Sweet Love

Baker wrote it with bassist Louis A. Johnson, known for the Brothers Johnson, and saxophonist Gary Bias, and Michael J. Powell produced it. Released as a single in 1986, it reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, number two on the R&B chart and number three on the adult contemporary chart. In Britain it reached number 13. At the 1987 Grammys it won Best R&B Song for Baker, Bias and Johnson. It is in B-flat minor at 89 beats per minute, and Baker's vocal runs from E3 to F5. Albumism hears it fade in on a gospel-styled piano melody before a percussive backbeat arrives.

Easlea of the BBC named it one of the three most memorable tracks on Rapture, and said the lyric might have sounded trite from another singer but Baker gave it so much passion and wonderment that it reads like an old love sonnet. The players were Sir Gant on keyboards and arrangements, Greg Moore on guitar, Freddie Washington on bass, Ricky Lawson on drums and Paulinho da Costa on percussion. Jim Gilstrap, Bunny Hull and Daryl Phinnessee sang backing vocals with Baker.

Live and covers

At a January 1987 show at the Beverly Theatre in Los Angeles on the Rapture Tour, it sat late in the set between Watch Your Step and No One in the World. The jungle musician M-Beat took it to number 18 in Britain in 1994 with Nazlyn singing. The group Fierce recorded it in 1999 and released it as Sweet Love 2K in 2000 with new production by Stargate, reaching number three. It has been used in the films Dog Days and Blockers, both 2018.