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Madam Butterfly
Studio album by Tavares
Released	January 1979
Genre	R&B, soul
Length	37:39
Label	Capitol
Producer	Bobby Martin
Tavares chronology
Future Bound (1978) Madam Butterfly (1979) Supercharged (1980)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
The New Rolling Stone Record Guide

Madam Butterfly is the seventh album by the American soul/R&B group Tavares, released in 1979 on Capitol Records.

Commercial performance

By this stage in the group's career, they had become known as a disco act due to successful singles such as "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel", "Whodunit" and "More Than a Woman." However, Madam Butterfly is noted for its lack of anything approaching disco material, and, as such, is considered to be more akin in style to the group's 1973-'75 albums than to their '76-'78 Freddie Perren-produced output.

"Never Had a Love Like This Before", one of several slow jams on the album, became a top 5 R&B hit and has subsequently become a quiet storm radio classic, while tracks such as "I'm Back for More" are more funk-based than listeners had come to expect from Tavares. The title track Madam Butterfly received considerable airplay on R&B radio stations, and became a hit, but was not released as a single by Capitol. The album performed respectably on the R&B chart, peaking at #13, but failed to achieve substantial sales in the crossover market. Its reputation has grown over the years and it is now considered among the group's best.

Track listing

1. "Straight From Your Heart" (Len Ron Hanks, Zane Grey) - 4:23
2. "Games, Games" (Sam Dees) - 4:30
3. "Madam Butterfly" (Johnny Simon, Kenny Stover) - 4:29
4. "Let Me Heal the Bruises" (Sam Dees) - 4:24
5. "Never Had a Love Like This Before" (Len Ron Hanks, Zane Grey) - 4:32
6. "One Telephone Call Away" (Benorce Blackmon) - 4:22
7. "My Love Calls" (Sam Dees) - 5:05
8. "Positive Forces" (Joe Reaves, Lonnie Reaves) - 2:56
9. "I'm Back for More" (Kenny Stover) - 2:58

Singles

• "Never Had a Love Like This Before" (US R&B #5)
• "Straight From Your Heart" (US R&B #77)

Personnel

Tavares

with:

• Benorce Blackmon, Steve Erquiaga - guitar
• David Shields - bass
• Ron "Have Mercy" Kersey - keyboards
• Len Ron Hanks - keyboards on "Straight From Your Heart" and "Never Had a Love Like This Before"
• Gaylord Birch - drums
• Melvin Webb - percussion
• Don Moors - vibraphone
• John Roberts, Oscar Brashear - trumpet, flugelhorn
• Grover Mitchell, Linda Small, Maurice Spears, Tom McIntosh - trombone
• Bobby Martin, Len Ron Hanks, Ron "Have Mercy" Kersey - arrangements
• Paul Shure - concertmaster

References

1. Henderson, Alex. Madam Butterfly review at AllMusic. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 8. MUZE. p. 53.
3. The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Random House. 1983. p. 503.
4. Smith, Will (13 Feb 1979). "New Sounds". Omaha World-Herald. p. 14.

External links

• Madam Butterfly at Discogs (list of releases)

• 1979 albums
• Tavares (group) albums
• Albums produced by Bobby Martin
• Albums arranged by Bobby Martin
• Capitol Records albums