Blue Magic, Stop To Start | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 90th edition of Throwback Vibez (2025), we recollect and reflect on “Stop to Start” by Blue Magic.  

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 90^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2025), we recollect and reflect on “Stop to Start” performed by Blue Magic.

“I only stop / So we could start all over again / I only stop / So we could start all over again.” Philly soul collective Blue Magic, comprising lead vocalist Ted Mills, Vernon Sawyer, Wendell Sawyer, Keith Beaton, and Richard Pratt, had a big year in 1974.  They released their self-titled album, which featured the only top 10 pop hit of their career,  “Sideshow”.  But, before the sideshow caught on, the quintet released a different, equally potent soul gem, “Stop to Start”. “Stop to Start” wasn’t the caliber of hit of “Sideshow,” but it did chart on the pop charts (number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100). It performed better on the R&B charts, reaching a respectable number 14.  Jimmy Grant and Allan Felder wrote this beautiful ballad.  Steve Bernstein produced it.

“Stop To Star” begins with a warm, lush instrumental introduction.  The orchestration is delightful. The strings soar, while the horns pack a mean punch.  Specifically, the French horns sound ultra-refined.  Some memorable string riffs give the song character.  The vocal performance is as stunning as the instrumental.  The lead is split between baritone and falsetto vocals.  In the first two verses, we hear the rich, refined baritone first. “The very first time I looked at you / Since that day that’s all I can do,” he sings in the first verse, adding in the second, “Remember that day, that I made you cry / When I told you goodbye.” High-flying, ripe falsetto of Ted Mills leads “Stop” into the chorus, excerpted above (“So when I say that we’re through,” and “It was only her and I”).  In the third verse, it’s all falsetto, contrasting the first two verses (“When things get rough, here’s what we’ll do / Kiss and make up, let’s keep our love new”).  Near the end, Blue Magic gives us a sublime, near a cappella moment (there is some subtle instrumental accompaniment) as they sing the unforgettable chorus. “Stop to Start” doesn’t receive the same love as “Sideshow”, but it is another fantastic soul contribution from Blue Magic.  Notably, Musiq Soulchild sampled it in his 2007 song, “Lullaby”.