Nighttime Lovers

Like Masterpiece, another compilation series from the Netherlands' PTG label, Nighttime Lovers pulls up all manner of club-oriented R&B released throughout the 1980s, albeit with a pronounced emphasis on the obscure and mostly forgotten end. The first volume, a two-disc set, presents itself as an extension of DJ Ferry Maat's Soulshow radio program. (No young pup, Maat has been on the Netherlands airwaves since the late '70s.) The biggest hit here is probably Lillo Thomas' "Your Love's Got a Hold on Me," a number 11 R&B hit from the summer of 1984; otherwise, we're talking mostly minor hits (lower reaches of the club and R&B charts) and off the radar material released by fledgling independents and major labels that evidently had higher priorities at the time -- like Centerfold's Monte Moir-produced "Admit It," an unexceptional cross-section of Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done for Me Lately" and Cameo released on Columbia in 1988 with little impact. Highlights include A Taste of Honey's charming "Sayonara" and a trio of Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi productions (Change's "Tell Me Why," High Fashion's "You Satisfied My Needs," and BB & Q Band's particularly excellent "Time for Love"). ~ Andy Kellman