'80s R&B

The ’80s were a prime time for R&B, as the days of disco gave way a new, exhilarating sense of sonic freedom, studio innovation, and tuneful self-realization. For vocalist extraordinaire Luther Vandross, that meant stepping out of the back-up gigs and into the spotlight with the spine-tingling power of songs like the heart-tugging “A House Is Not a Home,” while Cameo saw it as an opportunity to get their freak on in the synthed-up new-school funk of “Word Up.” Jazzman George Benson lent some sophistication to his dance-pop crossover “Give Me the Night,” and super-producer Teddy Riley brought his beat genius to new group Guy and a got-to-move “Groove Me.”

While Whitney Houston is “Saving All My Love for You,” we’re sharing more ’80s R&B in Next Steps.

Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam With Full Force face the eternal girl dilemma on “I Wonder If I Take You Home” and do some hip-pop trailblazing in the process, while Stevie Wonder gets busy flowin’ some reggae rhythms into a time-bending “Master Blaster (Jammin’).” Keyboardist Herbie Hancock goes to town on what seems like a whole roomful of new toys with the ’80s-synth extravaganza “Rockit,” while Pebbles offers some danceable words of wisdom to a lovelorn “Girlfriend,” and Bobby Brown hits the heights of new jack swing with his monster hit “Don’t Be Cruel.”

“Cool It Now,” sing soul cutie pies New Edition, but we can’t help groovin’ to more ’80s R&B in Deep Cuts.

When you’ve got a decade as rich in great R&B as the ’80s, it never hurts to have some help sorting the worthy from the wannabes. Welcome to Deep Cuts, where we dig deep into the vaults to bring you everything from the new-jack romance of Al B. Sure! and his 24/7 pledge “Nite and Day,” to Jody Watley and the diva beats of “Looking for a New Love,” to Color Me Badd’s bold statement of intent “I Wanna Sex You Up.” Terence Trent D’Arby stakes a claim to ’80s fame on his hit debut, “Wishing Well,” and Rick James back-up group Mary Jane Girls step into the limelight and something a little more comfortable on “In My House.”

When it came to R&B, the ’70s saw a spike in social consciousness, the ’90s an explosion of hip-hop crossover hitmaking, but the ’80s? The ’80s was a time for finding new voices, for stretching out and trying different sounds, experimenting with the latest digital music makers and locking onto tricky new beats. Artists could go big — think the cinematic stretch of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” — or rely on the time-tested basics of voice, melody, and romantic magic, like Shirley Murdock and her intimate “As We Lay” — but no matter the method, the good stuff did what great R&B always does, which is move us, body and soul. From the technological groove of Zapp’s “Computer Love,” to Aretha’s freewheeling “Freeway of Love,” our ‘80s R&B Essentials stays true to that ideal, bringing together only the best of a groundbreaking decade.