Selector Sam Don’s 2020 compilation, For The Love Of You, and its 2022 Volume 2.1, shone a spotlight on lovers rock, and in no small measure helped spark a renewed interest in the genre. Sam’s new follow-up, Just A Touch, is the perfect partner to those collections – very much a joining of the dots. Many of the street soul tunes here, I’m sure, were also played at reggae dances, and all of them bear big bottom-ends that betray the influence of sound system culture. For several songs there’s a direct link. Step By Step, originally released on Jazzie B’s label, Funki Dreds, for example, is sung by Kofi. A vocalist who’s a mainstay of Mad Professor’s Ariwa imprint. Sonja Ryshard / Ferguson is another renowned reggae singer, active throughout the late 1970s, early `80s, and who voiced with respected folks such as On-U Sound’s Creation Rebel. Sonja is the person behind the smash, Easier To Love, which was recently reissued by Cha Cha / Backatcha. Pure Silk, an alias of Black Slate keyboardist, Anthony Brightly, released on reggae label, Sir George (run by his dad), and also appeared on one of Sam’s previous lovers rock comps. 

Sam’s choices date from 1987 to 1996, but the bulk of them are late `80s, early `90s sides, recorded just pre- and post- the second summer of love. The outliers are Bernadette “Bo vel” Mosoph’s Coming Back – which is the flip of her classic, Check 4 U – and an alternate cut of Marcelle Moncrieffe’s Take Me There, which first appeared on Lloydie Crucial’s junglist label. The latter’s melody  demonstrates how this music was also born of the UK’s rare groove boom. Just like house was “disco’s revenge”, well, this is rare groove’s counterpart. A musical movement led by Soul II Soul, and perhaps further inspired by pop charts peppered with likeminded acts, with similar backgrounds in hip hop and reggae, such as the bass heavy Bristol sounds of Smith & Mighty and Massive Attack. This is music made by young, enthusiastic local crews, with limited resources, and limited experience, but big, big dreams, aiming to emulate their success. In the process, producing post-Soul II Soul shuffles that, on shoestring budgets, strive for the slick sophistication of, say, Martine Girault / Ray Hayden’s Revival, but never quite mange to pull it off. Instead, with rough, raw, edges, creating something unique. Despite being a distinct snapshot, of a specific genre, in a tight time-frame, there’s a whole lot of individuality on display. 

Many of the tracks are catchy-chorused urban inner city love songs, but rarely are the lyrics soppy, submissive, or wet. Rather they’re empowered, and drawn from personal experience. There’s heartbreak, yeah, but these ladies aren’t prepared to put up with any more of their men’s bullshit. The rhymes, and odd rap, are hopeful and optimistic. Facing toward the future. Projecting a positive message. The vibe is totally “loved-up”, and in London at least, by 1990, when E`s rushing BPMs for a minute slowed to around 98, this stuff went hand-in-hand with house and Balearic. Most of the scene’s prime movers and shakers were soul girls and boys, and this was the music of warm-ups, back rooms, bars, and wonderful end-of-the-night moments. 

OGs of everything here would cost you an arm and a leg. There’s easily a couple of grand’s worth of tunes, the product of private presses and short-lived indies, and as such it’s an irreplaceable set. If I had to pick a standout it’d be Taffy’s terrific piano-tastic Passion. 

Sam Don’s Just A Touch is out now on Athens Of The North.