Ward’s most direct vocal peer is El DeBarge. Ward is left to stand alone with her tender vibrato pulling the weight, much like Jackson 5-era Michael. Frederick Knight allows Ward to go mostly unaccompanied and only double-tracks her vocals for impact, usually in the second verse.
Of all the unique productions and sounds on Songs Of Love, the standout instrument is Ward’s voice. “I Won’t Stop Loving You” and “If I Could Feel That Old Feeling Again” mix in 50’s girl group-esque harmonies to the familiar disco ballad format to gorgeous results. The vocal arrangement is again Stax gospel-lite, with call-and-response choir sections recalling Isaac Hayes’ Hot Buttered Soul days (and there’s even a proto-chillwave, pitched-down vocal part). “Spoiled By Your Love” pairs a driving bassline with a barely-detectable synth backbone, topped off by woodwinds that mimic Ward’s airy, Minnie Ripperton-like voice. “Make Believe Lovers” surprises, though, with smooth strings and horns that channel 70’s Philadelphia Soul moreso than disco and a vocal arrangement that is placid and almost gospel-like.Īside from the two 6-minute-plus disco tunes, Songs Of Love becomes even more intriguing. These elements were relatively unremarkable for a 7-minute disco single in 1980 (and yes, there’s even the replete breakdown that has excessive panning between the left and right audio channels). After the meteoric success of “Ring My Bell,” the next single out was “Make Believe Lovers,” a song that starts out with a repeated drum break and staccato, synthesized bass, adding synth piano lines and barely-detectable Chic-like guitars. It was clear from the singles released from Songs Of Love what Knight’s mission was - pop chart domination. Fresh off a tenure at Stax Records, Knight started his own label, Juana, where Ward would reside. The origin of Songs Of Love’s sound comes from producer Frederick Knight. Songs Of Love somehow finds the convergence point of these quickly-diverging genres - a stunningly beautiful concoction that resists easy classification. What would another Anita Ward song even sound like?Īnita Ward’s Songs Of Love arrived in 1980, a confusing time in soul music where disco, funk, and R&B were competing for market share and critical relevance. Seriously, could anyone imagine (in 1979, let alone 2015) another record sounding like that? It took 15+ years for someone to again utilize that distinctive siren-like, descending synth in a pop context (think The Neptunes or Jodeci). Still, it’s hard to blame the record-buying public of 1979 for casting Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell” as a one-off. This viewpoint is reductive, of course, and ignores that plenty of legacy artists (like Radiohead!) have had only one serious hit on the pop charts. What does it mean to call someone a “one-hit wonder?” It’s not a term of pity - usually it’s implied that a one-hit wonder is a lesser artist, somehow not deserving of his or her spot among the “real artists” at the top of the chart.