Barry White - The Man ( Soul, Funk )

1. Look At Her
2. Your Sweetness Is My Weakness
3. Sha La La Means I Love You
4. September When I First Met You
5. It's Only Love Doing Its Thing
6. Just The Way You Are
7. Early Years

White's trademark strings and horns are present on this 1978 release, but play second fiddle (as it were) to irresistibly syncopated disco beats on most of the seven tracks. The club hit "Your Sweetness Is My Weakness" sounds in retrospect like a template for Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," while "Look at Her" and the Caribbean-flavored "Sha La La Means I Love You" further demonstrate White's talent for inventive, ear-catching arrangements. His first commercial peak had passed by the time The Man appeared, but the two slower closing cuts, "Early Years" and a cover of "Just the Way You Are," speak to the patience and openheartedness behind White's usual sexiness.