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Charted: April 16, 1986


Rating: 4.625 (average of 4 ratings)


Genre: R&B


Quotable: “One of the few singers that bridged the old school to the new, and this 1986 album was – and is – a true soul classic.” – Rebecca Wallwork, Amazon.com


Album Tracks:

  1. Sweet Love
  2. You Bring Me Joy
  3. Caught Up in the Rapture
  4. Been So Long
  5. Mystery
  6. No One in the World
  7. Same Ole Love
  8. Watch Your Step


Sales (in millions):

sales in U.S. only 5.0
sales in U.K. only - estimated 0.3
sales in all of Europe as determined by IFPI – click here to go to their site. --
sales worldwide - estimated 8.0


Peak:

peak on U.S. Billboard album chart 11
peak on U.K. album chart 13


Singles/Hit Songs:

  • Watch Your Step (3/22/86) #20a RB
  • Sweet Love (6/14/86) #8 US, #13 UK, #1 RB, #3 AC, air: 2.0 m
  • Caught Up in the Rapture (10/18/86) #37 US, #51 UK, #6 RB, #9 AC
  • Same Ole Love (3/7/87) #44 US, #5a RB, #6 AC
  • No One in the World (7/25/87) #44 US, #2a RB, #9 AC, air: 1.0 m


Awards:

Rated one of the top 1000 albums of all time by Dave’s Music Database. Click to learn more.


Rapture
Anita Baker
Review:
“If there seems to be an oversupply of young divas-in-waiting today, you can probably thank Anita Baker for it. Baker was one of the few singers that bridged the old school to the new, and this 1986 album was – and is – a true soul classic. An inspiration for everyone from Whitney Houston to Toni Braxton, Baker carved the way with soaring vocals and an effortless style on tracks like Sweet Love and You Bring Me Joy. Caught Up in the Rapture was the anthem for many a lovestruck couple, and Baker sums it up best herself in the same song: ‘Nothing else can compare’.” RW

She had garnered “some airplay out of The Songstress, [but] that promising solo debut didn’t bring her financial security. In fact, Baker was earning her living as a legal secretary in her native Detroit when she signed with Elektra in the mid-‘80s. Elektra gave her a strong promotional push, and the equally superb Rapture became the megahit that The Songstress should have been. To its credit, Elektra made her a major star by focusing on Baker’s strong point – romantic but gospel-influenced R&B/pop ballads and ‘slow jams,’ sometimes with jazz overtones – and letting her be true to herself.” AH

“Praising Baker in a 1986 interview, veteran R&B critic Steve Ivory asserted, ‘To me, singers like Anita Baker and Frankie Beverly define what R&B or soul music is all about.’ Indeed, Rapture’s tremendous success made it clear that there was still a sizeable market for adult-oriented, more traditional R&B singing.” AH


Review Source(s):


Sweet Love


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Last updated January 26, 2011.