Change
The Glow of Love

THE REVIEW

Pilot project of the legendary label Goody Music, directed by the late producer Jacques Petrus and the great Mauro Malavasi (later producer of Italian groups like Bennato and Nannini).

"The Glow of Love" is their debut album. Produced in 1980 by the duo Petrus & Malavasi, it quickly reached the highest positions on the R&B Billboard chart, propelling the group towards the highest peaks of international discography. "The Glow of Love" is also one of the best moments of the genre in the 80s. After the death (only on paper) of disco music and the crisis of Funk, it seemed that the world had suddenly grown tired of hearing this type of music, thanks to the rise of phenomena like Punk. Petrus thus immediately sought to distance himself from the world of nightclubs, searching for a sound that attempted to mediate the hypnotic groove of disco with more sophisticated pop, aiming to satisfy a large audience.
Change, in fact, had to act as a "bridge" between the two worlds.
To put his ideas into practice, Petrus surrounded himself with great international session musicians; like Luther Vandross, producers like Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, great musicians like Paolo Gianolio, Davide Romani, and expert sound engineers like Michael Brauer; ready from the start to imprint their great style at the service of the band.

The album opens with the stunning "A lover's holiday", which includes an astonishing vocal performance by Vandross, supported by an effective gospel-style choir; the rhythmic part of the piece, on the other hand, immediately recalls the Chic of Neil Rodgers, although, as we will see in the following albums, Davide Romani; the bassist, will be able to develop his personal tone, which will characterize the sound of the band and beyond. "It's a girl's affair", on the other hand, carries reminiscences of certain late-Seventies Eurodisco, as the project was amidst the two decades. Next comes "Angel in my pocket", a groove ecstasy with a hypnotic funk bass line, always played by Romani, and supported by effective piano and violin chords. "The Glow of Love" is another great classic of R&B; sampled by hundreds of producers in the nineties (R. Kelly turned it into a hit on the album "R"), besides having had a significant influence on new black musical groups. Both this and the following piece ("Searchin'") are once again enriched by the excellent vocal contribution of the late Luther Vandross, at the time on the brink of a rapidly ascending music career. The album closes with "The end". The song is a sort of instrumental jam that plays a lot with synth arpeggios à la Giorgio Moroder, helping to enrich the entire album with an epic flavor. As a closing, it's not bad at all, even if, in the long run, it's the only song that somewhat feels the weight of time.

Petrus subsequently released five more Change albums. Notably, the first two ("Miracles" and "Sharing your love", produced during 1982-83), further expanding the band's artistic journey, which would steadily veer towards sophisticated pop-soul, with varying results over the years.

The greatest merit of Change, and of the entire Goody Music, was bringing made-in-Italy dance music to international prominence. Unfortunately, the murder of producer Jacques "Fred" Petrus in Guadalupe put an end, in 1986, to the legendary label; today resurrected from the ashes thanks to the international reissue of all its records by labels of soul-funk sound aficionados scattered across every corner of the globe.