In 1979, Luther Vandross was a jingle-singing session vocalist with two underheard LPs languishing in the cut-out bins — a voice you could count on as a powerful backup or a not-quite-anonymous presence on cult disco hits, but no household name just yet. In 1981, he finally hit the top of the R&B album charts with his LP Never Too Much, with its title cut notching a #1 R&B single to boot. And in between, you can hear him right on the cusp in 1980, running off the strength of his one-album stint fronting a handful of songs by Italo-American disco-soul outfit Change on their debut The Glow of Love. He threatens to steal the entire album out from under the whole ensemble with just two tracks — the shuffle-beat Eurodisco of “Searching,” where he drives the lyrics’ lonely wanderings into the upper reaches of yearning, and the absolutely revelatory joy of his voice as he soars through his stunning range on the title track. But it’s not just Vandross’s album — it’s also Jocelyn Brown’s, and she infuses deep cuts “It’s a Girl’s Affair” and “Angel in My Pocket” with the propulsively euphoric diva rafter-singing that had disco dabblers and dancefloor lifers alike relieved that some new groups were still learning the right lessons from Chic. Producer Jacques Fred Petrus and his “Goody Music Orchestra” pulled off a solid Rodgers/Edwards-acknowledging sophistication, and it would continue to reap dividends during the first half of the ’80s, but they peaked early with Vandross and Browne in the foreground — and when it all converged like it did on “A Lover’s Holiday,” their dominance of the dance club charts in the Spring of 1980 felt well earned.