Rapture

People are wayyyyyy too harsh on this one. This is not that terrible. She was essentially the first one to do this sound, and it’s rnb that carries weight. It’s easy listening, and it’s got heart in it. People only say it is elevator music because she owned that space: music that makes you feel good. I liked it, and rnb is still an amazing genre that so many people enjoy, and Sweet Love is an iconic song in the genre. I can't hate this; I love Anita Baker, and sometimes music that is somber and mature and easy to listen to helps us create things with true meaning.

Bland as a block of ice

Beit meh

Listened before?: only Sweet Love and Caught Up in the Rapture (her best works in my opinion). my mom used to play this album all the time so maybe i don't remember some tracks Sweet Love - 5/5 You Bring Me Joy - 3/5 Caught Up in the Rapture - 5/5 Been So Long - 5/5 Mystery - 4/5 No One in the World - 3/5 Same Ole Love - 3/5 Watch Your Step - 3/5 Average score: 3.9/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ woooow, shocked that this album is rated so low here! i agree that half the tracks here are kinda uninspired and definitely pale in comparison to the hits, but i don't think it was nearly as bad as some of you here make it out to be. agree to disagree i guess anyway, Sweet Love is her most popular track so of course it was amazing. Caught Up in the Rapture, Been So Long & Mystery were also pretty solid tracks I'd listen to again. everything else... eh, it's not likely i'll listen to them going forward but they're not terrible. i agree with the author that this album is worth hearing, at least partially

Yes, she has a great voice but the choice of material and the fact that the album is overproduced makes me give it only three stars. It's just not the kind of r&b I like. I prefer the grittier stuff from the 60s and the 70s.

Perfectly fine voice, but dwarfed by Whitney Houston

Pish

1986.

Really fun listen, mostly for nostalgia because this sound really peaked and went away in the 80s. Anita's voice is so great and Sweet Love will play for eternity in every supermarket and retail store around. This is a 3.5 for me, but dropping as it just doesn't hold up in the way, say, Aretha does.

Excelente voz y producción musical. Peeeero... Tuve que suspender la escucha en You Bring Me Joy. No me gusta esta música.

Sweet love - 2 You bring me joy - 3 Caught up in the rapture - 2 Been so long - 3 Mystery - 2 No one in the world - 3 Same ole love (365 days a week) - 3 Watch your step - 2

What a voice!!

I feel like sometimes OP puts albums like this on the list just to check boxes.

amazing soul album

Soulful and smooth. She has a beautiful voice. Very 80's sound.

Traditionell soul med jazziga inslag från 80-talet. Inte alls dumt, men finns bättre.

Really not in my wheelhouse, and I really only knew Sweet Love, but dated production and arrangements aside, I can understand why this has had legs.

R&B muito técnico. Não perde também no lado emocional. Bom álbum. QoA Adonis New.

I like watch your step. Its a 4 star album for me. I liked all the songs

This misic is too safe for my liking. There is nothing to dislike, its just not my jam. Lovely voice tho.

Only yesterday my selection from the list was a Dusty Springfield album and I intimated that she was the pathfinder for many female singers yet to come and an undoubted big influence. I don’t know much about Anita Baker but there is no doubt that she is in a long line of female singers who can trace their pedigree back to Dusty Springfield. Whilst that might be the case this album is just a pale imitation of the album I reviewed yesterday. I also said that despite my appreciation of Dusty I rarely played her music but was just glad it existed. That being the case there is no chance that this album would make it anywhere near my turntable. Yes Anita may have a great voice but she ain’t no Dusty. 2/5 18/8/26

Lovely! Gorgeous voice. I thought she was someone else, but I don’t know who now. The sax solo on You Bring Me Joy makes that song so worth a listen. I like her voice, I like the themes, I like her songwriting, and I like this type of music. No issues here.

Is Jazz/Soul a thing? I guess so but this isn’t for me.

My god I did not enjoy this. I had forgotten that music like this even existed. Thankfully only four of the eight songs were available on Spotify. I will give it an extra courtesy star based solely on the hope that surely there’s some value in the other four songs not heard.

Think Spotify only had 4 of the 8 songs and that was enough for me. She’s certainly talented but I really couldn’t stand her voice. Also the chimes and stuff was just too much. 1.75

Man. This is one of those albums that just misses all the marks for me personally. Sounded corny and lame. I’m keeping out of the basement considering some of the true trash that lives down there but this one was dang close. 1.5/5

Oddly, Spotify doesn't have this album for whatever reason. My heart is not broken. I remember "Sweet Love" was a huge hit in '86 but it wasn't me or my friend group jammin' that slow groove. It sounded like a late 60's/early 70's soul throwback when it was released. This was old people music then and it sounds truly dated today. She can certainly sing, but did she ever do anything else? I firmly don't feel this is a Top 1001 album. You never hear the one hit song anymore, no ground broken, no influence that would matter in my musical world, one hit wonder status. 2 stars, boring and dated.

Nothing wrong with this, but nothing makes me want to hear it again.

No disparagement intended but this is one of those things that I'm always astonished there's a market for. Are people really that dull that they enjoy listening to the exact same cliché-filled, saccharine love song over and over and over? Sure, it's pretty (and very 80s). I enjoyed the vocal performance on "Been So Long". But that's about it.

Sorry man. The 80s cheese is too much for me today. She has a great voice. That's the only good thing I can think of saying.

Vaca come back

Loved this

Nice man

This album is all good. Listening to it felt warm and full of love from start to finish. Anita Baker’s vocals are excellent throughout, smooth, rich and full of quiet emotion. She never overdoes anything, and that controlled, soulful delivery is what carries the whole record. The songs stay in a soft, romantic lane that feels intimate and comforting. There is a real sense of calm and affection running through everything. It never tries to be flashy or dramatic. It just sits in that warm, late night mood and stays there. The production is clean and polished in the best way for mid 80s quiet storm and adult contemporary soul. Everything is well balanced so the voice sits right in the middle of the mix. The arrangements support her without getting in the way. Rapture is a strong, consistent album that still feels good to put on when you want something smooth and heartfelt. Excellent vocal performance and a very pleasant listen overall.

Disco b!

What a voice. Amazing atmospheric sound

Close enough. Hello japanese jazz fusion! But really, what a great voice, not many memorable songs but I did put some into my playlists. Would like to hear more from her

CAUGHT UP IN THE RAPTURE OF LOVE

A lot of the 80’s R&B artists sound the same, and the music is over-produced. Too bad… pretty voice, but the results are nothing special.

Dull

It’s good but not something I would normally put on

One great song, does not a great album make… However, Rapture is a solid record. A few reviews ago I was not so kind to Mariah Carey and to support my case, I present Sweet Love by Anita Baker. This is how you do it. This song makes me feel like I’m being caressed in a soul sanctuary of divine healing. Ai it’s Baker is like the female vocal equivalent of Barry White. I used to feel ashamed of my love for this song, but I don’t care anymore. It’s the song I like that is least representative of 99.999% of the music I like. The rest of the album is ok. 2.7

As I stepped outside for my album-listening patrol walk, the recent storms of monsoon season left the air feeling muggy despite the piercingly bright sunlight. My only familiarity with Anita Baker going into this album was a reference to her on Kendrick Lamar's wacced out murals, but even this small hint at her talents and relevance was enough for me to look forward to Rapture. I was immediately struck with her simultaneously gorgeous and gentle voice, delivering powerful belts while also seeming to emerge from silence without so much as a spare breath. Her voice is matched with perfectly spaced moments of backing vocals and harmonies, keeping the soundscape fresh and interesting despite most songs here falling into a similarly soulful space. Pianos and occasional horns lay the groundwork for Baker's consistently smooth and emotional performance, with some occasional funky basslines bringing a more energetic sound to a couple songs here (such as Watch Your Step, which reminds me of George Michael). What else is there to say? Sometimes an album is just evidently gorgeous. (As of this album, I am now limiting my Highlights to either a top three or up to 1/2 of the album.) Highlights: Sweet Love, You Bring Me Joy, Same Ole Love (365 Days a Week), Watch Your Step

Hmm, tror kanskje jeg ikke burde like dette, men synes det var kos. Artig å gjenkjenne en MF Doom sample.

Dette er den mest generiske 80-tallsplaten i verden. En dame som er litt flink å synge. Sleng på noen bra musikere og gi ut en skive med intetsigende låter. Radio Tromsø musikk. Pluss for at den er kort.

Musikk for godt voksne damer. Går sikkert godt til ei flaske rødt.

Very pleasant listen. She has a wonderful voice and it was nice to listen to. Most of the songs are just fine and don't really seem to have much to say or much personality. But nothing inherently bad about this. Top Songs: Sweet, Love, Caught Up in the Rapture, Been So Long

this shit slaps, i'm a sucker for R&B slow jams

Anita is an incredible vocalist, but the album is pretty one-note to me.

#111 anita baker has an absolutely stunning voice!! this album has such smooth, dulcet tones throughout. very pretty :) not sure i would have it on this list, though. fun though! ꩜ average track rating: 2.9/5 ꩜ favourite track(s): sweet love, watch your step ꩜ least favourite track(s): mystery ꩜ album rating: ★★★⯪☆ ꩜ number of albums left to review: 978 ꩜ number of albums from the list that i agree with being on the list: 52 ꩜ albums from the list that I would consider on my list: 23 ꩜ albums from the list I won't include on my list: 88

I guess I just need more from my music than a nice voice, and a solid drumbeat, I mean, maybe it's the time period but this reminds me of all the boring nineties, electronica albums that are on this list that can serve as at best background music

Oof, right off the bat that synth sounds terribly dated. And it just never got any better. Her voice is fine, but the music is bland to the point of offensively inoffensive. It’s bad 80’s drivel. TBH when the name came up I thought “oh cool, I like Ring My Bell.” Wrong Anita.

Pretty much my whole friendship circle had a copy of this album in some format or other. It was a blast from the past hearing it again. It's a really good album. I think every track has some merits, and there are multiple standout tracks. It's a good example of what was happening in the soul scene in the mid 80's, probably one of the highpoints actually.

This isn't an album I needed to hear, nor wanted to hear. Bland stuff.

Seems like a fine album but it’s not on Spotify

Powerful voice & unfairly seems to have been overshadowed by Whitney, Céline etc. But there’s no soul to the litany of 80s saccharine diva pop. It’s all too much about the singer and not about the song.

Quiet Storm?

So incredibly of its time, listening is basicslly time travel. She has a good voice and i have little issues with the songs but the 80's were not a good time for music.

Great voice, but this sounded like so many other 80s albums... I can't really understand why it's on this list. Enjoyable as background.

This is exactly what I'd expect a "Soul Jazz Smooth Jazz" album to sound like

Great voice. Don't care for the smooth Jazz instrumentals. No denying that Sweet Love and Same Ole Love are awesome. Probably won't ever listen to this album again

Is it just me, or is this kinda pitchy, Dawg? Plus, everything is a run, makes it kinda hard to listen to tbh.

the gal can sing

Jazzy R&B pretty nice. even some skatting in there.

While I don't consider "easy listening" an insult, this does feel like music you'd hear in a department store. Her voice is beautiful and the band is really jamming (I feel like I can hear a recognizable a sample in every track), but I'd still be in a Macy's.

Pretty darn chill. Laveeely voice

Bland as a block of ice

These are smooth and pretty songs.

This album (or at least a song or two) was a big deal on pop radio and I think MTV when I was about 10 years old and it was far and away the most boring, turn the dial thing to come on. Now I'm middle aged and it's totally fine but still can't explain that to my inner 10 year old.

beautiful music that isn't my jam

This feels like eight versions of the same song. Even if it's a good song, this is really repetitious sonically & thematically. While smooth R&B/soul is not my thing, "Sweet Love" was inescapable during my childhood, so I have some affection for it. The rest I don't need to hear again.

The music itself is a bit on a boring side, but she has a very lovely voice.

Easy listening from the 80s

Un disco que en su momento fue catalogado de joya atemporal y eterna pero que con el tiempo ha bajado mucho en valor. A mí sin embargo ni me pareció para tanto entonces ni para tan poco ahora. Es un buen disco, muy bien producido e interpretado, con buenos temas (Sweet love) en una época en la que el Soul estaba de capa caída y tuvo una gran labor. Su vida personal da para una serie (abandonada por su familia, es adoptada por otra que fallece, siendo criada por su hermanastra. Tuvo inicios duros en la música y bastante mala suerte con las compañías de discos hasta brillar como nunca aquí). Quiet Storm que se decia entonces. Soul de terciopelo y lazz, que decíamos los melómanos. Sonido clásico. Sade estaba a las puertas de despegar, Whitney era aún un proyecto que empezaba a brillar con su debut y Diana Ross o Tina Turner era las figuras por antonomasía. Sin embargo anita estab más cerca de Roberta Flack y este disco lo confirmaba.

Pop genérico e desinteressante.

crikey, took me back to village hall discos in the 80s... Not really my genre but enjoyable

Soft, loungey jazz. Not really for me but I respect the talent. Anita Baker has a lovely voice.

Great R&B voice, corny 80’s song structure and production flourishes. 2.5 stars

First time I listened to this album and it will also be the last time. 8 songs that basicly sound all the same. Well in my opinion of course. Didn't enjoyed this one for one minute. 1/5

Totally fine example of mid-80s R&B. Nothing stands out but nothing is poor either.

Had to find bridge videos/songs on youtube because the full album is not on spotify. (Go ahead sue me). But this is a four star R&B and soul album. Tasty late 80s slow jams. The shit that babies were made to. I gave to ding it a star because for how good this end product is, it got lumped in with jazz for whatever reason. Just because is slow, melodic, pop lounge singer esque doesn't make it jazz. This is just pop r&b. This makes me distraught because of how serious I take my jazz.

An adult contemporary/soul/R&B album in the same vain as Whitney Houston or Toni Braxton. It was on the good side of fine, she has a good voice, but the songs all sort of blended together, both in sound and theme. 3/5

Black people cookout music

Very nice mix of R&B, Pop and Jazz!

Solid stuff.

Not available to listen to.

Her voice is just phenomenal. Truly peak R&B. 4.5/5

I recognize the talent, but I’m not into smooth jazz. There is a lot of hits on this album though.

2/10

Beautiful voice but the songs went on too long… and the album was only 36 minutes

forglemmelig

Thanks to this album, I just learned about the term “Quiet Storm,” which blends smooth, sensual, and romantic elements from R&B, soul, and jazz to create an intimate, laid back vibe. While I can appreciate the concept, it’s not really my thing. I’m sure there are some gems in the genre, but I don’t feel the urge to dig deeper. That said, this wasn’t a bad album, and it had its moments, but nothing really stood out as memorable for me. It mostly feels like background music, the kind of thing that doesn’t demand much attention. Still, I can see why people are drawn to this style, even if it doesn’t quite connect with me.

this like my favourite era of rnb. so smooth and jazzy love it. how does anyone hate this fuck yall

She has a great voice, and there are some good tracks, but not really my jam. A little too smooth jazz for me. Highlights: "You Bring Me Joy"

en la bici, con los auris, y sonaba el tema este, y en mi cabeza era para vos. u bring me joy, leo (!!!) —— pd: anita sí que andaba re en una en el amor. me gustó, es agradable. todo lo ochentoso me agrada. buena voz, buena música. no lo considero una masterpiece pero cumple. (3.5)

buenas vibes, no me enloqueció

Only 4 of the 8 tracks are on Spotify. I get it though. I just don't care for this music and her voice didn't wow me. 2/5

Really liked the album especially the songs sweet love and no one in the world

Not my cup of tea but can't deny the excellent production and performing. I first heard "Same Old Love" done by a string band at the Teluride Bluegrass Festival. That song is good any old way it's played.

Decent 80s soul. Great voice and sweet love is a lovely song. All a bit bland now though.

From the very opening notes of this album, I knew exactly what I was in for: stereotypical late 80s adult contemporary. I guess this production style sounded good to people back then, but listening to it today, all the cheap-sounding synthesizers just sound like total AI slop. I was surprised to read that this glorified elevator music managed to win two Grammys. If this was considered Grammy-worthy soul and jazz at the time, I'd hate to hear what wasn't. To be fair, her voice itself is fantastic and undeniably smooth, but the material she’s singing completely lets her down. The pacing of the record is incredibly sleepy, with track after track settling into the exact same predictable, sterile, mid-tempo adult pop crawl. The instrumentation feels so heavily over-processed and calculated for radio play that it strips away all the genuine emotion and grit you actually want from a great soul performance.

Eh. It was okay for what it was.

Absolutely amazing voice, but this genre, especially in the 80s is a little too much for me, and in turn, not super interesting. Solid 3 though

This was a well made album but I found it a little boring at times.

5.5/10. Listened to "Sweet Love" since I could not find Rapture on Spotify.

This is the female equivalent of Teddy Pendergrass. I like it, it's not as good as Soul from the decades before it or Neosoul from the decade after. This is solidly in the Sade category. I might like this better than the Sade album on this list though. I am a sucker for slow jams. Maybe this was the first slow jam album? Sweet Love was the hit, but Caught Up In the Rapture is the best song so far. I almost hate to admit this, but I really like this album. This album does have a little bit of an 80s romantic comedy soundtrack vibe...that's not entirely negative. I'm done...I'm a fan. No One In the World is another great R&B jam. Same Ole Love is doing it for me too.

Not my cup of tea at all I’m afraid. Not lean on the production sound atcall

Jeg troede det ville være classy jazz, ikke 80'er synthesizer jazz. Der var egentlig nogle bops på, så det kunne godt have sneget sig op på en lille 3'er hvis jeg ikke var så negativt overrasket

Der er dælme ikke meget kant at skære sig på her

Actually liked the music and the voice kind of grew on me. I can see why this was popular in '86. It sounded a bit like Tina Turner.

Elevator music. Generic romcom music from the 80s.

She has a lovely voice but the style and arrangements really aren’t my thing

I was not very familiar with Anita Baker. I enjoyed this listen, but this is another one that doesn't strike me as spectacular enough for this list.

Can't use it cause ill never have sex with a woman

Ei ollut omaan makuun ollenkaan. Taustamusiikkina ihan ok, mut en kyllä kuuntelisi koskaan. 2/5

Definitely worse things to have in ones tapedeck whilst rolling in one GNX.

No One In The World

Ok, adult contemporary. I am a contemporary adult but this doesn't do much for me. Her instrument is impeccable of course, just don't dig on the style. It's not you, it's me.

Boring album, but great vocals.

Pretty standard 80's pop/soul. I was surprised to have never heard of her before. It was ok.

I wouldn't mind this as background noise while eating at a fancy restaurant, but that's about it. Other than that, it was repetitive, and stale. She does have a wonderful singing voice though. Favorite Track: "Mystery".

DNF. Just not my thing. Amazing voice, but the muzak production detracts from it.

only 4 of the songs are on spotify, tracks 1,2,3, 7

Mid 80s ballads, good voice but it's not memorable

I’ve heard better and I’ve heard worse

pretty nice if i get myself into it

What a bunch of misanthropes on this site. Surely commercialized music is better when it’s made with sophistication and passion like this, rather than the completely soulless ad-slop we so often get here in the 2020s? I think so. Anyway, this album is full of jams. Great melodies and chord progressions. Really surprised me and kept me engaged all the way through. Some songs are better than other for sure. Still, I’d put this on my must-listen list. #364 (REAL NUMBER!)

tipico pop romantico de mujer negra con buena voz cantando, finales de los 80, me gusta 0, no reconozco ninguna, 1/5

Filled with good songs and a brilliant voice, don't really have much criticism for this. No One in the World is my fav song and first listen of the album. Watch Your Step and You Bring Me Joy were my other highlights

album chiquérrimoooooo. é quase um "city pop" com um vozeirão lindo da anita.

Good album!

It's a great set of tracks, beautifully delivered. The opener is particularly beautiful and won me over immediately. Favourites: Sweet Love Caught Up in a Rapture Watch Your Step

Best Track - "Sweet Love"

2.5

This album is so well produced. Anita Baker's voice is beautiful and unique. Great bass - funky at times - but cheesy keyboards. (DX7???) Overall it's a little too adult contemporary/MOR for me.

Que buena voz la de Anita.

An album that sounds very much of this time. I don't think I've ever heard an album sound so exactly like the first half of 1986 like this one does. Ms. Baker is, of course, the primary attraction of this release, and she brings her incredible voice in SPADES on this thing. She belts, riffs, modulates, and sirens up and down the otherwise very beige, pedestrian instrumentals. She is, deliberately so, the only noteworthy part of this album. Musically and thematically, this is yet another album to stack onto the landfill-sized pile of adult contemporary soft R&B balladry that slowly but surely swallowed up the entire 80s. Despite the wide influence of Ms. Baker on the R&B that followed her, I would argue the most influential, integral part of this album is its format: it was the breakout release not only for its central singer, but also for the ballads-and-bops-fronted-by-a-powerhouse-diva format that brought us Whitney (despite her being a contemporary,) Mariah, Celine, and many, many more whose stars shone tackling material like this. The Revolver of supermarket music. Key Tracks: Sweet Love, Mystery, No One in the World

boring but nice voice. I'll have to, uh- I'll have to put that woman in an oven.

it's not on spotify so i had to listen to a youtube playlist... the banking and mayonnaise commercials really ... ad... to the ambience. the music is good. so incredibly '80s. not sure i've ever heard something *more* '80s. actually, that's not true: leonard cohen first we take manhattan is slightly more '80s than this. i enjoyed listening to the album, but musically it doesn't really stand out *that* much. solid flow, solid arrangements and instrumental backups. baker's voice is great, but it didn't feel like she showed off her voice as much as she should've. i'm putting this in the 3.5 range. i think in terms of enjoyment listening, i'm approaching a 4/5, but in terms as a stand out album, it's really only a 3/5

Fine bit of 80s soul. Not much else. Im not super into it but not offended in any way. It goes down pretty smooth. Just doesnt leave me with much. Mystery was the one exception. For some reason or another that one got to me. But thays kinda it. Not bad just not for me

The glossy album of choice for stock market traders in the mid 80s.

Nja-soul

Senare delen av 80-talet var verkligen ingen gyllene era för soulen. Det mesta blir antingen slickt mot gränsen till utslätat och tråkigt eller svulstigt wailande ballader på gränsen till storhetsvansinne. Anita Baker går i den fällan här också. Hon sjunger förstås bra. Men jag lyssnar hellre på Whitney Houston.

Svulstigt och snyggt. Men också lite småtråkigt. Ungefär samma souljazziga ballad som upprepas åtta gånger. Utmärkta att ha på i bakgrunden, men inte så mycket mer.

Sällan har väl ett album låtit så mycket studiomusiker som detta. Allt är superduktigt och livlöst. I grunden rätt mediokra låtar. Bokens artikel om skivan avslutas med konstaterandet att skivan snabbt försvann ur allmänhetens medvetande. Jag kan bara instämma.

Real good. Fav track: “Been so long”

2.5

*Rapture* Definitely an album that wanted you to go toe to toe dancing very close, barely breathing almost comatose... Wait wrong "Rapture", but apt description of this album. Dare I say that quiet storm is Yacht Rock for people who aren't white. I do have some interesting kind of historical context for this album this is definitely the missing link between Quincy Jones the dude production and (what Todd in the Shadows called in the "Piano in the Dark" video) "late 80s gloop". Glossy piano keyboard tones arent everywhere on this album, but they sure are making a presence. And I guess one thing I never noticed before is how much Mariah Carey debut album was inspired by Anita Baker's vocal runs. Granted Anita doesn't go soaring into the stratosphere but definitely the cadence structure is there. I really can't say I dislike this album in any way shape or fashion but it's also nothing that I'd find myself returning to. Soft AC is something you couldn't get away from in the early to mid 80s and this isn't the worst example. (6.3)

Vwry cheesy and very bland. 2 stars

I never actually heard the term Quiet Storm before, but I guess that's the name for this style of 80's Muzak-inspired slow jams for mom music. I do not enjoy it. The songs are cheesy, and the arrangements are even cheesier. 0.5 stars.

3.5

1. Would 2. A little Anita will definitely set this party off right. 3. Begins with Sweet Love which is just stellar on every level from recording and synthy masterpiece arrangement to vocal performance. Such a strangely deep yet smashingly sultry and soul-stirring voice. Very mooo-ving. Udderly spell-binding. She really hoofs it on Sweet Love! And most of the other cuts on Rapture are pretty dreamy and delicious to be fair. 4. Rapture is an anagram of Ruperta which is a great name. I think more girls and drag queens should be called Ruperta. 5. This album is so near to being a 5 but it would have clinched it if it had more songs about badgers. Sweet Badger. You Bring Me Badgers. Caught Up In The Rapture Of Badgers etc. Anita, do you mind putting on this badger costume and changing your surname to Badger?

What a woman

Smooth pop album, very enjoyable.

Easy to play album, it's growing on me a bit more every time. Feel a bit of Whitney in her style. Also some funky notes Can't stop from hearing Tupac's "Scandalous" in "been so long" Same ole love as my N1 song

Pleasant listen but forgettable for me. May take a listen/KM will stick it on in the lab in the future! 2.5

Vibeje

Echt leuk

I don't really have anything to say about this one. It's fine.

Smooth

Do not like. Style. Singer. Music. Any of it. Mercifully short, and infinitely pointless.

Not for me. I dont think its objectively bad but I did not enjoy listening.

Not much to say for this apart from sweet love being an absolute banger and the great voice. Rather middling apart from that

Te amo album

It’s perfectly fine music to pick up your prescriptions to. She has a great voice. But I’m not sure why it’s here. It’s not innovative or groundbreaking or influential in any way.

What a beautiful album. I have absolutely no quarrels with any of this album - I think it was gorgeous. Baker's vocals are absolutely stunning, portraying both emotion and full vocal control. I don't think there is another style of music better suited to her voice, natural rhythm, or feel. The instrumentation throughout is stunning, pushing forward that really soulful feel. Some of this album was actually really groovy, whether it meant to be or not. I found myself sort of feeling a lot of moments where the groove hit the spot, or her vocals did something brilliant. This is one of those albums that you can just have on to chill out. Being a musician myself, including singing, I much prefer music that you can sing to comfortably and follow the melody, etc. I enjoy putting on music that I know and I can sing along to. This, however, is one of those albums I feel I can just have on after a long day, close my eyes, and listen to. I think I am going to delve into her other works and see what else she has. After only hearing of this artist today, I'm glad I have discovered an artist with such potential towards my catalogue of music I listen to. Favourite lyric: 'You better watch your step. You'll fall and hurt yourself one day.' (Watch Your Step'). Favourites: Been so Long Watch Your Step Sweet Love

Анита Цой

I’m a bit biased as I’m from Detroit, but I love this song and this woman’s voice. Such a nostalgic album for me.

Coming off Pink Floyd’s The Wall, here pops up Anita Baker’s Rapture. It’s a bit jarring. There was a time when Baker dominated the radio and MTV. I’m not fully sure if it was this album or this and a combination of other albums, but Baker was huge around this time with hit after hit, or at least it seemed that way. I remember seeing her all over the place, MTV, awards shows, TV, she was the It Girl in music. But then, the 90s hit, and she disappeared. Or maybe I quit looking in the places I had seen her before. I was fully ensconced in metal and hard rock by then. Rapture had one top-10 hit with Sweet Love and sold over 5 million albums in the U.S. alone. For that time period, that was huge. There are just 8 songs on the album, and it’s 36 minutes long. Holy crap! After consulting with my good friend Wikipedia, Baker is still alive and just 68 years old. Where is she? Also, Wikipedia lists her genres as soul jazz, smooth jazz, R&B, soul, and quiet storm. Are you kidding me? Quiet storm? That’s incredible. Track 1 is Sweet Love, the big hit off the album and the second single released. The song also won a Grammy that year for Best R&B song, while the album won a Grammy for Best R&B Album. I vaguely remember the beginning of it, and it’s that almost gospel-type soul music from the era. It’s got that gospel bass sound, and the drums are splashy. Ordinarily, I’d think it was corny, but it’s not over the top in this song. Ooooh, her voice is deep. It reminds me of a female Michael McDonald. Oh snap! I remember this song now. It’s a banger! I imagine I hated it back then because there wasn’t some nonsensical guitar wankery in the middle of it. Now the fake keyboard horns are coming in. The chorus is cool. Baker has pipes. Again, she’s got a husky-sounding voice, but she’s powerful, still sexy, too. The music is tip-top on this jam, and it should be. The top session players at the time played on this album. Track 2 is You Bring Me Joy and this is a slow jam about her man. I dig this track. The chorus is a bit weird. It kind of sneaks out from nowhere. The music is immaculate. It sounds like they used a real sax on this track. I’m telling you, the way they set up the backing vocals, it sounds like something you’d hear from a church choir. In fact, I think this slow jam might not be for her man, but for her Man, as in God. Oh, she’s belting it out here. The vocals are better on this song than even Sweet Love. She’s more powerful than I thought. By the end, the song was giving me goosebumps. Track 3 is Caught Up in the Rapture, and we start out with some scatting, and I hate scatting and bebopping. Luckily, it doesn’t last long. Now we’re into the main groove, and it has that kind of electric piano I love. This is a baby-making song right here. I knew it. This was the third single off the album. I think I remember it. Though with more mature ears. I’m quite sure I was too stupid to appreciate it in 1986. This song didn’t do as well as Sweet Love, but it did reach #37 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it hit #6 on the Hot Black Singles chart and #9 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Track 4 is Been So Long, and we’re sticking with the baby-making grooves. I don’t mind one bit. Her voice sounds different on this song. I like it. It’s a little lower and softer. I wondered where she went, and it seems like she stopped recording about 20 years ago, but she toured as recently as last year. I wonder if she still sounds as good today? I’d imagine her voice is powerful enough that with good care, she’ll sound great until she moves on to that big jazz club in the sky. Whoa, Baker is really tossing out the vocal gymnastics at the end, scatting and bebopping. She was probably born too late and needed to have been born in the heyday of jazz singers and jazz clubs. She would have packed them in. Track 5 is Mystery, and let’s see if we can keep the good times rolling. This song starts a bit weird. It sounds almost contemporary. The only thing betraying its age is the bass sound. It was a popular style in the 80s, so of course everyone had to use it until it drove me crazy. This song has a great chorus. I swear I’ve heard it before, but it wasn’t released as a single. There is this fleeting sound that flies from one ear to the other, and it sounds like a phone ringing. It’s quite annoying, but it’s not a constant thing. This song would be 5 stars, but the ringtone really gives me a little shot of dread when I hear it, 3 stars. It reminds me of a phone ringtone from an old job. Track 6 is No One in the World and it was the fifth and last single released from the album. This song sounds almost country to me. Baker is singing this right in the sweet spot of her voice. It’s not too high or too low, and she has the most power in this octave… if I used octave right. It’s a bit corny, and I’m sure I would have trashed it 30 years ago, but I really like this song. It seems like this kind of song doesn’t exist anymore. Everything is sterile and made and sung by robots these days, at least in pop music. Track 7 is Same Ole Love (365 Days a Year), and this was a single off the album, the fourth to be exact. The music video for this song was directed by Michael Bay. This and No One in the World were big hits on the Hot Black Singles and Adult Contemporary Charts. This song is a bit funkier than the rest on here. It reminds me of a Wham! Or a George Michael song. I’m not sure. I think it has shades of Everything She Wants from Wham! Which is a banger, by the way. Track 8 is Watch Your Step and it was the first single off the album. It reminds me of the Ray Stevens Cannonball Run theme song. I love that song. This song sounds a bit more pop than R&B. Apparently, Baker had her heart broken by a player, and she’s warning him that one day he’ll hurt like she hurts. Oooh, I like this bridge here. It’s giving her a chance to belt it out. Baker has an incredible voice. I have no idea why you don’t hear more about her. She sounded like Aretha right there. She really turns it loose on this song. I think that’s the first time I've heard her go Aretha. I loved this album. I’m not saying it’s my new favorite, and I’m going to listen to it over and over and over. But I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and I can see this being among the 1,001 albums you should hear. If you like good old-fashioned R&B or soul music and you kind of missed the 80s version of it, then check this album out.

Awsome!

They played this stuff a lot on local radio in the 90s

A bit boring but pleasant enough and inoffensive

Just can't get into this kind of music

Anita baker? More like I-need-a break-from-her! This is the music they play in 80s movies during sex scenes that go on longer than they need to. A bit dull.

Nice background music but I don't think I'll be adding it to my playlist.

Music to fall asleep to. The sound is fine enough but it’s pretty flavourless, and we get no relief from that through the whole album with all songs very samey.

With the fantastic 'Sweet Love' this album starts very strongly, but the rest of the album doesn't live up to the same quality. This is smooth R&B, with glossy 80s production that is pleasant to listen to, if not always that interesting. The production style does date it a bit, but it works well enough for some songs. 'Sweet Love' is elevated by glistening synths that give it a sense of grandeur. 'Caught Up in the Rapture' and 'Watch Your Step' are best of the other tracks. With the exception of the songs already mentioned, its not an album I'm likely to go back to regularly.

The quintessential ‘quiet storm’ album with the 80s production sheen, all synths, saxes and electric pianos. There’s no denying that Anita Baker had a great voice, but the music is far too slushy and easy listening for my taste, and so samey too. ‘Sweet Love’ is the most famous track, and it is one of the better ones, but I can’t see any circumstances in which I’d choose to put even that song on. Like the rest of the album, it felt so artificial and anodyne. As the album went on I found it held my attention less and less.

This kind of vocal is the thing I least enjoy. Sure you have a great voice and sure you have good range but there is no need to warble through it on every line and sometimes one word. All luxuries should be used sparingly. Not anywhere near as bad as Mariah Carey though

If anyone has a voice to elevate the music of The Weather Channel into a marketable album, Anita Baker is certainly that person. These songs performed by someone else would be an album offered by a local R&B/gospel singer that plays the church circuit. The production is crisp, the vocals are perfect, but the music severely dates Rapture, preventing it from the "timeless" moniker Baker's voice deserves. I do remember it being played by my Mom on the record player as a kid, so it still gets nostalgia points.

En el foro de reddit alguien habló muy bien de este disco, pero para mí ha pasado sin destacar. Le daré 3 estrellas ya que subí el liston con las 2 de Captain Beefheart.

I can't unheard the MF DOOM and MF GRIMM samples.

What an amazing voice. Listened twice. Loved it.

Not my style at all but her voice was good and I can only imagine it's a Standout in the genre. 8 songs feels like a short album.

Not for me.

It's ok. R&B is always hit and miss with me. this was more on the miss side for me.

This is the PERFECT representation of everything that I can't stand about 80s pop. It is all the same... Sterile inorganic composer created fake instrumentals, with a talented singer who can't write their own music or lyrics. Boring boring boring.

I loved this. Very very relaxing and enjoyable listen. Sweet Love is an excellent dong

Not a bad listen

Baby maker

Boring.

This is the famous concept album about needing a new baker after your strangely pious baker was taken to heaven in what was either a rapture event or an accidental cyanide poisoning via mouse trap. Either way, this penis shaped cake isn't going to make itself. Now Anita Deliveryman/Caterer will have to make the next album. It's been 4 decades. We're still waiting, and I fear that my hot air balloon enthusiast meetup will never receive their "barometric pressure can be a real dick" cock cake. Anita Baker delivers no Rap, no Ture, and zero hot air balloon based material here. She does; however, string together some incredibly hammy ballads you'd hear the instrumentals for at a failing mattress store in your town's industrial area. The deep, gravelly nature of some of the vocal passages elicited a few smiles out of me though, so that murders about 90% of the records on this list. With that said, I will never let this by my ears again. I can only catch so many waves on these eardrums. Precious calories would be wasted dropping my thumbs upon the play button again. 1.5-2 GENRE: Left Below

**Rapture** (1986) is Anita Baker's second studio album and her first for a major label, marking the definitive arrival of one of R&B's most distinctive voices. Released on March 20, 1986, by Elektra Records, the album became a quiet storm masterpiece that sold over eight million copies worldwide, earned two Grammy Awards, and established Baker as the defining voice of sophisticated adult-oriented R&B. ## Overview & Context After her 1983 debut *The Songstress* failed to bring financial security—Baker was reportedly working as a legal secretary in Detroit—she signed with Elektra and took unusual creative control for a relatively unknown artist. She named herself executive producer and enlisted her former Chapter 8 bandmate Michael J. Powell to produce seven of the eight tracks, rejecting the label's push for bigger-name producers. Baker wanted what she called "fireside love songs" with jazz, blues, and gospel overtones—music you could play after work, start to finish, without skipping. --- ## Lyrics & Themes *Rapture* operates within a deliberately narrow emotional palette: love in its various stages—gratitude, longing, devotion, frustration, and caution. What elevates the material is Baker's ability to navigate these emotions with remarkable specificity. - **"Sweet Love"** (co-written by Baker) strips romance to its essence: "With all my heart, I love you baby / Stay with me, and you will see." The lyrics are almost shockingly simple, yet Baker's contralto delivery makes "stay with me" feel like an intimate conversation rather than a performance. - **"You Bring Me Joy"** transforms romantic gratitude into something approaching devotional music. When Baker pushes the word "joy" into a bent, gospel-inflected note, the song shifts from love song to spiritual testimony. - **"Been So Long"** surprises with its bluntness. Where earlier tracks ask, this track demands: "I won't be neglected, I won't be denied." Baker confronts sexual frustration and the anger of being kept waiting without prettifying it—a stark contrast to her elegant public image. - **"Mystery"** (written by Rod Temperton of "Thriller" fame) occupies a different emotional space entirely—uncertainty and unresolved loss. Baker's voice drops to its warmest, lowest register to match the lyric's haunted quality. - **"Same Ole Love (365 Days a Year)"** offers perhaps the album's most mature statement. Baker isn't pledging passion but the ordinary: "From beginning to end, 365 days of the year, I want your same ole love." The word "same" does all the work—she's choosing continuity over novelty, tested commitment over electric romance. - **"Watch Your Step"** closes the album as a cautionary tale to a philandering lover, with Baker warning from experience: "I know the kind of pain you offer / Baby, I've felt your kind of pain before." --- ## Music & Production The production on *Rapture* was described by critic Nelson George as "retronuevo"—reaching backward into jazz, blues, and 1970s soul while never sounding like nostalgia. Michael J. Powell's arrangements balance real instruments with synthesizers, creating what Pitchfork described as a sculpture "where you couldn't tell if hands had ever touched it." **Key sonic characteristics:** - **Bass**: Deep, funky, and rubbery—heavily sampled later by hip-hop artists including Jadakiss, Mac Miller, and A Tribe Called Quest. - **Piano**: Thick yet diffuse in the mix, described as feeling "like being embraced by a cloud of an ex-lover's perfume." - **Vocals**: Baker's contralto sits low and physical, moving effortlessly from soulful resonance to piercing wail. She scats with jazz fluency on "Caught Up in the Rapture" and employs gospel conviction throughout. - **Drums**: Crisp, riverlike rhythms that create perpetual motion, particularly on "Same Ole Love." Despite Baker's stated antipathy toward synthesizers ("The sound is so thin"), they appear throughout the album, encasing acoustic piano tones in "a layer of crystal." The result is state-of-the-art 1986 production that nonetheless feels organic and hand-crafted. --- ## Influence & Legacy *Rapture* proved there was still a massive market for adult-oriented, traditional R&B singing at a time when pop radio was dominated by electro-R&B and increasingly mechanized production. The album crossed over to Adult Contemporary and Top 40 without concession to pop trends, eventually selling five million copies in the U.S. alone. **Cultural impact:** - **Quiet Storm milestone**: The album essentially defined the quiet storm format for 1980s black radio, providing the template for sophisticated, late-night R&B programming. - **Hip-hop sampling**: The drums and bass became foundational samples for artists like MF DOOM ("Hoe Cakes" samples "Sweet Love"), Ice Cube, Drake, and many others. - **Vocal influence**: Baker's contralto style and controlled delivery influenced subsequent generations of R&B singers, including Toni Braxton and Whitney Houston. Critical recognition has been substantial: *Rolling Stone* ranked it #36 on their 1980s greatest albums list and #404 on their 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. *Pitchfork* placed it at #149 on their 200 Best Albums of the 1980s. --- ## Pros & Cons ### **Pros** 1. **Vocal mastery**: Baker's contralto is one of the most distinctive and emotionally resonant voices in R&B history—powerful yet restrained, physical yet elegant. 2. **Cohesive vision**: The album maintains a consistent mood and aesthetic throughout its 37-minute runtime. Every track serves the whole. 3. **Sophisticated production**: Michael J. Powell's arrangements achieve remarkable clarity and warmth, balancing organic and electronic elements with rare taste. 4. **Emotional authenticity**: Even with simple lyrics, Baker's delivery conveys genuine intimacy and lived experience rather than performance. 5. **Timeless appeal**: Unlike much 1980s R&B, *Rapture* avoids gimmicky production that would date it severely. It still sounds expensive and intentional. 6. **Brevity**: At eight tracks and under 40 minutes, the album never overstays its welcome, leaving the listener wanting more. ### **Cons** 1. **Narrow emotional range**: The album deliberately stays within romantic love and its immediate vicinities. If you want variety, social commentary, or uptempo energy, this record has nothing for you. 2. **Occasional lyrical simplicity**: Some tracks like "Sweet Love" are lyrically minimal to the point of being almost blank canvases for Baker's voice. 3. **"Watch Your Step" as a weak closer**: The final track, written solely by Baker, lacks the melodic stickiness of the rest of the album. Baker sounds almost too composed for a song about warning a dangerous lover. 4. **Production can feel overly polished**: For listeners who prefer grit in their soul music, the pristine, sometimes antiseptic production can feel like "aural polythene" that flattens emotional impact. 5. **Scatting and jazz flourishes**: As *Rolling Stone* noted, Baker occasionally drifts into "superfluous scatting and pseudo-jazz harmony" that can feel like showing off rather than serving the song. 6. **Accessibility issues**: Several tracks have been unavailable on streaming platforms at various times, frustrating modern listeners. --- ## Conclusion *Rapture* is a monument to controlled excellence. It isn't trying to revolutionize R&B or make grand statements about the human condition—it simply wants to soundtrack intimate moments with grace, sophistication, and one of the greatest voices the genre has ever produced. Its influence on quiet storm, adult contemporary, and even hip-hop production is undeniable, even if its polished surfaces and narrow thematic focus will always alienate listeners who prefer their soul music with more dirt under the fingernails. For those willing to meet it on its own terms, it remains one of the most perfectly realized romantic albums in popular music.

Really good, easy listening for the day. Reminds me of car rides home from school in the 90s and genuinely good music coming over the airwaves on a regular basis. Would be pleased to hear this album again if it came up on rotation and I'm sorry to say that I didn't know who this artist was previously.

beautiful n soulful

Stellar. Nothing outside the ordinary but fantastic regardless

This was solid. Some good sounds. A 3.5 but on the 3 side.

Such a beautiful album. Anita Baker has an amazing voice. Easy 5 stars

I gotta have more chimes…

4/5

Smooth as butter, baby.

Being a tween in 1986, I always just assumed that Anita Baker had been around for 10 or 20 years already. Even now hearing this album (for the first time) in its entirety, I still get that feeling. You can tell who her influences were. Sadly you can't tell who Anita Baker is. It sounds a lot like other R&B/Quiet Storm from the time. Maybe she was the pioneer, I don't know. But I DO know that I don't care to learn more based on this listen. Great voice and some good songs I recognize and find nostalgic

Your typical 80s runofthemill emotional pop album. Not bad, but no clue why it's on this list.

This album was so boring. So many better R&B albums are out there. That said, everything is pretty competent. My main issue would be that Anita overuses vocal flourishes to the point that it gets grating. As a guitarist, my best comparison would be constantly throwing in hotlicks in the fills instead of using some different techniques and rhythms to let other parts of the music breathe more. Instead, Anita is on all the time and it wears on you. Not worth being on this list but not a bad album either. Call it a 2.

I had a hard time getting myself to care or get through this 36min album. I recognized a couple of the songs, but didn’t particularly enjoy Anita’s voice, the style, or feel like the songs or lyrics went much deeper than manufactured songs about love. I won’t be listening again.

Some nice, laid back, luxurious R&B. Just like I like. Folks giving it mid reviews because it isn't "revolutionary" or whatever, who cares. It's great. Not every album on this list isn't going to start a movement. It's still great music.

Prýðileg söngkona en lögin á plötunni leyfa henni bara ekki að skína því þau eru öll mjög svipuð án þess að vera eitthvað sérstök. Það vantar sárlega tilbreytingu en kannski er ég bara ekki rómantískur

De buenas a primeras, pude indentificar que "Sweet Love" fue empleada por MF DOOM en la canción "Hoe Cakes" de su aclamado álbum "MM Food". Siempre es divertido identificar pistas que el villano utilizó en su amplio catálogo de beats. Dicho esto, no conocía nada de Anita Baker, y algo que ya puedo decir es que me ha gustado más que otros álbumes de R&B que escuchado en esta misma lista. Algo que también aprecio de este LP es su corta duración de 37 minutos; duración que es fácilmente duplicada en proyectos del género más contemporáneos- y algo que, en la opinión, de quien escribe, es una debilidad, ya que es fácil para quien escucha perderse o no identificar al intención de los artistas. En otras, palabras, casi siempre menos es más y este disco encapsula este a la perfección. La voz de Baker, ubicada más cerca de las notas bajas, evoca de cierta forma a Nina Simone. La voz de la Anita hipnotiza acompañada de un bajo exquisitamente grabado (e interpretado por más de 4 músicos). Este disco también tiene a su favor que la producción se escucha más como "City Pop" que pop estadounidense de los '80s. Entiendo por qué "Rapture" se encuentra en la lista de los 1001 álbumes que hay que escuchar antes de morir, y lo volvería a escuchar a pesar de que el R&B no sea mi genero favorito. Pistas destacadas Sweet Love You Bring Me Joy Caught in the Rapture Been So Long Mystery (Canción favorita, por favor escúchenla) No One In The World Same Ole Love Watch Your Step

Good…

thought it was pretty fun!

Medium soul

Found myself wanting to hear a duet with her and ole Mikey Mac Daddy McDonald. Strong yacht rock vibes on this... and me likey!!

It’s always fun when you see the inspiration in other music you listen to like this with MF Doom or Coldcut with Beck. It’s good but probably not inclined to go out of my way for again

I thought that Anita Baker was more disco diva than what this was. Meh

Supermarket music

Very undistinguished, could have been anyone. I see no reason to ever listen to this again. Not "bad" just "bland."

Quiet storm R&B has never been my favorite. Anita Baker is obviously crazy-talented, but that's not doing enough heavy lifting to get me to rate this any higher.

Her name didn't register, but have definitely heard that first song before. Pleasantly surprised, but it does fade into the background in that 80s production way. Nice and short too. 3 Heard before? Some Owned: Yes: 72/288 (25%) Will I get: No

Listens: 2 Standout Tracks: Sweet Love, Mystery Strong start with Sweet Love, which I immediately recognized as being sampled in Hoe Cakes by MF Doom. This kind of music isn't really my style... at all, but I can't say its bad or I dislike it. What's there to say? She has a nice voice. The music is super smooth. It's a fine album.

Amazing

85

Nice contemporary soul.

I did not care for it sadly :(

Soulful, funky, and groovy. The bass playing does a lot of heavy lifting on this album, and I don't think I've ever heard a black female singer that isn't immensely skilled. this album is extremely well produced as well. It sounds very much like a It sounds very much like a 80s record due to the kinds of sounds on display, but The arrangements have so many funky details that it doesn't bother me at all.

It's not always completely bad when an album sounds dated, or very much "of its time." This album (which I still have, on CD) takes me back to the late 80s and early 90s. It's solid throughout, a solid 3, at least. Not sure I can quite give it a 4 - though it's tempting. In a roundabout way, it's a testament to the strength of this album that I like it at all, since I generally don't like this kind of music (romantic ballads, I guess). A solid 3 stars, for a solid album.

good vocalist, standard songs I like the production, but the sound is almost too clean to the point of soulless. The lyrics are generic pop vagueness about love

Anita’s baking some shit, brother man

Ei

Of all the amazing R&B albums, why did this make the list. She has an incredible voice, but the songs were mid in the 80s and haven’t aged well since then.

Quite the revelation. Anita Baker’s touchy little corner of musicdom was never even close to my radar, in spite of my fond adoration of sultry jazzy ladies.

Scratching my brain for a hypothetical situation where I would ever put this music on again. Umm? Trying to bond with my future Chinese mother in law who speaks no English while we sit in silence in the shared cabin of a cruise ship passing round the Cape of Good Hope

Beautiful voice but not a style of music I love. Quite enjoyed it but probably won't ever listen to it again.

This sound just isn’t my thing. Like a lot on here say she has a fine emotional voice, but the syrup production has always made me feel this is too old for me, however old I am. It’s soo middle class smooth. Interesting to know there was a genre quiet storm, didn't know that before. Just not my thing, nothing particularly bad about it, maybe the production, but this was never aimed at me - so find it a hard listen 2 Star

Absolutely stunning voice. Truthfully wasn’t blown away by the composition but it’s not really about that either.

605/1001 2026.05.01 😴😴🌗🌑🌑

Beautiful vocals, trance beats, R&B perfection. I have to say, it’s an ’80s album, and those usually have songs that are unnecessarily drawn out, but this album is NOT like that! I loved every single song—they’re so good, this is the vintage R&B you’d hope for! 10/10—I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this album!

Wow I love this! It reminds me of city pop, and the vocals are phenomenal.

Just really wasn't feeling it. Maybe it's because spotify only had half the album and it came the day after another soul album, but I was just incredibly sick of hearing "I miss you" sung over and over and over and over again

This is the soundtrack for the end credits of every single movie in the 90s and for that reason, I'm out.

Whitney Houston ilman että on Whitney Houston

this is yacht rock for the ladeez

Really enjoyed listening to this even though there was absolutely no sex involved.

Samples that I recognize

- A little to sexy for me - Food that would play in a Chinese restaurant - I bet my grandma loves this

This is really not my thing. Sweet Love aside this is just so saccharine it is sickening. The synths are so eighties. ‘Been so Long’ is frankly irritating.

This is standard mid-80s soul fare that sounds every bit its age. By far the standout track is “Sweet Love”; it’s a song I’ve always loved, but the rest of this gets nowhere close to those heights. I like the hook of “No One in the World” as well. “Been So Long” gets way too close to sounding like jazz for me, and the rest just sound like any other soul / r&b album of its era. I also couldn’t warm to an entire album of these vocals, which were just not for me.

Look, she has a great voice and I don't mind track 1, which I already knew very well, but otherwise this fundamentally full of the type of schmaltzy 80s stuff I really don't enjoy. So much of the popular music in the 80s sounds so dated, it's fascinating to me - I've heard much older albums doing this project which sound like they could have been released yesterday. But the 80s just has a *sound* - even the 80s albums I adore sound so of their time. I think it's mostly the synths and keyboards. Unfortunately this wasn't an 80s album I adored. And I feel mean giving it this score, but I found it such a slog to get through, so it's an inevitable: 1/5

Steely Dan in slow motion. Completely washes off. Relaxing, like ocean waves.

Somewhere, there is a vapor wave producer that is very happy they found this album. I enjoyed this. Very smooth, and Anita has a great voice.

Wow. This made me want to try and find love again. Anita’s voice is amazing and the funky music she is singing over makes this album stand out not just as a beautiful album about love, but a fun, sexy and introspective one. Will 100% be back here

Nice pop album. Romantic and lovely. Anita Baker has a voice like no other. Not a style of music I choose first, but a superior example of that style.

What a nice chill album to listen to, I don’t think I’ve ever heard any of these songs, but I wouldn’t mind giving it another listen.

I'm a sucker for mellow 80s R&B music. Wonderful album.

Elle a une belle voix. Elle a beau avoir été une des chanteuses de soul et R&B les plus populaires des années 80, cet album de ballades et de chansons romantiques relaxes viennent pas du tout me chercher. On est entre le 1 et le 2.

im ngl i almost skipped bc it was bothering me that this wasn't a put together stream piece released on spotify but solid listen, easy breezy listening. great on a sunny day. great productions and vocals

Honestly don’t know why this is on the list. So bland, smooth and safe. There’s a gem of a good song here and there, and the melody’s are ok, but it’s buried beneath this schmaltz and chocolate box production

What a voice! Smooth and rich, flowing like a honey river and as soothing as your favorite down comforter. Copy/paste to read the whole thing: https://tinyurl.com/2v36uxk2

pa ono, sasvim pristojno unutar svoga žanra, premda si nikako ne bih sam pustio. razmišljao sam da prvo dam trojku, ali kako sam nekim albumima koji bi mi se načelno dopali, a koje nisam smatrao toliko dobrima, davao trojke, ovo je jednostavno za dvojku jer mi se nijedan detalj nije ni najmanje dopao

Voz bonita, linda. Produção reconfortante e simples. Disco saboroso demais pra se ouvir relaxadamente sem pensar muito. Acalma o espírito. Totalmente clássico. Peça chave em toda coleção, para propósitos curativos. Difícil não se sentir bem ouvindo essas canções. 4/5

Post motown R&B is a blind spot for me. The "quiet storm" is a very vibesy specific time period where it was played to ease in people's anxieties about the outer world, something we could use right now. I'm not sure that production style would work in a maximized digital age. Anita Baker is considered one of the forefront smooth jazz/quiet storm singers of her time period. She's got a quite a voice! Unfortunately, every thing else around her sounds dated. The songs from the album are definitely important, the album as constructed is much less so. I mean I like 80s synths, the cheese, and knowing too much about electronic music and synthesizers to hear all the presets from various Yamaha/Korg/Roland synths that were big for the time (especially Yamaha). It's just too egregious of an "80s sound" record. Is this bad? No, but it is lame. This record did sell well for 1986, which gives it the notability to be on the list, but you're better off listening to the singles. Spotify sure thinks so. Kind of a shame.

It's great but it's also so goddamn eighties. Calling something "seventies" or "nineties" would be a compliment, but if something is too "eighties" then it is not a great thing.

Not my kind of music

Nope, not for me. Overproduced, holier-than-thou gospelslop.

I thought Anita Baker was like an Aretha Franklin or Roberta Flack type deal. She's not. She's on the forefront of a music style I just learned, quiet storm (Quiet storm is a radio format and genre of R&B, performed in a smooth, romantic, jazz-influenced style)... Anyways, other than the name sounding like some kind of suburban Aryan alliance, quiet storm sucks. It sounds lik CHFI 98.1 on weekend mornings with the smell of Pine Sol in the air and my mother's incessant huffing as she shows me a hundredth time how to properly dust the top of an unused piano.

golden voice.

This is #day621 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… here's some quiet storm from the mid-'80s, right? At least now I know what to call this kind of smooth, jazz-influenced R&B. Believe it or not, I'd never heard of Anita Baker. Listening to this record late into the night, as I'm doing right now, feels like the perfect setting for it. I'm not completely sold on the soulful vocals, but those big drums and keys, and that unmistakable soft rock production, steal my '80s heart. Now I know what to put on if I run out of Sade. This is a 4 out of 5. Looking forward to #day622.

Extremely well made, and she can sing, but 80s adult contemporary is not my thing at all.

I recognize this opening track. I know people love this. To me it just feels like easy listening background music. So an album is uneventful when it ends and autoplay kicks in and you don’t notice.

Really didn’t like this one, i’m not a fan of this type of music. Fav song is ‘No One in the World’.

El álbum mas meh que me a tocado hasta ahora wacho

Pretty R&B album, not bogged down by the classic sappy quiet storm music charactetistic to this genre, great sample music, some funky soulfull tracks, which it was longer and as memorable as Sweet Love, but good reference to 80s R&B.

the soul was soulful certainly

Classy. I love Anita's voice.

Couldn’t get into this, I tried, but there’s something about how the sound is so compressed and the vocals not hitting upper or lower ranges, just middle. And the lyrics mean nothing. I just read that the style is Quiet Storm that is an apt description, but I don’t like it save for a Sade

Not sure what genre you put this in, there seemed to be a lot of it around in the 80s. Not really my sort of thing. The best I can say about it is that it is nice and short. Not awful, but not great

This was dated like two years after it came out.

Baker sounds like Luther Vandross in the silliest possible way. I can't take it seriously.

I think ‘Rapture’ is a wonderful album. Restrained, but sophisticated. A beautifully crafted and executed R&B record, rooted in gospel and built on warm melodies, subtle arrangements, and Anita Baker’s husky, effortless vocal delivery. It stands in contrast to the over-produced, synth-heavy R&B and funk of its era, feeling timeless rather than dated. Sometimes an album doesn’t need to be groundbreaking or controversial. It doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel, push boundaries, or make a statement. It just needs to be made well, with care and love, and do exactly what it says on the tin. ‘Rapture’ is that album: solid, beautifully sung, played, and produced—and that’s the secret to why it’s so good.

One great track on here. Other than that - mediocre

Goated album, no notes

Kaufhausmusik

Попса((( За що?

Timeless

So 80’s. Extra star for the nostalgic sound

Great album! Anita Baker has such an amazing voice! Highly recommend!

it's alright, nothing interesting in it for me though

Banger R&B album from one of the queens! Had to go find it on YouTube, but such a great listen this morning

Her voice is wonderful, she can belt. These ballads are pretty solid but feels a little slow and one dimensional to me. Not that I don't love hearing her voice but the music isn't doing it for me completely. Love a tight 8 song album though.

Magic Radio is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. The station is available on 105.4 FM in London, 106.5 FM in Bristol and across the UK on DAB Digital Radio, via Bauer's Rayo platform, and on Smart speakers. It plays "adult contemporary"[1] such as Elton John, Madonna, Ed Sheeran, Whitney Houston, UB40, Simply Red, and more. It had previously been a part of a network of Magic stations broadcast on FM in London and on MW across northern England and began broadcasting across the UK via the Digital One multiplex in January 2015. On 5 January 2015, Magic Radio launched nationally on DAB and all other Magic stations were dissolved to form the Bauer City 2 network.[2] According to RAJAR, the station broadcast to an average weekly audience of 2.4 million during the July to August 2025 quarter, with the Magic Radio network of stations reaching an average weekly audience of 3.5 million during the same period.

They can never make me hate you, Anita Baker. You have a right to talk your shit. What they call overproduction, I call musicality & texture. What they call cliche, I call relatable writing. The band behind her was playing behind her. If you are a Japanese city pop snob and you gave this a 1, you are the problem. And the VOICE. Do not ever disrespect the voice. She takes us to church on every track. To my non-white OAAD fam: This 1001 list and the loudest reviewers in the room try to make this challenge inherently anti-black (anti-other for that matter). Don't let them gaslight you into thinking an album is not generational. This is definitely an example. Highlights:The first 3 songs are an elite run. Turn this shit on and I feel like I need to pick up a broom and clean somethin.

This was an ok album, nothing crazy but not bad

1+ Star (3/15)

This album is certainly a banger for someone out there, but I just couldn't find myself getting gripped by the music on this one. Favorite track was Mystery.

I don't mind it. Feels like I'm shopping at Target.

It wasn’t as bad as Mariah Carey but damn thus was bad.

I’d heard of Anita Baker before, but hadn’t listened to her. Great soul album

Better than Coldplay

A fine album, I was able to listen to most of it through YouTube and did not quite understand why it was on the list? Pretty standard R&B, did not sound like anything special.

Congratulations you win the 80s

Not great, Not terrible