Side one begins with “Be Mine, Girl”, a mid-tempo tune driven by a strong dance beat and a great mix of vocal harmonies. The guys even throw in a little bit of rapping for good measure. All in all, it is a solid opening track that gets the party going.
“Don’t Make Me Dance (All Night Long)” mixes things up with a slow-winding reggae rhythm. The guys even adopt a Jamaican vocal inflection here.
The R&B slow-jam “Tears” was released as the second single. The track has a strong Smokey Robinson and the Miracles quality to it, complete with a falsetto lead vocal.
The first single from the group was “Let Me Love You”, an up-tempo tune with a bouncing dance beat.
Side two opens with ”Itchin’ for a Scratch”, which was released as the fourth single. As expected, this one features scratching techniques popular in the free-styling sounds from New York City in the early 80’s. The guys even throw a couple of “impressions” into the mix (see if you can identify them all).
The B-side to the second single and the A-side to the third single was “Forgive Me, Girl”. The mid-tempo dance groove is about a repentant guy who has wronged his girl.
“Let’s Stay Together” draws from late 70’s R&B and funk with its bass-centric foundation and accentuating horns.
The up-tempo “I Just Wanna Love You” brings the record to a close.
I mostly knew the Force M.D.’s from their hit single “Tender Love” (which appeared on their second album and on the Krush Groove soundtrack). As such, I came into my listening to Love Letters on Spotify with a fairly fresh perspective. This is a strong debut with solid production and performances. I enjoyed it a lot; it has quickly shot up to the top of my to-buy list of 1984 albums.
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