Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

Soul music by 1985 — 40 years ago — was finding its stride, after a couple of years of searching. The good years were beginning. That isn’t to say that there weren’t some songs and sounds that have aged poorly and weren’t that great to start with, much like episodes of The Apprentice. Those horrible synth stabs, drum-machines and basslines cut-and-pasted from every coke-fuelled mid-1980s Hollywood blockbuster soundtrack have aged as well as the ghost of Studio 54 in a polyester tracksuit.

But there was also some beautiful soul music being released, including what I would name the greatest soul song of the 1980s: If You Were Here Tonight by Alexander O’Neal. That one doesn’t feature here — you’re getting a fine O’Neal deep cut instead — because it’s on the Any Major Babymaking Music Vol. 2 mix, as is Cameo’s gorgeous I’ll Never Look For Love (Cameo are still represented on this mix, too).

O’Neal was produced by the up-and-coming Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis team, as was Atlantic Starr’s wonderful Silver Shadow, and Force M.D.’s Tender Love (a hit in 1986 but released in ’85). They cut their teeth with acts like Klymaxx, Cheryl Lynn, Cherelle, and The S.O.S. Band (whose Weekend Girl appeared on Any Major Soul 1984, as does Cherrelle’s Who’s It Gonna Be). Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis went on to change soul music.

Another track here was produced by a team that would come to dominate pop music, at least in the UK. Princess’ Say I’m Your Number One was produced by Stock-Aitken-Waterman, who started out making some high-class records before becoming cookie-cutter hitmakers. This was UK soul at its finest.

For a couple of acts here, 1985 was the end of the road. Bill Withers retired after releasing his first album in seven years, Watching You Watching Me, which included the gorgeous Oh Yeah. And funk veterans Skool Boyz split after issuing their This Is The Real Thing LP.

Some other soul veterans were still making themselves relevant in 1985 — Bobby Womack, Timmy Thomas, Johnnie Taylor — while others were at the beginning of their careers. Although they had been around for a while, Alexander O’Neal and Freddie Jackson released their debut albums, and carried the baton forward.

But it was Whitney Houston who became a legend. Her eponymous album was a carefully calculated effort. It clearly was intended to appeal to both soul and pop crowds, with the soul sufficiently sanitised to appeal to the pop crowd.

Tracks like the upbeat How Will I Know and the ballad All At Once, both fine songs, were clearly aimed at the pop market. Songs like You Give Good Love (featured here) and the duets with Jermaine Jackson and Teddy Pendergrass were directed at the soul listener. The breakthrough came with a cover of a soul number, Marilyn McCoo’s Saving All My Love For You (see Any Major Originals – Soul Vol. 1). The calculation worked out, and the well-crafted album stands up well even today — maybe because of the lack of those damn synth stabs.

As always, this mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-programmed covers and the above text in PDF format. PW in Comments.

1. Princess – Say I’m Your Number One
2. Atlantic Starr – Silver Shadow
3. Nicole with Timmy Thomas – New York Eyes
4. Cameo – A Good-Bye
5. Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly – Too Many Games
6. Bill Withers – Oh Yeah!
7. Freddie Jackson – You Are My Lady
8. Luther Vandross – Wait For Love
9. Whitney Houston – You Give Good Love
10. Alexander O’Neal – Look At Us Now
11. Eugene Wilde – Don’t Say No (Tonight)
12. Force M.D.’s – Tender Love
13. 9.9 – All Of Me For All Of You
14. Skool Boyz – You Are My Love
15. Bobby Womack – I Wish He Didn’t Trust Me So Much
16. Johnnie Taylor – Just Because
17. George Benson & Roberta Flack – You Are The Love Of My Life
BONUS TRACKS
18. Con Funk Shun – I’m Leaving Baby
19. Loose Ends – Hangin’ On A String (Contemplating)
20. Starpoint – Object Of My Desire
21. Mary Jane Girls – In My House

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