Lisa Stansfield – Real Love

Expectations ran incredibly high when the time came for Lisa Stansfield to deliver a second album, but unfortunately, she didn’t escape the infamous sophomore slump. Real Love, although far from a bad album, clearly falls short of Affection’s unmitigated excellence. Nonetheless, there are some definite gems here — including the poignant and heartbreaking ballad “All Woman,” the spunky “Soul Deep,” and the sleek “Set Your Loving Free.” While most of Real Love is at least decent and is far superior to most ’90s R&B, Stansfield is a major talent who — as the outstanding Affection quite clearly demonstrated — can do much better than “merely” good.