{{Short description|1976 studio album by Johnnie Taylor}} {{Infobox album | name = Eargasm | type = studio | artist = Johnnie Taylor | cover = Johnnie Taylor - Eargasm.png | alt = | released = March 1976 | recorded = | studio = United Sound Systems, Detroit; Muscle Shoals Sound Studios; Sundance Studios, Dallas | genre = R&B, soul | length = 34:45 | label = Columbia<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vBVjDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA3192|title=Goldmine Record Album Price Guide|first=Martin|last=Popoff|date=September 8, 2009|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781440229169 |via=Google Books}}</ref> | producer = Don Davis | prev_title = Super Taylor | prev_year = 1974 | next_title = Rated Extraordinaire | next_year = 1977 }} '''''Eargasm''''' is an album by the American R&B singer Johnnie Taylor, released in March 1976 on Columbia Records.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/johnnie-taylor-mn0000198162/biography|title=Johnnie Taylor Biography, Songs, & Albums|website=AllMusic}}</ref><ref name="DF">{{cite book |last1=Aletti |first1=Vince |title=The Disco Files 1973-78: New York's Underground, Week by Week |date=2009 |publisher=DJhistory.com |page=171}}</ref> The album contains "Disco Lady", which was a No. 1 pop hit for four weeks, and achieved the first platinum certification for a single, with two million copies sold.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jun-02-me-36672-story.html|title=Johnnie Taylor; Singer Had Hit With 'Disco Lady'|date=June 2, 2000|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> ''Eargasm'' was Taylor's first album for Columbia Records, after many years spent recording for Stax.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/18/nyregion/johnnie-taylor-62-soul-singer-had-hit-with-disco-lady.html|title=Johnnie Taylor, 62; Soul Singer Had Hit With 'Disco Lady'|work=The New York Times |date=June 18, 2000|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref>
The album peaked at No. 5 on the ''Billboard'' 200; it spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Soul Albums chart,<ref name="BB200"/><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Mayfield |first1=Geoff |title=Remembered |magazine=Billboard |date=Jun 17, 2000 |volume=112 |issue=25 |page=108}}</ref> and peaked at No. 41 in Canada.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.4129a.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Albums – June 5, 1976}}</ref> Taylor's most commercially successful album, ''Eargasm'' achieved gold status in 1980 and platinum status in 2001.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wells |first1=Chris |title=Obituary: Johnnie Taylor |work=The Guardian |date=15 June 2000 |page=1.26}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Gold Record Albums |journal=Ebony |date=Feb 1980 |volume=35 |issue=4 |page=92}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Pesselnick |first1=Jill |title=Platinum Albums |magazine=Billboard |date=Dec 22, 2001 |volume=113 |issue=51 |page=52}}</ref> The album's second single, "Somebody's Gettin' It", was also a hit.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Spencer |first1=Leigh |title=Johnnie Taylor |work=The Independent |date=5 June 2000 |location=Obituaries |page=6}}</ref>
The album helped Taylor earn the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's award for the 1976 "Entertainer of the Year".<ref>{{cite journal |title=SCLC: Presidential Candidates Don't Know About Poor |journal=Jet |date=Sep 2, 1976 |volume=50 |issue=24 |page=21}}</ref>
==Production and marketing== The album was produced by Don Davis.<ref>{{cite news |title=Johnnie Taylor Finishes New Album, Sets '76 Concert Tour |work=Chicago Metro News |date=December 13, 1975 |page=17}}</ref> Recorded in Dallas and Memphis, the backing musicians included Bernie Worrell and Bootsy Collins.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/mr-somebody-6395133|title=Mr. Somebody|first=Robert|last=Wilonsky|website=Dallas Observer}}</ref>
The scholar Houston Baker contends that "Disco Lady" was among the first R&B singles to be advertised to white record buyers; this was part of a 1970s practice of major labels signing veteran black musicians, and then focusing on crossover hits rather than career growth.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Echols |first1=Alice |title=Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture |date=2010 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |page=23}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ward |first1=Brian |title=Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness, and Race Relations |date=1998 |publisher=University of California Press |page=423}}</ref>
==Critical reception== {{Album ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/eargasm-mw0000311827|title=Eargasm – Johnnie Taylor {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits|website=AllMusic}}</ref> | rev2 = Robert Christgau | rev2score = C+<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=689|title=Robert Christgau: CG: Johnnie Taylor|website=www.robertchristgau.com}}</ref> | rev3 = ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' | rev3score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref name="CL">{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=Muze |volume=8 |page=65}}</ref> | rev4 = ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'' | rev4score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref name="RS">{{cite book |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=1992 |publisher=Random House |page=694}}</ref> }} Robert Christgau thought that "Taylor's commitment to the traditional soul style remains unimpeachable even when he accedes to material as modish as the likable but lightweight 'Disco Lady'."<ref name="auto"/>
AllMusic deemed "Disco Lady" "the song of year", writing that "the rest of the album was standard soul, but this was overlooked in the rush".<ref name="auto1"/> ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'' determined that "the songwriting is nowhere near as punchy or pointed as on the Stax records; however, Taylor throws down some heavy gospel-style testimony."<ref name=RS/>
The ''Dallas Observer'', reviewing the album's 1999 rerelease on compact disc, called it "a wonderful record ... full of la-de-de, la-da-dum-da choruses and it-don't-hurt-me verses; the man could sing about infidelity and made it signify even among the most faithful."<ref name="auto2"/> The ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' concluded that "Taylor had the good sense to mix strings with the sort of horn-based soul that made him a star on Stax in the '60s and come up with a Memphis/Detroit/Philadelphia hybrid."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ferman |first1=Dave |title=Johnnie Taylor, Eargasm, Columbia |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |date=April 23, 1999 |location=Star Time |page=19}}</ref> ''Music Week'' wrote that "the album is full of classy urban ballads and tidy midtempo grooves, with only 'It Don't Hurt Me Like It Used To' in true disco tempo."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Johnnie Taylor Eargasm |journal=Music Week |date=Jan 18, 2013 |page=51}}</ref>
==Track listing== {{Track listing | headline = ''Eargasm'' track listing | title1 = Disco Lady | writer1 = Albert James Vance, Don Davis, Harvey Scales | length1 = 4:25 | title2 = Please Don't Stop (That Song from Playing) | writer2 = Don Davis | length2 = 2:55 | title3 = Don't Touch Her Body (If You Can't Touch Her Mind) | writer3 = Don Davis | length3 = 3:13 | title4 = I'm Gonna Keep On Loving You | writer4 = Don Davis, Richard Morris | length4 = 4:00 | title5 = You're the Best in the World | writer5 = Norma Toney | length5 = 3:18 | title6 = Running Out of Lies | writer6 = Perry Jordan | length6 = 4:50 | title7 = Somebody's Gettin' It | writer7 = Chico Jones, Clarence Coulter, Don Davis | length7 = 4:01 | title8 = It Don't Hurt Me Like It Used To | writer8 = Herbert Ross, Perry Jordan | length8 = 3:13 | title9 = Pick Up the Pieces | writer9 = Don Davis, Fred Briggs, Kent Barker | length9 = 4:50 | total_length = 34:45 }}
==Personnel== *Johnnie Taylor – lead vocals *Bruce Nazarian, Don Davis, Emmett Smith, Glen Goins, Jimmy Johnson – guitar *David Hood, Michael Henderson, Bootsy Collins – bass *Barry Beckett, Bernie Worrell, George Rountree, Melvin Griffin, Rudy Robinson – keyboards *Jerry Jones, Richard "Pistol" Allen, Roger Hawkins, Zachary Slatter – drums *Carl Austin and the Detroit Fisher Theatre Strings – strings, horns *Eli Fontaine – alto saxophone *Brandye – backing vocals *Bobby Eaton – backing vocals arrangements *Bernie Worrell, David Van De Pitte, Don Davis, Wade Marcus, Rudy Robinson, Sonny Sanders – arrangements
==Charts== {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |+ Chart performance for ''Eargasm'' ! scope="col"| Chart (1976) ! scope="col"| Peak<br />position |- {{album chart|Canada|41|chartid=4129a|rowheader=true|access-date=October 24, 2022}} |- ! scope="row"| US ''Billboard'' 200<ref name="BB200">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1976-04-24/|title=Billboard 200: Week of April 24, 1976|magazine=Billboard|access-date=October 24, 2022}}</ref> | 5 |- ! scope="row"| US Soul Albums (''Billboard'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/r-b-hip-hop-albums/1976-04-17/|title=Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums: Week of April 17, 1976|magazine=Billboard|access-date=October 24, 2022}}</ref> | 1 |}
==Certifications== {{Certification Table Top}} {{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|award=Platinum|type=album|artist=Johnnie Taylor|title=Eargasm|accessdate=24 October 2023|relyear=1976|certyear=2001}} {{Certification Table Bottom | nosales=true}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:1976 albums Category:albums arranged by Wade Marcus Category:albums produced by Don Davis (record producer) Category:Columbia Records albums