Album of the Day

Ashford and Simpson were songwriting royalty at Motown, penning smashes for Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross, among others. But the husband-and-wife team was eager to perform as well as compose, and with SEND IT they finally became stars in their own right. The 1977 collection, their fifth for Warner Bros., serves up dreamy romantic balladry ("Let Love Use Me") and dancefloor-ready funk (minor hit "Don't Cost You Nothing"), with an elegant instrumental ("Bourgie Bourgie") thrown in for good measure. SEND IT was the duo's first Gold album and first to reach the R&B Top 10, and we'll give it another spin as we remember Nickolas Ashford, born on this day in 1941.