A deep dive into 1991 Pro Set SuperStars MusiCards and the music that shaped my life.
Saturday, July 20, 2024
#91-92 Lionel Richie (+ a music card mailday)
Got a double dose of Lionel Richie for ya today. Card #91 here features a fun live photo, though a bit grainier than ideal. The border cutting off Lionel's outstretched hand is another knock against the card, but I suppose you can get a chuckle by pretending he's flipping the bird or something.
I watched the doc on "We Are The World" earlier this year and was fascinated by how that all came together. I hadn't previously realized just how much Lionel spearheaded that project with Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson.
USA For Africa - "We Are The World"
Card #92 has another pic from the photographers area by the stage of a live performance, similar vantage point of the previous card, but this time we get to see both hands in action. Seems to be from the same show as the back photo of #91, evidenced by the striped jacket.
A standard promo headshot breaks the string of concert photos. I didn't know he started as a saxophonist. That's cool.
Lionel Richie - "All Night Long (All Night)"
As a kid, I remember Can't Slow Down being one of the first CDs we had in the house. I loved "All Night Long", but otherwise didn't play the disc much, just remember always seeing the album cover as I'd flip through my mom's small collection of non-classical CDs.
I also dig that song's spiritual successor, "Dancing on the Ceiling". "You Are" is another upbeat Lionel Richie fav of mine. And his hit ballads are fine in moderation too-- talking 'bout the likes of "Hello", "Endless Love", and "Stuck on You". I think he's been a judge on one of those singing competition shows for a while, and otherwise keeps busy these days with charity work and occasional live performances.
By the way, the Commodores also have their own MusiCard, so we're penciled in to give them a closer look at card #295 in Series 2.
INCOMING CORNER
Instead of a Custom Corner today, here's a surprise PWE I got recently from ol' blog buddy, Zippy Zappy. Normally cardboard maildays like this would be covered on my main blog, Baseball Card Breakdown, but since all five of the cards in the envelope were music related, I figured I'd bump the content over here to my music-focused outlet.
Tupac 2013 Panini Black Friday - HRX - Cool card of a legendary name in hip hop. Digital Underground (an act Tupac worked with coming up) has MusiCards, but I don't think he's featured in those photos.
J. Cole feat. Wale 2013 Mann Center - I'm not all that familiar with these artists, but love the concert promo cards that the Mann Center (an outdoor music venue in Philadelphia) put out for a while a decade ago featuring cartoon art on classic card designs. I suggest you do an eBay search for "Mann Center trading card" to check out some of the others.. trust me; fun stuff for card dorks like us! I've already got the Neutral Milk Hotel card from the set and wouldn't mind adding others.
Joe Guese / The Click Five
Turns out the Click Five were a power pop band out of Boston in the aughts who put out an album called Greetings From Imrie House (2005), with at least some copies coming with promo trading cards of the band, such as this one featuring lead guitarist Joe Guese. Gotta respect the Mod style commitment of rocking out under hot lights in a suit and tie.
Barry Manilow 1991 Starline Hollywood Walk of Fame
Manilow doesn't have a MusiCard, and this '91 Starline card is the most "mainstream trading card" release of the few collectible items listed at TCDB under his name. Not sure what Kenny was doing with this one! Ha. But yeah, Barry's got some fun songs in his iconic songbook.
The Rolling Stones 2014 Topps Heritage - News Flashbacks
This one's a baseball card, technically. The Stones have a MusiCard but only in the UK set. Heritage gave them back-to-back News Flashback inserts. I already had the 2013 card, and this one from '14 completes the pairing for me. Nice!
Here's a photo of the backs.
Thanks a lot, Zippy! Solid additions to my modest collection of various music trading cards.
Anywho, I hope you readers are having a pleasant-enough summer! Please chime in down in the comments if you've got any thoughts to share on Lionel Richie or any of the zapped cards above.
Tupac has a trading card? I need one of those. I remember listening to We Are The World a lot on MTV when it came out. Pretty cool that they were able to get all of those different musicians together on one track.
My favorite memory of "We Are The World" is that when it first came out, I was in college, and my friends and I set out to figure out who all the lead vocalists were. For the most part, it wasn't difficult--no one's going to confuse Willie Nelson with Ray Charles or Cyndi Lauper with Tina Turner. But there was one voice we couldn't pin down. It was clearly a Black woman, and we figured it was probably one of the Pointer Sisters, but there were a couple of other possibilities.
Finally, the music video premiered on Entertainment Tonight or some such show. We gathered around to watch it. One by one all our other assessments were confirmed. Then came the big moment, that Black woman we couldn't positively identify.
I watched that documentary, too, it was pretty entertaining and Lionel Richie was amusing with his insight on the various odd music celebrity personalities.
As for his solo career, I'd be happy if I never heard "Hello" ever again. Far too many sappy songs, but All Night Long is very good and I associate it totally with the 1984 Summer Olympics because it was the focus of the opening ceremonies.
Lionel is one of those guys I've probably heard a lot more songs from than I realize, especially when I was really young. All Night Long still seems to get a lot of radio play, and I don't mind that. It's a catchy song.
Tupac has a trading card? I need one of those. I remember listening to We Are The World a lot on MTV when it came out. Pretty cool that they were able to get all of those different musicians together on one track.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite memory of "We Are The World" is that when it first came out, I was in college, and my friends and I set out to figure out who all the lead vocalists were. For the most part, it wasn't difficult--no one's going to confuse Willie Nelson with Ray Charles or Cyndi Lauper with Tina Turner. But there was one voice we couldn't pin down. It was clearly a Black woman, and we figured it was probably one of the Pointer Sisters, but there were a couple of other possibilities.
ReplyDeleteFinally, the music video premiered on Entertainment Tonight or some such show. We gathered around to watch it. One by one all our other assessments were confirmed. Then came the big moment, that Black woman we couldn't positively identify.
It was Kenny Loggins!
I watched that documentary, too, it was pretty entertaining and Lionel Richie was amusing with his insight on the various odd music celebrity personalities.
ReplyDeleteAs for his solo career, I'd be happy if I never heard "Hello" ever again. Far too many sappy songs, but All Night Long is very good and I associate it totally with the 1984 Summer Olympics because it was the focus of the opening ceremonies.
My favorite is "hey you, beer me" from his appearance on Simpsons.
ReplyDeleteLionel is one of those guys I've probably heard a lot more songs from than I realize, especially when I was really young. All Night Long still seems to get a lot of radio play, and I don't mind that. It's a catchy song.
ReplyDelete