Really Gloppy Love Songs!

My X-wife useta give me a tough time about getting all emotional & caught-up in gloppy old "girl group" songs like "Be My Baby" & "Baby I Love You." Obviously she didn't have a romantic bone in her body. Of course, she thot ABBEY ROAD was a comedy album, 2....
I've always bn a sucker 4 a good gloppy lovesong, as long as it's not COMPLETELY over-the-top, as long as it doesn't try 2 bury me in strings & orchestration & melodrama. There's no defense 4 liking some of the songs listed below, but I don't care. Let it roll....

The Playlist:
Ronettes -- Be My Baby, Baby I Love You, The Best Part of Breakin' Up, I Wonder, Do I Love You?
Stylistics -- You Are Everything, Betcha By Golly Wow.
When in Rome -- The Promise.
Celine Dion -- Nothing Broken But My Heart.
Paula Abdul -- Blowing Kisses in the Wind.
Earth, Wind and Fire -- After the Love Has Gone.
Bonnie Raitt -- I Can't Make You Love Me.
Fifth Dimension -- Wedding Bell Blues.
Sting - Fields of Gold.
Mamas and the Papas -- Dedicated to the One I Love, Twelve Thirty.
Lovin' Spoonful -- You Didn't Have to be So Nice.
Pam Tillis -- When You Walk in the Room, I Was Blown Away.
Mary-Chapin Carpenter -- Passionate Kisses.
Bread -- Everything I Own.
Pat Benatar -- We Belong.
Vanessa Williams -- Save the Best for Last.

NOTES: Hey, there's no Abba in this list....
NEway, what can I say about the Ronettes that my (suddenly much more easily workable) CD player didn't say a coupla weeks back? I can again point out that "Baby I Love You" shoulda bn a MUCH bigger hit. #24 just doesn't cut it. "The Best Part of Breakin' Up" sounds kinda like a rewrite of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," only with a great fake ending. "I Wonder" is a classic that shoulda bn a hit & apparently was never even released on a single -- what was Phil Spector THINKING? "Do I Love You?" was kinda disappointing -- the best parts R the instrumental sections.
Did you know the Ronettes' "chart life" only lasted a little over a year & they only had 1 #2 hit? "Baby I Love You" peaked at #24, "Walking in the Rain" at #23. Wonder why? I guess because the Beatles came along & Phil found other things 2 do, other acts 2 produce. 2 bad. NEway, all the Ronettes trax R from BE MY BABY: THE BEST OF.
The Stylistics at their best were SO SMOOTH. Later on they got a little TOO smooth. "You Are Everything" & "Betcha By Golly Wow" R classics that bring back the winter of 1971-72 pretty clearly 4 me -- even if I could never hit the high notes like Russell Tompkins Jr. did.... From THE BEST OF.
"The Promise" is a gorgeous piece of electro-dance stuff that I NEVER would've heard if I hadn't seen NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, still The Ultimate Idaho Movie.... From the ND SOUNDTRACK.
"Nothing Broken" is the only Celine Dion song that's ever grabbed me. If every artist (even Whitney Houston) has 1 song they were MEANT 2 do, that was Celine's. Paula Abdul's was "Blowing Kisses," a gorgeous symphonic # that I thot peaked a pretty useless career. I still think it's breathtaking. My only complaint has always bn that the ending just trails off.... After hearing it, I even started liking her earlier hit "Straight Up"....
EWF's "After the Love Has Gone" I was a sucker 4 back in my record store daze. Great horns, & really nice laid-back group vocals. 1 of my local radio stations plays it almost every nite, & that's overdoing it, but still....
"I Can't Make You Love Me" is the best thing I've ever heard Bonnie Raitt do. & it's gorgeous. But I admit I haven't heard much by her.... & why'd it only peak at #18? Can't people HEAR? (These last 4 trax were from homemade tapes....)
"Wedding Bell Blues" is a giant embarrassing piece of cheez -- which went 2 #1, of course -- but I love it 4 Bones Howe's old-timey production, the backing vocals, & the way Marilyn McCoo emotes all over the place. The late Laura Nyro wrote it, + 4 other hits 4 the 5D's.
...But why R the 5D's so uncool? "Aquarius" is cool, & "If I Could Reach You" is freakin' gorgeous, & I love a couple of the others ("Carpet Man"). But maybe it's cos they sound SO 1970. Not enuf soul? Gorgeous vocal blend tho, really underrated.... From THE GREATEST HITS ON EARTH.
"Fields of Gold" isn't gloppy? I think this nostalgic, vivid, possibly remorseful peek in2 the past is the best thing Sting's done solo. It's gorgeous. & I only just started noticing it a few weeks ago.... From THE VERY BEST OF STING & THE POLICE.
I'm a sucker 4 "Dedicated," a prayer I've loved since highschool. & "Twelve Thirty" has always bn my fave Mamas&Papas song, even more than "California Dreamin'" -- I've adored it ever since it had a little revival in Fall '73 on KFXD in Boise, where it got played a ton 4 all the kids who missed it back in 1967, I guess. Why did this gorgeous hymn only peak at #20? Both from GREATEST HITS.
"Nice" is my fave Spoonful song. I like "Do You Believe in Magic?" & "Darling Be Home Soon" & "Summer in the City," 2. But I can't stand "Nashville Cats." Or "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?" Lotsa good-timey stuff there, also underrated.... From GREATEST HITS.
"When You Walk in the Room" is perfect & shoulda bn a HUGE hit. Jackie DeShannon wrote it, the Searchers almost hadda hit with it (#35 in '64), & radio programmers musta bn deaf not 2 play this 1 on pop stations. Great vocals, great guitars, really punchy. "Blown Away" is guaranteed gloppy, but there's some great -- tho brief -- guitar work during the middle break. & there's Pam's sweet vocals. Both from SWEETHEART'S DANCE.
"Passionate Kisses" is just about perfect & still makes me bounce around the room. From COME ON COME ON.
Bread did lotsa great stuff & they're still underrated. "Everything I Own" was my absolute fave back when I was 13 years old, & it still sounds great all these years later. I love the way it builds in drama. From THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION -- which includes a lot of their REALLY GREAT B-sides & album trax, which you really should check-out -- Xcept 4 the absolute classic "Been Too Long on the Road," which some dummy left off the 2-disc set....
"We Belong" is the best thing Benatar ever did, tho I still like hard-hitting "Hard to Believe" & "Precious Time" & her cover of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" & a coupla others.... From TROPICO.
I always thot "Save the Best for Last" was a lump-in-the-throat masterpiece -- gorgeous piano, the hushed mood, & Vanessa's great vocals. & I like the story the lyrics tell. From THE COMFORT ZONE.

...I probly left some things out. Most pop songs R lovesongs, so there's probly something obvious I listen 2 all the time & just didn't play on Sat. Like Abba. Which means there'll havta B "Even MORE Really Gloppy Love Songs" -- Coming Soon!