Madam Butterfly (album)

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
with:
 * Tavares
 * 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