Ever since she first burst onto the dance/acid house scene of the late 80s with the Coldcut produced hit single, "People Hold On" (unfortunately not included on this particular version of the album), Lisa's unique vocal talents and exuberant singing style quickly became widely recognised and established her as one of the best singers of the 90s. The album includes her biggest hit and most well known track, "All Around The World", as well as the uplifting dance single "This Is The Right Time" (also produced by Coldcut).
As is often the case with dance albums, take away the couple of hit singles, and you are only left with bland and repetitive filler. This is most definitely NOT the case with Affection. Every single song on the album is as good as those two anthems, and any of them would have been potential hit-single material. You Can't Deny It (US hit single in spring 1990, but never released in the UK, strangely) is another "All Around The World" style soul-groove number, but with a much more optimistic and uplifting tone. "The Love In Me" and "Affection", carry on the optimistic and uplifting ethos, but with the more dance orientated style of "People Hold On", and "This Is the right time", while "Mighty Love", "Sincerity" and "When are You Coming back" add a chilled, classy downbeat R&B feel to the mix. This variety of styles, but consistent quality ensures that Affection is an entertaining and enjoyable album that never becomes repetitive. The clean, minimalist instrumentation and crisp production makes for a smooth, classy sound that has dated far less than most comparable material of this era, while Stansfield's smooth, multi-faceted vocals and meaningful songwriting lift it way above the norm. It remains her best selling album (peaked at no 2 in the UK chart in Dec 1989 and sold over 5 million copies) and I can see why. While her follow-up albums are also great, I personally feel they lack the variety and creative sparkle that really distinguished Affection from its contemporaries, making this one the pick of the bunch.