Sail On
Commodores | Artist Essentials
First released: 1979 (year verified)
Original 1979 full studio album presentation
MusicAtlas editorial note: The full album presentation lets the restrained opening develop into a brighter, more emphatic closing groove.
YouTube opens a title-and-artist search. The selected recording and date are identified below.
Release evidence and recording details
First released: 1979 (year verified)
The original studio recording was released in 1979 and belongs to the original Midnight Magic program. Year precision does not assign an album day to a single or a later reissue.
Recording: Original 1979 full studio album presentation
Credit: Commodores
Role in this collection: Primary artist
Original album: Midnight Magic
Original album association; the supported year is not an exact worldwide release day.
Midnight Magic - original licensed album program
The original 1979 program identifies the selected Commodores performances. Only original program membership and corroborated year are used. Isolated inherited track dates, later anthologies, extended mixes and live versions do not replace the original release event. | Reviewed 2026-10-18
Annual version match under review
The selected recording has release evidence, but its version has not been matched to the retained annual entry. It is omitted from Beyond the yearly lists until this match is resolved.
The selected full original studio album presentation is longer than the explicitly labeled single version in the licensed hit anthology. The actual retained annual title does not identify its edition, so that candidate remains provisional and is excluded from Beyond.
Midnight Magic - original licensed album program
The original 1979 program identifies the selected Commodores performances. Only original program membership and corroborated year are used. Isolated inherited track dates, later anthologies, extended mixes and live versions do not replace the original release event. | Reviewed 2026-10-18
All the Great Hits - labeled single presentations
The licensed original-hit anthology explicitly labels shorter single versions of Three Times a Lady, Sail On, Still and Lady. Its package year is not used to date older recordings. These editions are compared with the selected full studio album presentations. | Reviewed 2026-10-18
About Commodores
The Commodores developed from musicians studying at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Their recordings joined tightly played funk with melodic ballads, giving space to several songwriters and contrasting lead voices. Machine Gun and Walter Orange's performances on Brick House represent the group's rhythmic side, while Lionel Richie sang songs including Easy and Three Times a Lady. Producer James Anthony Carmichael helped shape their recorded work. After Richie left for a solo career, the group continued with J.D. Nicholas and the later recording Nightshift.
Artist background sources
Classic Motown: The Commodores
Label history supports Tuskegee origins, funk/ballad range, distinct vocal roles, Carmichael and post-Richie continuation; reviewed retained Commodores/The Commodores variants share one catalog ID. | Retrieved 2026-10-17
Profile reviewed: 2026-10-17. Artist background does not establish a song's creative origin or release date.
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