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Old School Soul: The 80’s

Sixty-two records from the decade that perfected the slow jam — and a demonstration of how much sophistication went into music dismissed as easy listening.

oldschool

The 80’s had so many killer ballads that will stand the test of time! These cuts took me back to some fond memories….ah yes…fun times.

Old School Soul: The 80s

Eighties slow jams get patronised more than any other category in this music, usually by people who have only heard the biggest four or five. What a set like this shows is that the decade produced an enormous body of carefully made records — unusual chord voicings, real bass players, arrangements with actual dynamics — that happened to be built for a specific purpose.

The other thing it shows is how quickly the technology changed. Records made three years apart here sound like different eras, because the drum machines, the synthesisers and the recording formats were all being replaced continuously.

What to listen for

Zapp's "Computer Love" opens the set and is the decade's most influential slow jam — Roger Troutman's talkbox, a simple synth figure, and a record that has been sampled by more or less everyone.

The Art Of Noise's "Moments in Love" is the strangest entry: a British art-pop instrumental made by studio experimentalists that accidentally became a slow-jam staple.

Mtume's "Juicy Fruit" is the other endlessly sampled one, and Keni Burke's "Risin' to the Top" completes that trio.

Michael Jackson's "The Lady in My Life" is the Thriller deep cut and a Rod Temperton composition — the last track on the biggest album ever made, and the one nobody talks about.

Force M.D.'s "Tender Love" is a Jam and Lewis production and one of the most delicate records of the decade.

Surface's "Closer Than Friends", Glenn Jones's "Show Me", Eugene Wilde's "Don't Say No Tonight" and Lillo Thomas's "Wanna Make Love" are the deep cuts that separate the specialists from the casual listeners.

LL Cool J's "I Need Love" is the historically significant one — arguably the first rap ballad, and it opened an enormous commercial door.

Atlantic Starr appears twice, and "Secret Lovers" is the definitive record of its particular subject.

Go deeper

Follow the producers: Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Kashif, Leon Sylvers III and Nick Martinelli between them made a startling proportion of this list.

Zapp's catalogue and Mtume's Juicy are the two albums most worth owning outright.

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