Who said the 80’s was all electronic, well the staff a Capitol records were still being put to good use in 1981 courtesy of Lamont Dozier.
For those that don’t know the he was part of the ‘hit team’ Holland/Dozier/Holland with Motown in the mid-to-late 60’s, producing 10 number ones for the Supremes and a fair few for the Four Tops.
Future Flight was: Sy Jeffries (lead vocals/drums), David Swanson (lead vocals/keyboards), Brynwood Tanner (guitars) and Anthony Patler (all).
When I mentioned electronic above I should point out that the strings are synths here but well programmed to sound natural.
Most tracks Dozier had a hand in writing. He wrote ALL himself, Hip-Notic Lady, I love the line “Shooting Stars a’flyin’ ” and the flute wisps by – all proof that the musicians and singers were together in the studio collaborating with each one.
The other great 2-steppers are: You Should Have Been There and Let Me Love You Where It Hurts (oh! that bass line…).
Future Flight were a five member group assembled by legendary Detroit producer in 1981. They consisted of five singers and musicians who individually and collectively worked with Lamont in the late 70s and early 80s, in particular the 1981 “Lamont” album (including “You Outta Be In Pictures”, “I Ain’t Playing” etc).
The smooth sophisticated work of Lamont at that time is reflected in the one Future Flight album from which two songs released on 7” single.
The much sampled two-stepper “Hip-Notic Lady” becoming the most sought after and “Duets“, original copies on Capitol exchange hands from between £50 and £100, both songs are written and produced by Lamont Dozier himself. Unfortunately didn’t appear to make a lot of impact on the charts.
After that, it seems as if Future Flight faded into obscurity.
Brywood Tanner wrote & produced music for artists such as Evelyn “Champagne” King, Glenn Jones and Jeffrey Osborne.
David Swanson appeared on the soundtrack to the 1985 film “Fast Forward” on the track “Long as We Believe” (a duet with Siedah Garrett).
Anthony Patler has appeared on various artists’ albums such as General Caine, Lamont Dozier, Janet Jackson, Norman Dozier, Chaka Khan, Jon Gibson, Chico DeBarge, ABC and Rick Astley.
1. Hip-Notic Lady - 3:39
2. Walk Don’t Run - 4:05
3. 24 Hour Service - 3:49
4. You Should’ve Been There - 4:38
5. Don’t Pull The Plug - 3:30
6. Red Light Row - 4:18
7. Let Me Love You Where It Hurts - 3:54
8. Foolish Things - 3:49
9. Dues - 3:47
10. Nite People Prelude / Nite People - 4:56
