Gift Rapture: Anita Baker 65

Anita Baker - Feel the Need

We'll top off January with the week's second milestone birthday for someone named Anita. Anita rejoinder? I got you.

Today's birthday person comes to us from out of the quiet storm, with some thunder for your satin sheets.

She began at the end of the 1970s in a band, but it was when pried loose from the group structure that she absolutely exploded into almost her own genre.

The voice that launched 1000 urban contemporary radio stations, it was when Anita Baker's second record dropped that she really went through the roof.

At one time, in 1986, you couldn't swing a radio without it tuning to one of her songs.

In her heyday, she practically redefined the idea of the soul ballad, giving rise to a million Mary J. Bliges in the process.

She retired for a while a couple of years ago, but now she's back after wresting the rights to her stuff from the evil suits.

She was born in Ohio in 1958, so we're gonna celebrate her 65th trip 'round the sun with a deep show from her initial pinnacle period, captured from the BBC onto cassette 38 years ago and refurbished by me to represent essentially the complete concert.

Anita Baker

Hammersmith Odeon

London, UK

7.27.1986

01 Baby, Why You Treat Me So Bad?

02 Feel the Need

03 Mystery

04 You Bring Me Joy 

05 You're the Best Thing Yet 

06 Watch Your Step 

07 Angel 

08 Same Ole Love 

09 Sometimes 

10 Caught Up In the Rapture 

11 Been So Long 

12 Sweet Love

Total time: 1:12:42

Anita Baker - vocals

Bobby Lyle - keyboards

Donald Griffin - guitar

Garry Glenn - synthesizers & percussion

Gerald Albright - saxophones

Gerald Lyles - bass

James Bradley, Jr - drums

Natalie Jackson, Tanya Boyd & Saundra Simmons - vocals

off-air FM master cassette, recorded from the BBC

slightly repaired, denoised and declipped by EN, January 2023

474 MB FLAC/direct link

So there's your January, man. I'll return at the appropriate moments to make the febrile February fever fantabulate, or something.

But before I go, we again wish many more sun revolutions to the lovely Miss Anita Baker, because she brings us Joy!--J.