"All This Love" by DeBarge

   Happy Valentine’s Day friends! As has become tradition on this day that celebrates love, the Radio Dial is doing its part by spotlighting a classic romantic ballad from radio’s past, which doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves nowadays. Prepare to get the “warm fuzzies” from DeBarge and their 1983 classic “All This Love”!

“I had some problems… and no one could seem to solve them… But you found the answer… you told me to take this chance and learn the ways of love…”

As I imagine you recall, DeBarge is a family group comprised of siblings Bunny, James, Mark, Randy, and El DeBarge, hailing from Detroit, Michigan. All family members play various instruments including bass, keyboards, and horns, and all contribute vocals, though El is typically positioned as the “lead” on their tracks due to his high tenor and strong falsetto.

An elegant quiet storm soul ballad, “All…” is a declaration of love and devotion from a guy who credits his lady with making him open up and become receptive to romance, and how his life has improved since she’s entered his life.

As classy and romantic as “All This Love” is, it’s amazing to note that it was NOT the lead single from the group’s 1982 LP which shares its title! That first single was “Stop! Don’t Tease Me”, which only reached US R&B #46, and earned no pop notice at all. Luckily for us, the record label had faith in the group and the LP, and issued “All This Love” as a follow-up single despite the underwhelming performance of the previous tune. This rewarded the group with their biggest hit to date, as “All…” hit US #17 pop, R&B #5, and A/C #1. A third single was extracted that did decently as well, the US #31 pop, and R&B #2 tune “I Like It”.

In addition to the DeBarge family, the recording is a bit of an all-star collaboration, as it prominently features an acoustic guitar solo by Jose “Feliz Navidad” Feliciano, smooth saxophone courtesy of jazz superstar Gerald Albright, and expert drumming by Ollie E. Brown, whom would have a hit of his own the following year as part of the duo “Ollie & Jerry” with singer Jerry Knight with their US #9 “Breakin’… There’s No Stopping Us”.

“You said that you loved me… said hurt only came to pass me… It sounded so convincing… that I gave it half a chance…”

This is another of one of those songs that seemed to drop off of top 40 playlists too quickly after its peak, and I actually forgot about it for several years until I caught it playing on a light rock station sometime in the ‘90s. I picked up the song near the end, right around El‘s ad libs ("I neeeed you... please hearrrr me."), and as such, I misinterpreted it as a lesser hit of Carly Simon's.

I know that sounds absolutely nuts, but to my ears, El’s vocalization of those adlibs reminded me of similar adlibs that Carly was doing in her later material which tended toward the smooth jazz / adult contemporary vein that DeBarge was mining here.

And of course, the deejay didn’t identify the title or artist (they never do when you need them to) and this was well before the internet, so there was no convenient way to look up song lyrics. Years later, I heard the song again, this time in its entirety, and looked up more of the lyrics online to discover that it was a DeBarge number (and not Carly Simon at all), and thus, my embarrassing blunder. But hey, nobody else knew about my mistake until now, when I just shared it with you, my loyal readers. I know you feel privileged, and you’re welcome.

“Say you really love me baby… say you really love me darlin’”

"All This Love" is one of the most calming pop songs I’ve ever heard. It is smooth, romantic, passionate, and gorgeous. Even as a kid, well before I could personally identify with love ballads, this song put me in a relaxed and centered mood and I always looked forward to hearing it, and I still do to this day.

So snuggle up to your special someone, share a glass of wine, and play for them DeBarge’s romantic classic. Go ahead and steal a kiss, I won’t look. And hey… Happy Valentine’s Day, from Kyle’s Radio Dial!

“All this love is waiting for you… my baby… my sugar…”