Rapture by Anita Baker (Album, Smooth Soul): Reviews, Ratings, Credits, Song list - Rate Your Music
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Rapture
By Anita Baker
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ArtistAnita Baker
TypeAlbum
Released22 March 1986
Recorded1985
RYM Rating 3.57 / 5.00.5 from 1,473 ratings
Ranked#164 for 1986
Genres
Descriptors
mellow, female vocalist, soft, longing, romantic, melodic, passionate, love, sensual, nocturnal, happy, warm
Language English

Track listing

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Issues

15 Issues

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15 Issues

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Credits

Credits

40 Reviews

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4.00 stars
Album 135 of 1001: Rapture by Anita Baker
I think the thing that has made listening to one of these albums every day so enjoyable is to see where my consumption and enjoyment of certain kinds of music has evolved. I can’t say for certain whether or not I would have loved this album 5 to 6 months ago, since it doesn’t exactly fit the bill of that poppy 80’s music I speak so negatively about. But what I can say for certain is that I found this album absolutely wonderful. This is the perfect definition of short and sweet. Eight songs that are paced exceedingly well, that total to not even forty minutes of music. And it starts off insanely strong, with Sweet Love. Beyond my predisposed attachment to the song simply because it was sampled by MF DOOM, it is also just a great soul song. And nearly every song after that displays the same characteristics of the opening track, with bright synth patterns and high pitched picky guitars. It’s a kind of guitar tone that I feel doesn’t get enough love, and really only thrived in this era. I love how the vibe changes slightly once you reach the B-side. The music is the same, but everything gets a little slower and sexier. And on top of everything, Anita just happens to have one of the most lively and beautiful singing voices I've ever heard in soul music, and maybe just in general. And it goes pairs flawlessly with the sound of the record. This is soul music with real genuine soul.
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Rating: 8/10
Favorite tracks: Sweet Love, You Bring Me Joy, Been So Long, No One in the World, Same Ole Love
Least favorite track: Watch Your Step
Would I recommend this to someone: Yes
Published
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 3.00 stars
What is soul music but the pews and pulpits secularised and sexualised? In that sense, a soul musician is not necessarily working with the same object as a rock group: it's not about finding one's space in the dialectic or marking out the aesthetic territory, but the slightly less demanding goal of a certain mode of expression being enough in and of itself, the human voice in thrall to ecstasy and tribulations.

Anita Baker is a good interpreter: at times her touch is light, at others deeply passionate. She tastes the words. Her range is notable. There are few complaints one could find to make. The sound of this record is as one would expect: the standardised radio synthesised-ness. As a sort of background music or an exercise in commercial appeal, 'Rapture' is a pleasant forty minutes, but rarely interesting.

27 December 2022.
Published
▼ 4.00 stars
  • 4.00 stars 1 Sweet Love
  • 3.50 stars 2 You Bring Me Joy
  • 4.00 stars 3 Caught Up in the Rapture
  •   4 Been So Long
  • 4.00 stars 5 Mystery
  •   6 No One in the World
  •   7 Same Ole Love
  •   8 Watch Your Step
Putty in her hands.

They say that there are three love hormones oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin well I have to tell you this is the album to stimulate all three.

You jest I hear you say.

No kidding, as smooth as a baby's bum it may be but this is disc is love personified with the potential to say "Yes I will, " to anything or as a panacea that will cure everything from that minor tiff to wars given a chance. Just put Anita Baker on and everything will just be beautiful.

Classy music for starry eyed romantics.
Published
960 444-2 CD (1986)
  
Another fine romance you got us into
Anita Baker's image as a romantic idol has taken a bit of a bashing in subsequent years, and for some she began to look more like a vengeful warrior than a dreamy songstress; though no one perceptive has ever said that you can't be both.
In truth, her offstage persona hasn't been meaningffully relevant, and much of it was the usual showbiz gossip.
It didn't affect the way 'Rapture' sounds, and I for one believe that she was the same kind of person who sang those songs. She was the same kind of person who shouted at people and demanded as much money as she could get as well.
it just proved that falling in love is sometimes better than being in love, as Michael Jackson and Patti Austin once sang together.
'Rapture' was indeed one of the great falling in love records. Although Anita Baker didn't write most of the album herself - apart from 'Been So Long' and a couple of other co-writes - it is a very personal statement. Songs of devotion, uncompromisingly expressed, with incredible vocal creativity and power.
There are so many great peformances on here, it's hard to pick out one, but 'No One In The World' is up there. 'Rapture' is an album of songs performed for eternity, not in the sense that it's a timeless sound, but for the spiritual content of the singing - the music production provides a somewhat perfunctory foil for that staged magic.

Those vocals come from an invisible universe - the one Anita Baker is living in on the cover - and definitely not the everyday one she makes her gossip headlines in.

It also produces a great album, though even if it's a favourite album of mine, in no way does it come close to emulating the performances in Anita Baker's live shows of the time.
Please see the 'One Night of Rapture' video to get an idea of how much better the songs were live.
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 3.50 stars
For me the strength of this album is doubtless Anita's voice - full and controlled, slightly low but always capable of hitting whatever note she sends it to. The whole synth-driven instrumentation isn't my style, but Anita helps give it the passion it needs to make the slickness relatively human. "Sweet Love" may be the famous track from this album, but honestly all of the songs are about the same quality - similar energy level, similar mood, similarly flawless vocals.

I can see why this album's popular. I wish I could rate it higher, as Anita's a great singer - the instrumentation just takes too much away for me.
Published
5.00 stars
This album is what heaven sounds like. Absolutely Glorious.


Highlights: (the entire album) -- but "Caught Up in the Rapture" is probably my favorite individual song
Published
▼ 5.00 stars
  • 5.00 stars A1 Sweet Love
  • 5.00 stars A2 You Bring Me Joy
  • 5.00 stars A3 Caught Up in the Rapture
  • 5.00 stars A4 Been So Long
  • 5.00 stars B1 Mystery
  • 5.00 stars B2 No One in the World
  • 5.00 stars B3 Same Ole Love
  • 4.50 stars B4 Watch Your Step
I've been listening to this every night on my tape deck for the past month to go to sleep. Just a really great example of solid soul music with tight production and fantastic vocals.

Side 2 is a lot "sleepier" than side 1, with Mystery being my personal favorite to fall asleep to.

You can't mention this album without talking about the many hip hop artists that have sampled tracks from this album, namely MF DOOM.

Also, finding the sample to Beside You on Under Two Palms for the first time was surreal.

update 11/20/2021:

now it's been nearly 4 months of listening to this every night. it's really so good. anita is at her best on this album and the instrumentation complements her perfectly. might raise this to a 5* later.

update 1/20/2022:

didn't mean to line up the dates like that lol. anyways, 5 months of listening to this every night, finally wore out the tape. I have some leader tape coming in the mail tomorrow so I can fix it.

update 5/20/2022:

9 months. took a few tries to fix the tape but I got it done (of course I did this in January lol). and now I have someone to think about when listening to this every night <3 <3 <3.
Published
3.50 stars
Absolute Classic,
I don't understand the hatred for this - but whatever.

"Rapture" is a fucking soul classic. I love this album so much, everything about it is so "80s" but in such a good way. Eight tracks where Anita is showing off her beautiful voice backed with synths and keyboards. It's great and I don't know what to tell you if you don't like this.
Published
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Catalog

Ratings: 1,473
Cataloged: 962
Track rating sets:Track ratings: 127
Rating distribution
Rating trend
Page 1 2 .. 9 .. 19 .. 29 .. 39 .. 49 .. 59 .. 69 .. 79 .. 89 .. 99 >>
21 Apr 2024
noahwiseau  4.50 stars Exceptional n excellent
20 Apr 2024
waddupbrad  1.50 stars
19 Apr 2024
EverySproutingTree  2.00 stars Meh
18 Apr 2024
pstp  3.00 stars
18 Apr 2024
Artem27f  3.00 stars
16 Apr 2024
harryclark97  2.00 stars
16 Apr 2024
daniel_onthe_beat Vinyl4.00 stars
16 Apr 2024
hjday01  4.00 stars
16 Apr 2024
wolff666  3.50 stars
15 Apr 2024
JanGesek  3.50 stars
12 Apr 2024
Car_Crash_Interior  4.00 stars
12 Apr 2024
coffeehatred  4.00 stars i'm feeling good, no complaints
10 Apr 2024
Bitteliciouz  5.00 stars
9 Apr 2024
gooseta  3.50 stars B
8 Apr 2024
blackcelebrationfan101  4.00 stars
Cover art for Rapture by Anita Baker
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Previous
Next
Previous in discography: The Songstress
The Songstress
Giving You the Best That I Got
Next in discography: The Songstress
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Track listing

Credits

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Contributions

Contributors to this release: jlebre, harvsoul, jkra3168, Alenko, [deleted], ulio, paolo69, [deleted], StudioMONDO, greenback
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