Love Songs

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and I kind of take that pretty seriously. And by “pretty seriously” I mean I like to pull out all the stops. Why not? Life is short and you never know where you may be from one day to the next, and with whom. Love is a powerful thing. Armies are launched because of it. History is made because if it. Thrones are abdicated, works of art are created, worlds collide and become one entangled and intangible in these invisible lines that connect the atomic matter in the heavenly skies to that same matter that makes up the stuff that pumps through are veins. When you stand in the desert and you look up at the sky and see all the stars and you realize how very small you are, that’s what love kind of feels like to me. It’s a geyser that flows from a deeper place when you are standing next to that certain someone. I don’t know, but I like it – or as George Harrison once wrote, “I dig love.”

Here’s all three of my Love Break mix series that I did about a decade ago and caught some notoriety from. Nothing but some of my favorite classic soul love jams from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Also here’s Valentine’s Roll which was another mix of mine with some of my favorite jams. Nothing fancy, just raw and stripped to the bone. The way that love really is. It makes you feel naked and pure, guard down love up. And the songs lend us voices for when we can’t sing what we feel.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy them. Download links are in the comments on each individual page so feel free to put them on your box and play loud. Just play them with someone you love if you can. And if not, think about that person. With love.

Valentine’s Roll by Cosmo Baker on Mixcloud

01: The Friends Of Distinction “Going In Circles”
02: Aretha Franklin “Call Me”
03: Donny Hathaway “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know”
04: Rick James & Teena Marie “Fire & Desire”
05: Curtis Mayfield “Sweet Exorcist”
06: James Brown “That’s My Desire”
07: Otis Redding “That’s How Strong My Love Is”
08: Sam Cooke “Bring It On Home To Me”
09: Irma Thomas “Ruler Of My Heart”
10: Al Green “Simply Beautiful”
11: The Isley Brothers “Voyage To Atlantis”
12: George Harrison “I’d Have You Anytime”
13: Stevie Wonder “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)”
14: Patrice Rushen “Settle For My Love”
15: Prince “Adore”
16: Quincy Jones “The Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite)”
17: René & Angela “Your Smile”
18: The Isley Brothers “Fire & Rain”
19: The Smith Connection “Rainy Days & Mondays”
20: Darondo “Listen To My Song”
21: The Beach Boys “Forever”
22: Rita Wright “I Can’t Give Back The Love I Feel For You”
23: Black Ivory “Got To Be There”
24: Brenda Russell “So Good, So Right”
25: Bonnie Pointer “More And More”
26: David Bowie “Can You Hear Me”
27: Earth, Wind & Fire “Can’t Hide Love”
28: The Rolling Stones “Let It Loose”
29: Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell “If This World Were Mine”
30: East Of Underground “I Love You”
31: The Delfonics “Walk Right Up To The Sun”
32: The New Birth “You Are What I’m All About”
33: Steely Dan “Any Major Dude”
34: Bill Withers “Can We Pretend”

Love Break by Cosmo Baker on Mixcloud

01: Love Break Introduction
02: Samuel Jonathan Johnston “My Music”
03: Tom Brock “There’s Nothing In This World That Can Stop Me From Loving You”
04: The Dramatics “In The Rain”
05: William Bell “I Forgot To Be Your Lover”
06: William Bell & Mavis Staples “Strung Out”
07: Nina Simone “Baltimore”
08: Gwen McCrae “Let’s Straighten It Out”
09: L.T.D. “Love Song”
10: The Isley Brothers “Hello It’s Me”
11: The Meters “Wichita Lineman”
12: Eddie Kendricks “If You Let Me”
13: Al Green “Light My Fire”
14: Heatwave “Stay Of A Story”
15: Curtis Mayfield “The Makings Of You”
16: Marvin Gaye “Come Live With Me Angel”
17: Gene Chandler “Tomorrow I may Not Feel The Same”
18: The Dells “Does Anybody Even Know I’m Here”
19: Ethel Beatty “It’s Your Love”
18: Aretha Franklin “With Everything I Feel In Me”
19: Joe Simon “Before The Night Is Over”
18: David Ruffin “Common Man”
19: Z.Z. Hill “That Ain’t The Way You Make Love”
20: The Jackson 5 “We Got A Good Thing Going”
21: The Isley Brothers “Here We Go Again”
22: Madeline Bell “Make That Move”
23: Milton Wright “Keep It Up”
24: Odyssey “Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love”

Love Break 2 by Cosmo Baker on Mixcloud

01: Soul Mann & The Brothers “Bumpy’s Intro”
02: The Jackson 5 “All I Do Is Think Of You”
03: The Intruders “Memories Are Here To Stay”
04: Johnny “Guitar” Watson “Lovin’ You”
05: The Manhattans “Devil In The Dark”
06: The Ebonys “You’re The Reason Why”
07: Al Green ” I Wish You Were Here”
08: Luther Ingram “To The Other Man”
09: Eddie Kendricks “Intimate Friends”
10: Don Blackman “Loving You, Holding You”
11: Lamont Dozier “The Picture Will Never Change”
12: Dynasty “Adventures In The Land Of Music”
13: Dionne Warwick “You’re Gonna Need Me”
14: Bobby Glenn “Sounds Like A Love Song”
15: The Impressions “Man, Oh Man”
16: Billy Stewart “We’ll Always Be Together”
17: Lyn Collins “Take Me, Just As I Am”
18: The Ambassadors “Ain’t Got The Love”
19: The Fuzz “I Love You For All Seasons”
20: The Delfonics “La-La Means I Love You”
21: The Impressions “Gone Away”
22: Jean Plum “Here I Go Again”
23: The Dells “Free And Easy”
24: The Three Degrees “You’re The Fool”
25: The Temptations “I Wish It Would Rain”
26: Marvin Gaye “Hope I Don’t Get My Heart Broke”
27: The Jackson 5 “2-4-6-8″
28: Edna Wright “Oops! Here I Go Again”

Love Break Three – The Heart’s Final Chapter by Cosmo Baker on Mixcloud

01: Love’s Intro
02: Ace Spectrum “I Don’t Want To Play Around”
03: Banks & Hampton “I’m Gonna Have To Tell Her”
04: Major Harris “I Got Over Love”
05: New BIrth “It’s Been A Long Time”
06: Eddie Holman “It’s Over”
07: Black Ivory “(It’s) Time To Say Goodbye”
08: Marvin Gaye “Is That Enough”
09: Top Shelf “Let Them Keep On Talking”
10: Lloyd Price “What Did You Do With My Love”
11: Jerry Butler “No Money Down”
12: The Moments “Love On A Two-Way Street”
13: Steve Parks “Still Thinking Of You”
14: Solomon Burke “Everlasting Love”
15: Clay Hunt “(I’m Claimin’) FInders Keepers”
16: Angela Winbush “Angel”
17: The Isley Brothers “Ain’t I Been Good To You”
18: Sweet Blindness “Ain’t No Use”
19: Billy Stewart “Cross My Heart”
20: The Delfonics “Trying To Make A Fool Out Of Me”
21: Freddie Hughes “Sarah Mae”
22: The Three Degrees “Collage”
23: Nancy Wilson “I’m In Love”
24: Patrice Rushen “Where There Is Love”
25: Joann Garett “It’s No Secret”
26: Bobby Womack “Woman’s Gotta Have It”
27: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles “A Legend In It’s Own Time”
28: Ben Vereen “I’ll Keep A Light In My Window”
29: Teddy Pendergrass “I’ll Never See Heaven Again”
30: Diana Ross “One Love In My Lifetime”
31: Brothers By Choice “Baby, You Really Got Me Going”
32: Mary Wells “Two Lovers History”