David Sanborn - Love Songs (1995)

This compilation may be one of the best make-out albums released since Al Green's Greatest Hits. We get 11 instrumentals and one vocal track (featuring Linda Ronstadt) from albums released in the years 1976-1988. Even though I have a number of Sanborn albums from that time span, there are only 5 tracks from those currently owned albums on this disc.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did Not Chart

Tracks:

Song	Album	Year
All I Need Is You (edit)	Voyeur	1981
Straight To The Heart	As We Speak	1982
One In A Million	Voyeur	1981
It's You	Double Vision	1986
The Seduction	Hideaway	1980
Imogene	A Change Of Heart	1987
You Don't Know Me	Double Vision	1986
You Are Everything	Close-Up	1988
I Do It For Your Love	Sanborn	1976
When You Smile At Me	Backstreet	1983
Lisa	Hideaway	1980
The Water Is Wide	previously unreleased	1985

I've already raved about All I Need Is You from the 1981 album Voyeur. I love that tune (warning: you get a 3:38 edited version on this album compared to 5:47 on Voyeur). Also good are Straight To The Heart, One In A Million, It's You, and Lisa. My least favorite tune is Imogene. I'm also not wild about the inclusion of The Water Is Wide featuring Linda Ronstadt. It's a beautiful song based on a traditional British folk song, Ronstadt's vocals are characteristically fantastic, it just doesn't fit with the rest of the album. And while it is a love song, the lyrics tell the tale of a love gone sour: "but love grows old and waxes cold and fades away like the morning dew." Is that how you really want to end an album of love songs?

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  Track 5, The Seduction, was the "Love Theme" from the Richard Gere movie American Gigolo. It was a minor Top 40 hit in 1980 (it peaked at #28), but I was drawn to it and bought the 45 single. Perhaps that was my first purchase in the smooth jazz genre. If I remember correctly, the flip side was an instrumental version of Blondie's Call Me, another track from the movie. Man, I wished I had kept all my vinyl.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Timeagain (2003)
The Best of (1994)
Upfront (1992)
A Change of Heart (1987)
Backstreet (1983)
As We Speak (1982)
Voyeur (1981)