1974, Music

Perfect Angel (1974) by Minnie Riperton

Jimbo: Not that sure. I think we better come up with a backup plan. Uhh, let’s see here. Hey, bookie! Wha- what’s the halftime show gonna be?
Bookie: You haven’t heard?! John Stamos’ older brother Richard Stamos is gonna sing ‘Loving You’.
Ned: I love that song.
Jimbo: ‘Loving You’? That’s perfect! Come on Ned, Middle Park’s gonna get a Halftime show they’ll never forget.

Jimbo: What we wanna do here, Carl, is put a trigger on that bomb that makes it go off at a specific moment during halftime.
Carl: What moment would that be?
Jimbo: Well, John Stamos’ older brother is all set to sing ‘Loving You’ during halftime. We want that bomb to go off when he hits that high F.
Carl: What high F?
Jimbo: You know, “Loving you is easy ’cause you’re beautiful doo-nn-doo-nn-doo-doo… Aaaaah.”
Carl: Right, right, so you want the trigger on the doo-nn-doo?
Jimbo: No, dammit! The aaaaah!
Carl: Aaaaahh?
Ned: Aaaaahh.
Jimbo: Aaaaahh!
Carl: Aaaaahh.
Jimbo: Great.
Carl: Doo-nn-doo-nn-doo-doo – Aaah.
Ned: Doo-nn-doo-doo
Jimbo: You got it.
Carl: Doo-nn-doo-nn-doo-doo…
Ned: Aaa – dooo…
Jimbo: Aaaaahh!
Carl: Alright, yeah, okay…


Jimbo: And when John Stamos’ older brother hits that high F in “Loving You”, Boom!
Enrique gets wide-eyed.
Jimbo: No more Middle Park players.
Jimbo and Ned laugh, and Enrique starts to tremble.
Jimbo: God damn, I love football!


Frank: And now, here to sing the touching song Loving You, is the one and only, John Stamo-…s’ brother…
Audience Member: Alright Richard!
Music starts up.
Richard Stamos: Loving you, is easy cause you’re beautiful,
-doo-n-doo-doo-doooo-Aaaaah!
His voice cracks and the music stops.
Richard: Aaaaah!
Jimbo: What the hell?!
Richard: Aaaaah!
His voice wavers.
Jimbo: He didn’t sing the high F!
Mr. Garrison: Richard Stamos can’t sing a high F, he always screws it up like this.
Jimbo: Ned… We’re gonna to get our asses kicked.
Richard: Lalalalala lalalalala lalalalala lala la la lala…
Mr. Garrison: [heckling] It’s obvious where all the talent in that family went!

So I really didn’t have any idea what the hell was going on in that South Park episode because I had never heard of “Loving You”. I don’t know why, but it just was never a song I had ever heard. (And unlike many songs, I feel like I would remember it.) But I think I tried to laugh anyway because the idea of Richard Stamos not being able to hit a high note struck me as funny for some reason or other. But now, thanks to this album, I get the joke.
Riperton has some kind of voice. At times, it feels as though this record, or at least some of these songs, exist basically just so she can show off her incredibly high range but I guess if you have a voice like this, why wouldn’t you use it?

Unfortunately this is pretty slick soul with songs that aren’t consistently strong enough to overcome the slickness of the sound. I actually felt like the record was way longer than it was the first time I heard it. And unfortunately I think it’s Riperton’s range that is the main draw. If you want to hear a woman hit impossibly high notes, then check it out. Otherwise, there are much better soul records.

6/10

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