Kim Carnes - Romance Dance (1980/2022)

Two months after Kim Carnes notched a number four hit by teaming up with Kenny Rogers for "Don't Fall in Love With a Dreamer," she managed to take a rendition of Smokey Robinson's "More Love" to the number ten spot. Unfortunately, the song's parent album, Romance Dance, turned out to be a rather bland effort as a whole. While her temperate but marbly voice gives Robinson's tune some added attraction, the other tracks seem to fall off into the listlessness of plain, adult contemporary fare. Her version of the Boxtops' "Cry Like a Baby" is almost as good, but wispy cuts like "Tear Me Apart" and "Will You Remember Me" are too typical to be memorable. Carnes' favorable radio ease is indeed present, but her material just doesn't lift it high enough to make a difference. "More Love" was her first Top 40 hit without a partner singing beside her, but was immensely overshadowed and soon forgotten, as was Romance Dance, after the release of 1981's Mistaken Identity, which harbored the Grammy-winning "Bette Davis Eyes," reaching number one in April of that same year. Carnes put another six songs into the Top 40 after the success of "Bette Davis Eyes," including 1984's "What About Me," hooking up once again with Kenny Rogers and joined by James Ingram.