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Atlantic Starr VibeZ

Twelve tracks from a band who could make a wedding cry and a dancefloor move, sometimes on the same album side.

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Atlantic Starr's two modes

Atlantic Starr formed in White Plains, New York in the mid-1970s around the Lewis brothers — David, Wayne and Jonathan — and were, at their start, a genuine funk band with horns and a large lineup.

Their commercial identity ended up being something else. Under producer Bobby Eli and later on their own, they developed a specialism in the slow, orchestrated ballad, and the two records everybody knows — "Secret Lovers" and "Always" — are both in that mode.

The lineup changed repeatedly, most consequentially when Sharon Bryant left and Barbara Weathers joined; Weathers sings on their biggest hits. That instability is part of why the band is remembered for songs rather than as an institution.

What to listen for

"Always" is the number one, a wedding standard, and a very well-made record — the arrangement builds with real patience, and the duet between Weathers and Wayne Lewis is beautifully balanced.

"Secret Lovers" is the other monument and is a considerably stranger song than its smoothness suggests: an unambiguous account of an affair, sung by two people who are entirely unrepentant about it.

"Am I Dreaming" and "Send For Me" are the deeper ballads, and "If Your Heart Isn't In It" is the underrated one.

The up-tempo material is where the band's origins show. "Circles," "When Love Calls," "Silver Shadow" and "Touch a Four Leaf Clover" are all serious funk records with real horn arrangements, and they are the reason British soul fans hold this band in far higher regard than American radio memory suggests.

"Let's Get Closer" and "Love Me Down" round out the groove side.

Go deeper

As the Band Turns (1985) is the album with "Secret Lovers," and All in the Name of Love (1987) has "Always." But the earlier records — Radiant (1981), which contains "Circles" and "Send For Me" — are the ones collectors chase.

Their standing in Britain is worth knowing about: Atlantic Starr, along with Loose Ends, Incognito and the whole 1980s British soul scene, were central to the UK jazz-funk and rare groove world in a way they never quite were at home.

For neighbours: Change, Kleeer, Skyy and The S.O.S. Band.

One last point about the two modes. Bands remembered for ballads are usually bands whose up-tempo material stopped getting played, and Atlantic Starr is the clearest case in 1980s soul. "Circles" and "Silver Shadow" are the records British soul fans have kept alive for forty years while American radio remembered only "Always" — and if you only know the wedding songs, the funk half of this playlist will reframe the whole band.

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