Alex Henderson

Diana Ross
Swept Away  [Deluxe Expanded Edition)

1984 was an eventful year for R&B—one that brought, to borrow the words of Maze & Frankie Beverly, joy and pain. 1984 gave us Prince’s classic Purple Rain album and gems like Billy Ocean’s “Caribbean Queen,” Cameo’s “She’s Strange” and Madonna’s Motown-drenched “Like a Virgin.” But it was also in 1984 that Marvin Gaye—one of R&B’s most iconic voices—met an untimely death at 44. The times were changing for R&B in 1984, and many R&B stars of the 1960s and 1970s were disappearing from the charts. But one 1960s/1970s superstar who thrived in 1984 was Diana Ross.

Released by RCA Records in September 1984, Ross’ Swept Away eventually sold over 900,000 copies in the U.S. alone. Fueling the album’s success were some major singles, including the melancholy ballad “Missing You” (which former Commodores singer turned solo star Lionel Richie wrote in Gaye’s memory) and the dance-oriented title song (which Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates produced with Arthur Baker). “Missing You” fared well on Billboard’s singles charts in the U.S., reaching #1 R&B, #4 adult contemporary and #10 on the Billboard Hot 100—and Swept Away’s title song soared to #1 dance and #3 R&B on Billboard’s U.S. singles charts.

Another major hit from Swept Away was the sentimental, Richard Perry-produced adult contemporary ballad “All of You,” a male/female duet with Spanish superstar Julio Iglesias that peaked at #2 on Billboard’s adult contemporary chart in the U.S. and was a #1 pop hit in Spain. And the funky, mid-tempo single “Telephone” (which was produced by Chic’s Bernard Edwards) reached #13 R&B in the U.S.

Stylistically, Swept Away isn’t the least bit predictable. Ross’ remake of Fontella Bass’ 1965 smash “Rescue Me” is straight-up soul, and “Touch by Touch” successfully blends dance-pop and Caribbean elements. Yet there is a strong pop-rock influence on the new wave-ish “It’s Your Move” and a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young.” Meanwhile, the Karla DeVito/Robby Benson song “Nobody Makes Me Crazy (Like You Do)” favors a bouncy new wave/synth-pop sound along the lines of Berlin and the Human League. DeVito has many credits on her résumé, but she is perhaps best known for performing with rocker Meatloaf on his Bat Out of Hell Tour in the late 1970s—and in an August 2014 interview, DeVito noted that it was singer Gene Simmons of the hard rock/heavy metal band Kiss who brought their material to Ross’ attention. Simmons told DeVito and Benson that Ross was looking for some new wave-type material for a new album; they submitted some songs and were delighted to learn that she planned to include “Nobody Makes Me Crazy (Like You Do)” on Swept Away.

DeVito happily remembers the day Ross wanted to talk to Benson, recalling: “We were working in NYC. Robby was in the shower, and I answered the phone. We had not given this number out to anyone. The young woman said, ‘Miss Ross will be calling shortly from the studio, where she is recording your song. She would like to speak with Mr. Benson—and please, do not call her Diana. Refer to her as Miss Ross when speaking with her.’ I hung up the phone and ran into the shower jumping up and down and screaming, ‘Robby! Diana Ross is going to call on the phone in a minute, and she wants to speak with you! But you’ve got to call her Miss Ross.”  

DeVito continues: “Robby was mid-shampoo, dripping with soap—

and then, the phone rang. It was Diana Ross. Miss Ross said she loved our song. The idea that Diana Ross—undying queen of the girl-group Motown sound, iconic diva of ‘Stop in the Name of Love,’ ‘Love Child,’ ‘Baby Love,’ ‘Come See About Me’ and a hundred more we adored—was recording our song, was almost too much to absorb.”

Originally released as a ten-song LP in 1984, Swept Away has been expanded to a two-CD set by FunkyTownGrooves. Disc 1 of this reissue contains the original 1984 LP in its entirety, while Disc 2 offers nine bonus tracks—and they include three versions of the title song (one of them instrumental), three versions of “Touch by Touch,” an edited version of “Telephone” and 7” single versions of “Missing You” and the song “Fight for It” (which was used as the b-side of the “Swept Away” 45 but wasn’t included on the original 1984 LP).

Swept Away boasts an impressive list of participants, including rocker Jeff Beck and Chic’s Nile Rodgers on guitar. There are some famous jazz musicians on board as well: Dave Weckl (who went on to join Chick Corea’s Elektric and Akoustic Bands) is heard on drums, and Ross is joined by Philadelphia’s influential Brecker Brothers. Trumpeter Randy Brecker and the late tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker not only had a major impact as jazz instrumentalists in the 1970s and 1980s—they also appeared on numerous rock and R&B albums.

Interviewed in July 2014, Randy Brecker pointed out that when Ross employed the Brecker Brothers on her Why Do Fools Fall in Love album in 1981 and on Swept Away in 1984, she had a long history of working with jazz musicians. “Motown musicians were mostly jazz cats or guys who loved bebop,” Brecker explains. “The same for Berry Gordy, who was a jazz pianist. And Miss Ross is a great singer in any context.”

Like Ross’ native Detroit, Philadelphia is famous for jazz and R&B—and as Randy Brecker sees it, the Brecker Brothers’ Philly upbringing prepared them for their accomplishments as both jazz instrumentalists and session musicians for Ross and many others. “Philly was a melting pot for different styles of music,” Brecker asserts. “The producers at Gamble & Huff were all beboppers—Vince Montana and Jimmy Wisner come to mind. Billy Paul was a jazz singer before ‘Me and Mrs. Jones,’ and he had teenagers Michael Brecker and Eric Gravatt—drummer for McCoy Tyner and Weather Report—in his band. So Philly was remarkably similar to Detroit in that regard. Jazz and R&B/soul were coming out of the same fountain.”

Thirty years after its initial release, Swept Away still demonstrates that 1984 was a highly productive year for Diana Ross.

—Alex Henderson, August 2014

Alex Henderson’s work has appeared in Billboard, Spin, Salon.com, Creem, The L.A. Weekly, AlterNet, JazzTimes, Jazziz, Cash Box, HITS, CD Review, Skin Two, Black Beat, The Pasadena Weekly, Black Radio Exclusive (BRE), Music Connection, Latin Style, The New York City Jazz Record, Jazz Inside Magazine and many other well-known publications. Henderson (alexvhenderson.com) also contributed several thousand CD reviews to the popular Allmusic.com website and The All Music Guide’s series of music reference books.