Deep Album Cuts Vol. 327: Starpoint
In January, I published a Baltimore Banner piece about Starpoint, the Maryland R&B group who had a great run from the late '70s to the early '90s. Their biggest hit, 1985's "Object Of My Desire," was featured in "Stranger Things" last year, and a box set of six of their albums was released a few months later. And since I wrote that piece I've enjoyed continuing to dive into their catalog and wanted to make a playlist.
2. We're Into Love
3. Last Night
4. Miracle Love
5. Show Me
6. I Got The Love
7. I'm So Crazy 'Bout You
8. Satisfy Me Lover
9. Always On My Mind
10. See The Light
11. One More Night
12. Another Night
13. Sensational
14. Fresh Start
15. Park It
16. Your Lover
17. I Don't Need Another Lover
Tracks 1 and 2 from Keep On It (1981)
Tracks 1 and 2 from Keep On It (1981)
Track 3 from Wanting You (1981)
Tracks 4 and 5 from All Night Long (1982)
Tracks 6 and 7 from It's So Delicious (1983)
Tracks 8 and 9 from It's All Yours (1984)
Tracks 10 and 11 from Restless (1985)
Tracks 12 and 13 from Sensational (1987)
Tracks 14 and 15 from Hot To The Touch (1988)
Tracks 16 and 17 from Have You Got What It Takes? (1990)
When I was working on the Banner piece, only the band's later Elektra albums were on streaming services. But at some point this year, 3 of their first 4 albums on Chocolate City Records became available on Spotify, so I was able to include songs from every Starpoint album except their 1980 self-titled debut. I'm glad I didn't do the playlist then, because some of my favorite Starpoint stuff is those earlier records that are heavy on live band funk. As they went on, though, they went through kind of the same evolution that the rest of the R&B world went through, through synth-heavy post-Prince grooves to a borderline pop/rock sound, and then New Jack Swing on their Teddy Riley-produced final album.
One thing I dig about Starpoint is that since Renee Diggs and Ernesto Phillips both sang lead, they had songs with male vocals, songs with female vocals, and also duets, not a lot of R&B groups have that Fleetwood Mac sort of dynamic. Diggs was a great singer, I tended toward uptempo songs on here, but I chose a couple slow jams where she really had great spotlight moments, "I Got The Love" and "Always On My Mind."
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