitar
- Gary King – bass, musical arrangements
- Steve Gadd – drums
- Allan Schwartzberg – drums
- Jimmy Wong – drums
- Howard King – drums
- Idris Muhammad – drums
- Crusher Bennett – percussion
- David Carey – percussion
- Jimmy Maelen – percussion
- James Mtume – percussion, background vocals
- Jim Gilstrap – background vocals
- Lani Groves – background vocals
- Gwen Guthrie – background vocals
- Yvonne Lewis – background vocals
- Gene McDaniels – background vocals
- Zach Sanders – background vocals
- Brenda White – background vocals
- Deniece Williams – background vocals
Charts and certifications