Gregg Diamond | The Vinyl Room

Look at this campy ass album cover, with all its genre ambiguity– c’mon, now; wouldn’t you think this would be wack? On at least three occasions digging through some dollar bin, I probably looked at that cover, made a face and put it back quickly, thinking, ‘Who the hell?’ And are those rollerblades ol’ girl is wearing, or am I seeing things? That cover edifies the personification of wackness on so many levels, and so I figured the record inside had to be equally remiss of flavor. But blinded by subjectivity, I passed on a record that actually is not wack–it’s kinda dope on some, fill in the gaps of your collection. If you can find it for less than $5, you should scoop this mug up with the quickness. And if you’re a Luther fan, like I am, you really need to be looking for this joint. Ignore the four on the floor, “bump-de-bump” syncopated disco shit you’re gonna hear, because if you really rode for Luther like ya mama did, it’s just dope knowing your boy Luther is on it.

What I came to learn while reading The Life and Longing of Luther Vandross, was that Bionic Boogie featured Vandross on lead vocals. Bionic Boogie was a session band of relative unknowns put together by Gregg Diamond, a songwriter and musician with props in the disco genre. Their first of three LPs, Hot Butterfly contains an earlier version of “Hot Butterfly” –I say “earlier” to point out that most people from my generation who grew up on Chaka Khan’s music know her 1980 version, “Papillon (Hot Butterfly),” not this one from Bionic Boogie. The big strength for me on this version is that unlike with Chaka, whom I love to death, you can understand the lyrics. Y’all know Chaka is very jazzy and she riffs like nobody from her era. Luther does runs too, but he enunciates.

Gregg Diamond and Bionic Boogie, “Hot Butterfly” Featuring Luther Vandross

If you go back and listen to Chaka’s version, you can hear Luther prominently singing in the background. Her version, very blue and longing, is much harder to understand lyrically because her phrasing isn’t as clear as Luther’s, but I love Chaka’s rendition the most. It was definitive.

Chaka Khan Papillon (Hot Butterfly)

Chaka Khan- Papillon Hot Butterfly on Rhapsody