To
Change's detractors, the studio group was nothing more than a poor man's
Chic. But knowledgeable disco and R&B enthusiasts knew better;
Change wasn't a carbon copy of
Chic any more than jazz great
Chet Baker was a clone of
Miles Davis. Without question,
Change was heavily influenced by the
Nile Rodgers/
Bernard Edwards sound; nonetheless,
Change had an energy of its own, and anyone who seriously listened to its first album, The Glow of Love, could easily tell the difference between
Chic and
Change (just as serious jazz fans can tell the difference between Baker's trumpet playing and Davis'). Produced by
Jacques Fred Petrus and arranged by
David Romani and
Paolo Gianolio, this 1980 debut is a disco/R&B masterpiece. The playful opener "A Lover's Holiday" is
Change's best-known song, but the group is just as captivating on the sassy "It's a Girl's Affair" and the passionate "Angel in My Pocket." Meanwhile,
Luther Vandross is featured on "Searching" and the dreamy, laid-back title song, which became a quiet storm favorite and demonstrates that not everything
Change recorded was aimed at the dancefloor. In 1980, Vandross had yet to provide his first solo album, although many of the people who heard his performances on those two gems agreed that a solo career was inevitable; and sure enough, his first big solo hit, "Never Too Much," came out the following year. Excellent from start to finish, The Glow of Love is
Change's most essential album.