Having brought you the electronic and pop side of the 80s with 80s Anthems, Union Square Music now presents the more soulful side of the decade with 80s Groove.

Throughout the 80s a smooth dancefloor friendly genre developed that saw beats slowing down and basslines being cranked up. Hit after hit saw clubs up and down the country packed out as Jocelyn Brown, Mantronix, Maze, Simply Red, Mica Paris, Loose Ends, Soul II Soul, Neneh Cherry and many more produced classic after classic, many of them on this fantastic compilation.  

It was one of the most funky and feel-good periods of club music, supported by the rise of the music video and the birth of MTV which broadened musical styles and tastes and brought club soul to the mainstream. This soulful side to the 80s was heavily influenced by American soul artists of the time such as Luther Vandross, Alexander O’Neal, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Chaka Khan as well as the new rap stars like Grandmaster Flash and Eric B and Rakim. Even Debbie Harry joined in with a rap on the acclaimed Rapture. 

So popular was the slow, more laid-back, sound that even former punks / new wavers such as Paul Weller and Feargal Sharkey got in on the act. The UK also saw its own homegrown soul acts come to the fore with artists like Jaki Graham, Loose Ends and Shakatak all having  numerous chart hits while artists like Jazzie B from Soul II Soul and Neneh Cherry created their own very UK take on soul, funk, rap and pop. All these artists foreshadowed the R&B explosion of the 90s but that was a decade away – 80s groovers were far too busy having their own soulful party to worry about the future.

80s Groove is a definitive retrospective of this period, with 60 top 10 hits and 10 No 1’s five on 5 incredible CDs to transport you back to a classic era in music.