Gritty soul fused with hip-hop elements, D’Angelo channels legends like Al Green, Prince and Marvin Gaye in an R&B, funky jazz tour de force. If you want grooves to soundtrack a sultry evening you can’t go wrong with D’Angelo’s Voodoo (2000). With this album, Robinson blew away doubts that he could be tops as a solo artist and put his name back into the hat of singers you want to hear when the lights are low.
He sings about the tribulations of love and infidelity (“The Agony and the Ecstasy”) and is there for his lady in all the right ways in the suggestive “Baby That’s Backatcha.” There are promises of wedded bliss, bittersweet appeals for love to stay and come back and stirred up emotions when running into a former flame. The title track sets the loving mood with Robinson calling his lover a quiet storm and wanting to bathe in her sweet love. Robinson set to work crafting A Quiet Storm (1975), the sound of wind blowing its way through the opening and closing of each track, linking them together in what is essentially a concept album and a more mature view of love and relationships. He’s one of those artists who was meant to be in music, but by the '70s he had seen his star dimmed by more successful label mates Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, and the increased popularity of funkier tunes and political messages. Smokey Robinson is a master songwriter (the Library of Congress is going to honor him with the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song this coming November). Diamond Life is an album made for cool breezes and hot sheets. Oh, and if you think Sade can’t do heat, check out these “Your Love Is King” lyrics: “Touching the very part of me, it’s making my soul sing / I’m crying out for more, your love is king / I’m coming on, I’m coming / You’re making me dance, inside.” There’s even an amazing cover of Timmy Thomas’ “Why Can’t We Live Together,” which she completely makes her own. Whether she’s singing about a world-traveling ladies’ man in album opener “Smooth Operator,” or urging listeners to hold onto their relationships in “Hang On to Your Love,” it is a sophisticated ride that could soundtrack a fabulous night out or a heated night in. Her reserved vocals hit deep for everyone ready for conversations and connections, for knowing looks and tender smiles. Originally content with a career in fashion design, Sade Adu fell into a singing gig which quickly turned into a band with her name, a major label deal, and a best-selling album. The debut album from Sade, Diamond Life (1984), is a wonderland of smooth jazz-infused R&B. If you are looking to unwind or looking to get busy, pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage and turn down the lights. In those intimate moments of alone time or together time, any one of the following albums can help set the mood.
More than just smooth R&B and slow jams, it’s music that unwinds a long day, music that makes us feel human again, when we want to focus on ourselves or have some adult time with our significant other, acknowledging that our needs and desires are important and universal. In the '90s quiet storm evolved to include neo-soul, another catch-all label for a style of music that didn’t seem to fit in the R&B/pop of the time. It’s a catch-all term for R&B ballads and pop, a kind of soft soul version of soft rock. This format became incredibly popular with urban adult audiences and similar quiet storm shows popped up at radio stations across the country. radio show in the late '70s, which in turn took its name from a Smokey Robinson album (more on that later) whose title track became a kind of theme song for host Melvin Lindsey. The quiet storm genre takes its name from a late-night D.C. Before we get into the most sensual list that's ever been run on Vinyl Me, Please, some background on quiet storm.
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