LP Review: All This Love
Released: 1982
LP Charts: #3 R&B, #24 pop
Well, if DeBarge’s first album received no promotion, got no hits, and had a somewhat limited artistic horizon, All This Love more than made up for all that. This baby was a smash jam for DeBarge with two tracks leaving lasting marks on soul (and even hip-hop) music as the group expanded the scope and scale of their efforts.
Before we get to the titanic hits, let’s observe the merely good stuff. “I'll Never Fall in Love Again” is supremely competent early ‘80s light funk. “Stop! Don't Tease Me” (#46 R&B) was the album’s first single and flopped badly. I think it deserved its fate on the radio cuz it’s not really a radio track. However, it’s still a synthesized funk jam unlike most of DeBarge’s catalog that veered toward the sweeter side of R&B music. Appropriately “Stop!” is also one of the rare DeBarge tracks that’s kind of angry and menacing. Their love songs had joy and heartbreak, but rarely anger. This one had it albeit ultimately tempered by playfulness.
“Can’t Stop” is at the forefront of new wave funk that briefly had a prominent place on Black radio. I’m a sucker for the funk-pop of “It's Getting Stronger” because it features clavinet.
Now for the two stone-cold classics.
“I Like It” (#2 R&B, #31 pop) is a ‘70s soul relic dashed with yacht rock piano. Randy DeBarge handles most of the verses with a workman-like delivery. This choice for lead vocalist is secretly genius cuz when El comes in on the bridge and chorus hitting impassioned falsettos, it makes the ethereal notes all the more impactful. It’s like the girl he really likes has taken the narrator from yeoman normality to heavenly joy.
This is also the song that inspired a million hip-hop and new jack swing auteurs. The catchy “I like the way you comb your hair…” bit and the “I like it, I like it, I really really like it” were jacked or co-opted in numerous future songs.
An even bigger hit was the title track, “All This Love” (#5 R&B, #17 pop, #1 Adult Contemporary). This is a ballad de luxe with sweeping strings, an amazing horn chart, and a guitar solo from Jose Feliciano that even had white people buying this shit. When you hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary charts as a young R&B group while not losing any cred with your Black fans, you’ve made some magic happen. And this song is magic from the opening “I’ve had some problems…” to the closing yelps from El that truly managed to marry gospel with ‘70s soul with adult contempo schlock.
And please do not sleep on just how melodic and gorgeous the backing vocals are on “All This Love”. They add so much to the track.
Okay, sadly we must address Bunny DeBarge’s “Life Begins With You”, which makes you truly appreciate the triumph that is “All This Love”. Whereas “All This Love” finely walked the line between sweetness and saccharine. “Life Begins With You” doesn’t. It’s not terrible, just squarely average, but it veers way too hard into the saccharine especially on the big note finale.
Okay, I’ve saved my favorite—not best—song for last: “I’m In Love With You”. Written by Mark, our dear El returns to lead this track and it’s perfect cruising music. There’s no over-the-top vocalizing, just a performer perfectly in control of a soft midtempo jam.
ALBUM GRADE: B+
Certified gold, All This Love spent 73 weeks on the Billboard R&B albums chart making it the most commercially successful album of their career, but they hadn’t reached their artistic peak yet. And their commercial viability wasn’t on the wane at all. That means we’re getting into prime DeBarge, baby.
Song Scores
I'll Never Fall in Love Again: 7/10
Stop! Don't Tease Me: 7/10
I Like It: 9/10
Can’t Stop: 7/10
All This Love: 9/10
It's Getting Stronger: 7.5/10
Life Begins With You: 5/10
I'm in Love With You: 8/10