In A Special Way
View on Discogs
View on Wikipedia
Album Summary
In A Special Way came into the world in 1983 on Gordy Records, that distinguished subsidiary of the mighty Motown family, and baby, it arrived with something to say. The album was produced by the then-emerging genius team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, two cats who were quietly rewriting the rules of R&B production from the ground up. They caught DeBarge at a moment of real artistic growth — a Grand Rapids family ensemble with voices that could make the angels stop and listen — and wrapped those heavenly harmonies in the sleek synthesizers and sculpted drum machine textures that were becoming the new language of soul in the early eighties. This was Motown reaching forward with one hand while holding tight to its vocal group legacy with the other, and In A Special Way was the beautiful result of that tension.
Reception
- The album climbed into the top 10 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart, confirming that DeBarge was no flash-in-the-pan but a genuine commercial force in 1980s R&B.
- The single "Time Will Reveal" became the album's breakout moment, earning heavy rotation on R&B radio and crossing over to wider audiences with its aching, slow-burn tenderness.
- Critics recognized the sophistication of the production and the remarkable depth of the group's vocal harmonies, even as some debated whether the polished electronic sheen suited the raw emotional power the family brought to their performances.
Significance
- In A Special Way stands as a defining document of early-eighties Motown modernization — a record that proved the label could embrace synthesizers and drum machines without sacrificing the soulful vocal tradition that made it legendary.
- The album captured the DeBarge family's singular vocal chemistry at its most focused and fully realized, arriving at a moment when the R&B world was rediscovering the power of the family group format.
- As one of the early marquee productions from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis before their careers reached full stratospheric height, In A Special Way holds a quiet but important place in the lineage of what would become the dominant R&B production aesthetic of the mid-to-late 1980s.
Samples
- Time Will Reveal — one of the most recognizable ballads in the DeBarge catalog, this track has drawn the attention of hip-hop and R&B producers across multiple decades for its lush harmonic texture and emotional vocal performance.
Tracklist
-
A1 Be My Lady 103
4:14
-
A2 Stay With Me 89
3:45
-
A3 Time Will Reveal 129
4:09
-
A4 Need Somebody 103
4:45
-
B1 Love Me In A Special Way 125
4:10
-
B2 Queen Of My Heart 75
3:35
-
B3 Baby, Won't Cha Come Quick 143
4:32
-
B4 I Give Up On You 129
3:40
-
B5 A Dream 144
4:15
Artist Details
DeBarge was a supremely gifted family group out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who burst onto the scene in the early 1980s under the Motown label, blending silky smooth R&B, funk, and pop into a sound so sweet it could make the hardest hearts melt — led by the angelic falsetto of El DeBarge, they gave the world timeless grooves like "All This Love" and "Rhythm of the Night" that kept the dance floors alive and the slow-drag couples swaying. They carried the torch of classic Motown soul into a new generation, proving that family harmony — both musical and familial — was still a powerful, beautiful thing in an era when the music industry was hungry for something real and heartfelt.
