Rapture

While Anita Baker has a nice voice and these songs are perfectly fine, I don't find anything revelatory about this album. I can't say I've ever thought "I'd like to hear an Anita Baker song now" or ever heard one of the hits from it and thought "Wow! What a great song!" The chime-y keyboard sounds, along with some of the other production, place it squarely in the 80s soft-pop genre, and it's unfortunately mostly forgetable.

Adult Contemporary. It’s only for adults. Don’t you dare listen to this kids, it’s for the adults. This is the music that’s playing on a paint stained boom box in your neighborhoods open garage. It’s a hot Sunday afternoon in early September. Your neighbor’s dad has half their Chevy in pieces in the driveway and he’s covered in oil stains. He’s smoked a pack of cigs and crushed a 12 pack of Miller highlife before the late games kicked off. This is the album he’s listening to while he curses at the old truck. I haven’t listened to it yet (or checked that it exists) but I know Anita Baker has a great Christmas Album. 3/5. Good to know Baker.

1001 albums you must hear before you die and it’s day 5!! To anyone that isn’t familiar, I have given myself the challenge of giving my own personal take on each and every album listed in the book 1001 albums you must hear before you die, a book by Robert Dimery. I found this book one day in 2016 in Barnes and Noble, and impulsively bought it. Since then, I’ve felt challenged by it every time I would flip through it out of boredom. I consider myself a music nerd but man, there’s a lot of music within 1001 albums. If I listen to every single album without missing a day, it will take me close to three years to finish. AND IM HERE FOR IT!! Without further ado, I got a MONSTER of an album to share with you all! Anita Baker’s 8 million copies sold, 2 Grammy winning sophomore album, The Rapture. Released quietly in 1986, this fucking album was a phenomenon within itself! I won’t sit here and try to act like I knew all about Anita Baker in 1986, when I was four years old, and quite frankly, when I was randomly generated this album to listen to I was a little intimidated... I LOVE QUIET STORM MUSIC! What is quiet storm music? Well, to me, it’s mood setting music. It’s baby making music, it’s ambiance music to fall peacefully to sleep to. It’s music you play after a break up or discovery of a new love. Quiet storm music is calming and can cater to any mood and that’s why I love it so much. Anita Baker had a hard life. Her mother abandoned her early on at 2 years old, she had to live through the civil unrest of the 1960’s, her foster parents died when she was twelve and she grew up in Detroit on top of all of that. Yikes. But there’s an emotion in her voice that I can’t describe any other way than as “pleading”. Not begging, per say, but an emotion that says HERE I AM! I MADE IT THROUGH! NOW LISTEN TO ME! RIGHT NOW! She kept her dream of being a top notch singer and performer and was recruited to join a funk band named Chapter 8, where she met Michael J Powell and boy, let me tell you, they mixed better than tea and sugar! The production and arrangement that Michael J Powell birthed into this project is so, sooo good! Every instrument is a star on every song. The band never took a day off on any of the eight tracks. The bass? Deep, funky and quite frankly... Superb. The drums? Sampled heavily by the likes of everyone from Jadakiss to Mac Miller. It’s impressive how influential Anita Baker has been to Hip Hop, my very first love. Oh yeah, Strings, horns, piano? Sharp as a razors edge. So many songs have since been sampled by other innovators like Ice Cube, A Tribe Caller Quest, Drake and everyone in between. Jeez. Anita Baker broke out with this album in a big way, and so much more was to come in the future for her that it’s hard for me to not visit her next releases (looking at you Giving You The Best That I’ve Got) .. until the generator Gods bestow them upon me! It’s tough to resist because I know there’s gold sprouting like flowers in her repertoire that I already subconsciously know... My most favorite song is Same Ole Love (365 Days) It is upbeat, the bass slaps SO hard, and the chorus is so catchy. My second favorite is the title song, Sweet Love. It’s the epitome of Quiet storm music.. 80’s contemporary R&B. You could still hear the melodies now as if you were in a ghostly memory of an old rusted and abandoned K-Mart of your childhood, still playing Muzak in the changing rooms .. If you can imagine it. Remember Muzak? I’m definitely old enough to remember! To be completely fair, I won’t rank any other songs because they are all crafted so well, that I may change my mind during the many play throughs that I plan on having in the future. PLEASE share your thoughts and memories of these masterpieces in Quiet Storm style music. I can still hear the DJ’s soothing my soul with their calming dialogue before they cue up the next song. Diana Ross once sang the lyric “Im Coming Out!” ... Anita Baker said hold my beer y’all. Damn... Much respect. Last, but not least, albums like this make me excited to hear acts like Sade, Luther, Brian McKnight, Teddy P, Smokey, Babyface and more... Even more. Much love, thanks for reading. Music heals. 🙏✌️

Comparing R&B here to the 60s, it is night and day. Nina and Aretha in the 60s make you feel something. Anita’s album has a strong vocal performance with perfect production, but it takes itself too seriously and ultimately feels lifeless. Nothing to hate, but it hardly goes beyond an average score for an R&B record.

A very uninspired assortment of supermarket music. While Baker’s voice is powerful and bursting with emotion, this is somewhat undermined by the obnoxiously synthetic 80s production which capes every track in a layer of aural polythene. It’s hard to treat anything Baker sings about with any sincerity when she’s surrounded by such artificiality. Additionally, I would argue the songs just aren’t there on this album and they don’t amount to anything remotely consequential. Why this is so acclaimed is beyond me. Not fun. Not interesting. Takes itself way too seriously. It’s a begrudging 1 out of 5 from me.

“Rapture” by Anita Baker (1986) More great music out of Detroit. Anita Baker is a gem, bringing the serious listener a classic taste of R&B, no matter what mood you’re in. Her voice is beautiful, instantly and effortlessly moving from soulful resonance to piercing wail, kind of like your heart, if you’re human. Backing vocals and instrumentals exquisitely performed and mixed, this is an extraordinarily well produced collection of love songs. Delicate hand on the reverb. Great separation and depth. But the voice. The voice. I just bought this album on iTunes and put in on loop. Leave me alone for a couple hours. 5/5

Very special voice. But not my style.

Before this record, I had never heard the name quiet storm, the genre to which this album apparently belongs (I knew about the genre, just not the name). The brief potted history of quiet storm goes: in the 70s, with African-American audiences for soul music growing older, along with more and more African-Americans entering the middle class, suburbia and college, there emerged a market for a form of soul music more apposite for this upwardly-mobile demographic. That is, they sought an easy, Vaseline-smooth, uncontroversial soul music as a pleasant background sound to lovemaking. Taking its name from a radio show, which in turn took its name from a rather lovely Smokey Robinson number, quiet storm proved insanely lucrative throughout the 80s, yet it has never shaken the reputation of artificiality, of using the tools of soul to create product rather than soul. I have never been fond of that overproduced, anaemic style which became the dominant form of mainstream soul in the 80s. Partially it is the sense that this is soul for the Reagan era, of Reagan-approved soul. Many of the greats of 60s and 70s soul (Jame Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, etc.) often had a civil-rights-era political dimension to their music, but 80s soul largely abstracted itself from that aspect. But that is not the issue here. Simply, all heart has been sapped from the music. The production has aged as well as Jacko’s legacy, and that smooth soul plus smooth jazz leaves the listener with nothing to hold on. Tragically, Anita Baker is an obviously talented singer, who happened to come to prominence after the golden age of soul. Individual moments strike the listener, but it requires the listener to sift. I accept that part of the 1001 exercise is to cover a gamut of Anglo-American popular music, but that does mean it occasionally throws up prominent albums from iffy genres. In American Psycho, the protagonist Patrick Bateman devotes a chapter to his appreciation of Whitney Houston (who does not have an album on this list, by the by), just after describing a sexually sadistic murder. He characterises Whitney as the greatest jazz singer of her generation, and tells the reader of the dignity and sincerity inherent to her debut album. Of course, this is meant satirically. We recognise that we are meant to mock Patrick for his abysmal taste and his facile justifications (which seem cribbed from music critics, indicating Patrick’s obsession with conforming), with the implicit message that Whitney’s music, and by extension quiet storm, is largely a cold, barren wasteland. Anita Baker had the misfortune to sow her seed on that wasteland. That said, in the wake of Whitney’s death, there has been more of an appreciation of her abilities as a singer, but not to the extent that it has prompted a critical reassessment of her 80s work. And yes, I know it is unusual to spend so much time talking about Whitney Houston in an Anita Baker review, but it underscores my point: sometimes genres should just be left to rot. Or are we all clamouring for the return of the teen death ballad?

I cannot stand this type of schlocky, over produced 80’s adult contemporary music. It’s like a Thomas Kinkade painting: gauzy and not reflective of reality. Anita Baker is a great singer, but, to my ears, this music sounds incredibly dated.

Incomplete on Spotify but what’s available bops. Love to recognize the MF DOOM Hoe Cakes sample originated in…(checks notes) Sweet Love. Deborah Vance eat your heart out.

I preface this by admitting that my ears know nothing about R&B, just that sometimes I enjoy it. That said, this feels by-the-numbers, but the numbers are about twice as big as usual. Very pleasant listening.

I can see why Anita Baker is accused of being bland supermarket music. It's extraordinarily non-offensive and easy to listen to, which turns a lot of people off. The production almost flattens the entire sound. Having said that, I liked it a bit better than expected. 'Sweet Love' and 'Same Ole Love' both having enough texture to keep the music interesting and compliment Baker's gorgeous voice. Much of the album is pretty sanitized 80s adult contemporary, which isn't really for me. But when it works, it works pretty well.

This style of music is not my thing. To me it feels and over-produced and sanitized version of R&B. The singing of course is phenomenal, and there are a few interesting chord changes here and there, but overall, this music does not resonate with me at all.

Ultimate smooth R&B

I'm a sucker for eighties soul production. This album was fantastic on that alone. Add in bakers vocals it was a homerun

Sounds lovely. 9

Chill. Good. Understated. Feels familiar. Morning vibes.

A 4 or a 5. Oh what the hell

Mellow

Это полный восторг!

Great album!

Absolutely blown away by Anita's beautiful voice. This old school RnB was such a breath of fresh air and it will be in heavy rotation for me.

10/10 based af

After Murder Ballads on one day and noise rock the next, the 1001 Album Gods took mercy on my ears with a quiet storm of perfect 80s soul. This was just the musical hug I had no idea I was needing. The production is spot on. This is music for a romantic evening in a swanky blue-lit nightclub sipping on a cocktail as the conversation grows more and more intimate. Sax-forward and butter-smooth, RAPTURE is an unexpectedly wonderful addition to my night.

Ahhhhhhh, what a voice! Sweet and smooth like silky honey. Released just as I was starting college, this seemed like music for old people to me. I guess I'm old now because it just sounded great today. A genuine treat.

I loved this. Anita's voice is so beautiful and soulful.

Sweet, sweet smooth 80s R&B. Love this stuff. Best tracks are the ones with Freddie Washington on bass. That guy grooves. Saddened to read that Don Myrick, who was in the original Earth, Wind & Fire horn section and the sax soloist on 'You Bring Me Joy' was murdered by a police officer who mistook his lighter for a weapon. In better news, I read that Anita Baker has regained the rights to her music so fingers crossed all her records will be available for streaming soon.

Phenomenal. I've always loved her voice and her music.

Well that was sublime 🥰 Perfect for an evening curled on the sofa in front of a fire with the love of your life, with a glass or two of your favourite tipple. Lovely

For me this is the best embodiment of the R&B quiet storm that was very popular in the 80s. A perfect late night album - it doesn't sound very 80s. There are too many classic, retro touches - R&B with a dash of jazz (especially her scat singing). She sounds older than her years (28) and more experienced (her second album) throughout. It is what every soul album in the 80s aspired to live up to. I can't think of one that came close.

Beautiful voice - had to listen on YT b/c half of the album was hidden on Spotify?

I didn't want this album to end.

Oh my God, I love it already! Reminds me of my childhood. 70s sound with 80s production.

Perfection.

A stunning album, great singing, great bass, fantastic sax

A última romântica.

Beautiful

Bright, joyful, super smooth. I've always had an appreciation for this type of RnB, the kind when the piano just glistens as the singer sings soulfully over it. Anita has a gorgeous voice, and it just plays against the instruments so well. So many wonderful melismatic runs, hooks for days. It might be a little cheesy, but I think it's aware of that, and plays into it. Favorite tracks: "Mystery", "Sweet Love", "Caught Up In The Rapture", "Same Ole Love"

A great album from one of my favourite vocalists! favs: You Bring Me Joy, Watch Your Step, Same Ole Love, Sweet Love, Caught Up In The Rapture least fav: No One In The World

I fondly remembered Anita Baker thanks to my aunt & uncle listening to R&B stations back in the day. Every time Anita came on, I'd stop to listen. To this day, I think about her - I'm so glad this was on the challenge. This is classic R&B, and it's done right. I loved this album so much, I listened to it three times & let the algorithm run free after the album was over. What an awesome day of beautiful & chill R&B. It was like hearty chicken soup for the soul. 5 stars.

Beautiful gem that will now live in my life forever

A great album! Surprised that I knew so many of these songs.

Rating: 10/10

Oh I am so excited to see this on the list. It’s so nice to see anything other than more white men. It’s rare to find some soul in this list of sameness. Aaaaand of course Spotify has half the songs on the album blocked. SMH One of the things I admired about Anita Baker was that, at the absolute peak of fame, she walked away from it all to care for her sick relative. Just left the world behind for the sake of love. I still enjoy her music. The two big hits are still perfect r&b pop. Even my 80yr old grandfather used to like her back in the day. Her voice is effortless and clear. So much of the melody is carried in her singing. It’s hard not to blast this to sing along to. Her voice just invites you to join in. Really enjoying this. No One in the World is new to me and has been added to mixes now. Ok now pretty much everything has been saved to my lists. Forgot about Same Ole Love. Friggin’ love it. Excellent album. Wish it was fully available. Happy to have more Anita Baker in my life. This is a great example of 80’s quiet storm, easy r&b. Great music that still holds up. Perfect performances all around. Already replaying.

Cool

Her voice is amazing! the percussion work is a masterpiece. The passion this album displays is a must to appreciate.

Sweet, sweet voice. I’d heard her before but hadn’t really listened to a full selection. Just soothing & sweet.

spotify would only allow me to listen to 5 of the 8 songs on the album.

This was a brilliant listen, faultless.

p559. 1986. 5 stars. One of THE great soul voices on absolutely top form. This is fabulous.

very chill sound, so classy

EXCELLENT

We were all caught up by her beautiful singing back then. Great arrangements and Anita has an instantly recognizable voice. This is a delightful album still.

Honestly I was gonna give this a 2 but then I listened to the back half of the album after smoking a joint while on a walk with my dog. That led me down some rabbithole of 90s soul that more for a very enjoyable start to the day.

Once you've listened to this list for a while, you'll welcome any album that you can listen to without damaging your hearing. I think this album is unfairly rated so low. Anita Baker has a very beautiful voice and the songs are well composed and arranged.

Very underrated artist in my opinion. Lovely voice, love Anita Baker 👍

Very smooth and great sound

Basically a perfect album. Fantastic vocals, beautiful composition, and flawless production. 5/5

VERY jazzy r&b music; taking inspiration from city pop tracks and romantic soul creates an album that sounds VERY nice to listen to. it's said that the likes of whitney houston took heavy inspiration from baker's discography, and i see why, with very jazzy chords, sappy lovey-dovey and moderately religious lyrics, and a voice so firm and strong it can save a soul from a deep depression. i had a great time all the way through.

Really fun, should check out some her other stuff

Beautiful voice, I wish that I had paid more attention in the 80's

Fav: Sweet Song, Been So Long

Un bon album qui s’ecoute bien en background. Elle a une belle voix 4*

Classic R&B sound. I didn't really listen to this in the "idea" setting (I was at work), but Baker's powerful voice and the songs' melodies still were readily apparent to me.

Classic. So good.

Not gonna lie I didn't pay that much attention to this. But it was pretty good. 7

good 80s r&b. 8/10

I really liked this one. Not my genre but like Isaac Hayes I learned maybe it is.

most of it was not on spotofy but liked what I heard

Great

When I was 15, my uncle gave me a cassette of this album for Christmas. As a proper Smiths-listening weirdo of the mid ‘80s, I really didn’t get it, nor did I have an interest in getting it. I obviously wasn’t mature enough for this kind of music at the time, but I can say that I appreciate it now. This is classic R&B mood music of the old school. Baker’s vocals are immaculate and the production is flawless. This is a great album to relax with. Favorite tracks: “Sweet Love,” and “Caught Up in the Rapture.”

July 20, 2021 Her voice is beautiful, and there are songs I like on here. An easy listen, although not my preferred genre(s). Great ambiance.

Gran voz, gran instrumentación y duración corta. En cuanto lo escuchas, percibes los 80. Mood: mellow

Really beautiful album. I will give Anita Baker more of a listen.

Definitely a solid pop album

TIL: Quiet storm is a subgenre of R&B — and I’m lovin’ every minute of it.

What a voice.

Great voice and Sweet Love is a brilliant song. Much of the rest of the album washed over me. No standouts but I enjoyed it. 3.5 stars. I'll round up to 4

Dance floors and neon lights, Anita Baker's 'Rapture' is soulful pop with a tinge of R&B. 1980s pop production called for reverb-heavy drums and hall vocals, all accompanied by a simple 4/4 beat - this album delivers just that, providing some predictability. However, Baker's vocals is graceful and soulful, fitting the musical description of what the music wishes.

Ahhh 80s-90s sex music. Nothing bad to say about it except that the full album wasn't on spotify and out of order on youtube so I probably didn't get the intended listening experience

“An acquired but enduring taste.” Smooth.

Always enjoy her voice great collection of songs

This album was everywhere in ~1987 - as a teen into hard rock at the time it's safe to say I ignored it. :) ...and while it's still not necessarily my favourite [it's a bit smooth for my personal tastes] for what it is, it does sound freaking fantastic. Anita Baker is a great singer who didn't necessarily sound like anyone else but still was very accessible. Maybe it was her slightly-lower register or husky timbre; it definitely sits above others for me in the genre (contrast with wailing soprano vocalists of the day that I definitely still don't care for) and despite a general same-ness to the album, it's short enough (~38 minutes) to not really drag much at all. Again on a personal level, it would have been nice overall to hear more of the musicians/instruments reaching a bit - it's a very "safe" album musically which no doubt was the intent. If you're more into any instrumental flights of fancy over vocals, like me you might knock it down a few pegs. Having said that, this is objectively an excellent soft-soul album. 7/10 4 stars

Wow. Still a winner

Beautiful voice, soulful music. Good album!

I bought this at the time and enjoyed it a great deal at the time. I rarely feel the urge to hear it these days but it's still a good album with plenty to offer if you're in the mood. One of those One Album Artists, though, at least in terms of commercial success in the UK.

This album was familiar and soothing. Anita Baker’s voice is a treat and the easy-listening style of the music felt like a gentle massage. I think I prefer this silky delight mixed with some variety of other artists, as the album as a whole felt just a little under-seasoned for me.

This brought me back to my days of working as an office temp in the early 90s with smooth adult contemporary radio stations so often playing in the background. "Spending the workday with your favorites from the seventies, eighties, and today!" It was never music I chose, but it was always music that was there. And today I realized I kind of miss it. Although it's never been in my nostalgia collections, it's been long enough that it was a pleasure to listen to and it took me back in time in a good way. It feels like a lavish 80s soap opera with elegant ladies in sparkling evening dresses. It's a grown-uppy kind of thing our society doesn't seem to do anymore. Is there still sumptuous music like this being made nowadays? Although this was yesterday's background music, this album has stood out in this project as something special!

Very cool. I’ve heard so many of these songs before as a youth. Same Ole Love is a hidden banger.

Beautiful voice

franchement un kiff sauf à la fin

nice, pop-y, I like it. short album as well so an easy listen.

4/5. Hard not to fall in love with this album. Smooth and amazing.

So cool and sensual

Soultastic. She'd a lovely voice, and were I trying to seduce a woman in the 1980s I might even have put this on the stereo. Instead, it is the 2020s, and such things are probably "a bit cringe". So I'll listen to it once. Appreciate her voice and then move on with my life.

Classic. Brings me back to my childhood riding in my folks car.

Вот этот соул точно по душе: музыка ближе к нью-вейву, альбом бы переслушал.

Had never heard of Anita Baker but was pleasantly surprised, Sweet Love was a bop and the album was nice to chill out to

Great and good

pretty good, had heard the album before and enjoyed it.