Consumer Guide Album

DeBarge: All This Love [Gordy, 1982]
They came from nowhere with an airy debut that never touched ground or stopped coming, and nowhere is where it went. So this time they go against their own best instincts, bearing down on individual compositions rather than immersing themselves in sound. When they hit one--slow stuff like "All This Love" and "I Like It" is why the Lord blessed them--you can hear it breaking through and crossing over, always the Motown ideal. When they don't, all you hear is exquisitely cautious product. B+