George Benson – Turn Your Love Around / Nature Boy [1981; Warner Bros. Records]

On this single’s A-side, George Benson combines his soulful singing with some synthed-up disco flavor, putting a big burst of energy into the choruses. The groove hits firm, and the multi-tracked vocals give each other good reinforcement, but aside from the main hook, it ends up not being too memorable. The cover of “Nature Boy” on the B-side applies the same electrodisco style, but lets the melody take the lead, resulting in a more engaging and funky piece. Neither song is really great, but both are enjoyable.

Here’s the cover art used in the UK.

In France.

Italy.

And Japan.

El DeBarge – Who’s Johnny? / Love Always [year unknown; Motown]

Pulling two songs from El DeBarge’s debut solo album, this single opens with the one used in the movie Short Circuit, a spangly electro/soul/pop piece about a man trying to dig into his lover’s infidelity, and the tell-tale signs giving her away. The vocals and instrumentation are well-matched, trading the lead power between the two sides while escalating the whole thing, and there are some neat twists put into the song’s arrangement. The B-side slows down to a sultry pace, with the soul aspects given more prominence, but with the toned-down electronics, it ends up feeling kind of bland, with the touches of cheesy ‘80s sax not doing much to alleviate that impression. Not a bad pair, but the A-side easily steals the thunder.

The Manhattans – Sweet Talk [1989; Valley Vue Records]

On their first non-Columbia album since 1972, and their first with new lead singer Roger Harris, The Manhattans fuse their R&B with electro to a significant degree, with practically all of the instrumentation sounding plasticky and synthetic. It makes for an interesting contrast with their soulful singing, and the beats are programmed with enough liveliness to keep up with the vocal flexibility, but there’s still an odd edge of friction that keeps the two sides from fully coming together.

Where the chintzy sound doesn’t help is in bolstering the sappy and often clichéd lyrics, which frequently devolve into just repeating the same line or word while the song fades into silence. As such, the music tends to feel like department store fodder (especially in times of smooth sax), with little bite or passion to the music. There are a few momentary exceptions, but they make up a very small percentage of the content, and the album finishes with very little memorable material.

Here’s the cover art used for the 1993 reissue.

And for the 2000 reissue.