Bodies And Souls was released in September 1983, by The Manhattan Transfer

The Manhattan Transfer

The Manhattan Transfer is an American vocal music group. There have been two manifestations of the group, with Tim Hauser being the only person to be part of both...

 on the Atlantic records

Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

 label.

This album took the Manhattan Transfer in a different direction from their previous releases, offering a new, revised style of their music. There were several collaborations on this album, including Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...

, Rod Temperton

Rod Temperton

Rodney Lynn "Rod" Temperton is an English songwriter, record producer and musician most famous for writing a number of songs performed by Michael Jackson, including the title track of Jackson's Thriller, the biggest-selling album of all time.-Biography:As Temperton remembers music was in his bones...

, and Jeremy Lubbock. Also appearing as a guest artist on the album was Frankie Valli

Frankie Valli

Frankie Valli is an American musician, most famous as frontman of The Four Seasons. He is well-known for his unusually powerful falsetto singing voice...

, who appears on the song "American Pop".

Alan Paul

Alan Paul

Alan Paul is a Grammy Award- winning singer and composer, best known as one of the founding members of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer. He played Teen Angel and Johnny Casino in the original Broadway cast of Grease where he introduced the songs "Beauty School Dropout" and "Born to Hand Jive"...

 co-wrote two songs on the album, "Malaise En Malaisie" and "Code of Ethics".

Charts

This album was the first Manhattan Transfer album to be included in the Rhythm & Blues charts. The song "Spice Of Life", was a hit on both the R&B chart, reaching #32, and on the Pop chart, reaching #40. This song featured a distinctive harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...

. The song has a similar structure to the album cut "Baby Be Mine" on Michael Jackson's Thriller

Thriller (album)

Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on November 30, 1982, by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall...

 album. The song was written by Rod Temperton

Rod Temperton

Rodney Lynn "Rod" Temperton is an English songwriter, record producer and musician most famous for writing a number of songs performed by Michael Jackson, including the title track of Jackson's Thriller, the biggest-selling album of all time.-Biography:As Temperton remembers music was in his bones...

 & Derek Bramble.

The song "Mystery", also written by Rod Temperton

Rod Temperton

Rodney Lynn "Rod" Temperton is an English songwriter, record producer and musician most famous for writing a number of songs performed by Michael Jackson, including the title track of Jackson's Thriller, the biggest-selling album of all time.-Biography:As Temperton remembers music was in his bones...

, reached #80 on the R&B chart and #102 on the Pop chart. Another version of this song appears on the album Rapture (Anita Baker album). "This Independence", written by Canadian composer Marc Jordan

Marc Jordan

Marc Jordan , is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, session musician, and actor. Covering a wide variety of genres, he has written songs for a number of well-known artists, including Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Cher, Bette Midler, and Josh Groban...

 (famous for "Living In Marina Del Rey") was also released on a 12" disco single format.

Awards

The group won a Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 for Why Not! in the category of "Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group".

Track listing

#	Title	Writers	Length
1	"Spice of Life"	Derek Bramble, Rod Temperton Rod Temperton Rodney Lynn "Rod" Temperton is an English songwriter, record producer and musician most famous for writing a number of songs performed by Michael Jackson, including the title track of Jackson's Thriller, the biggest-selling album of all time.-Biography:As Temperton remembers music was in his bones...	(3:40)
2	"This Independence"	John Capek, Marc Jordan Marc Jordan Marc Jordan , is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, session musician, and actor. Covering a wide variety of genres, he has written songs for a number of well-known artists, including Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Cher, Bette Midler, and Josh Groban...	(5:01)
3	"Mystery"	Rod Temperton	(5:00)
4	"American Pop"	John Capek, Marc Jordan	(3:34)
5	"Soldier of Fortune"	John Capek, Marc Jordan	(4:21)
6	"Code of Ethics"	Wayne Johnson, Alan Paul, Randy Walman	(5:06)
7	"Malaise En Malaisie"	Alain Chamfort, Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize... , Alan Paul	(3:58)
8	"Down South Camp Meetin'"	Fletcher Henderson, Jon Hendricks, Irving Mills	(3:00)
9	"Why Not! (Manhattan Carnival)"	Michel Camilo, Julie Elgenberg, Hilary Koski	(2:33)
10	"Goodbye Love"	Jeremy Lubbock, Richard Rudolph	(3:04)
11	"The Night That Monk Returned to Heaven"	Robert Kraft	(3:23)