Last week, pop, soul and rhythm romancer Billy Ocean announced a highly anticipated UK tour. It’ll commence at the O2 Apollo in Manchester with at least 14 dates in total, including Edinburgh, Newcastle and London.
Ocean has an incredible amount of repeatable hits that are not only genre-blending but also diverse in the atmosphere they can suit. ‘Red Light Spells Danger’ is simultaneously danceable in its side-to-side swinging nature, but its lyrics convey a fear of living without a lover. Everybody knows and loves ‘Caribbean Queen (No More Love On the Run)’ and can instantly recognise the piano chords at the start of ‘Love Really Hurts Without You’.
But, Ocean is more than his hits. He has a delectable, addictive collection of sounds that might’ve missed your attention. Here are seven of his non-hits that are worth a listen:
‘Soul Rock‘
This charming track from his self-titled 1976 debut begins simply with a sweet, gentle acoustic guitar, and it instantly creates a vision of the singer strumming peacefully by the ocean. It’s rather melancholy with doo-wop style backing vocals and trombones as the main man sings “Everybody you got to join in / Follow the beat, and get in the swing”. Is it emotionally complex? No. But that’s precisely the beauty of ‘Soul Rock’.
Leslie Charles and Bob Puzey are credited as the lyricists on this track but it is Ocean’s voice that really brings the lyrics to life.
‘Showdown’
From the same album that brought ‘When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Gets Going’ (the UK and US number 1 single) and ‘There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)’, also a number 1 single in the US, is. ‘Showdown’. This one sounds like it could be on the soundtrack for Beverly Hills Cop, or any 80’s action film, and shows off his musical range. Between the 1970s and 1980s, Ocean proved that his sound could switch up at any time: just hear the difference between ‘Showdown’ and ‘Soul Rock’.
‘Bitter Sweet’
Similarly to ‘Showdown’, ‘Bitter Sweet’ is a dazzling, suspenseful track. Again, there is a saxophone (this goes without saying now). This is Ocean in 1986 going pop-heavy: but as always, he brings charisma that makes it feel like so much more. Ocean performed this track a couple of times around the time of its release, but like some of the others on this list, hasn’t done so recently. NME reported that Ocean’s 2025 tour has conveniently left a gap which coincides with Glastonbury. ‘Showdown’ and ‘Bitter Sweet’ are both upbeat tracks that would get festival crowds going, so they’d be strong additions to Ocean’s potential Glastonbury set.
‘The Long and Winding Road’
Recognising the notion that sometimes you might need a good cry, Ocean covered ‘The Long and Winding Road’ in 1985.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote this heart-wrenching song for the Beatle’s 1970 album Let It Be. Both versions are sombre and certainly don’t make for light, casual listening, but Ocean’s cover feels slightly less bleak.
One important aspect of Ocean is that his sad songs feel more after the fact. Take an artist like Lana Del Rey, whose music often romanticises sadness and embraces it in some ways, Ocean’s songs talk of sadness but attempt to move you away from it.
‘Smile’
“What do you see when you look in the mirror? / Where do you go when you step out your door? What do you see when you look in the papers?” Ocean is full of questions on ‘Smile’. It’s funky, synth-heavy and features a saxophone solo, which we know is a trademark of Ocean’s tracks. In ‘Smile’, he says regardless of what you see or where you go, just remember to cheer up a bit.
‘One World’
It’s initially surprising to hear ‘One World’ start with an electronic bass and subsequently a repetitive, taunting ‘so, so, so?”. It’s a different sound from Ocean, especially if you haven’t kept up with him in recent years.
Nine seconds into ‘One World’, a groovy bass accompanies Ocean’s passionate falsetto. He’s unchanged! In the song, he addresses the current state of the world: “So much demonstrations / People voicing their opinion / We got to find a solution”. This is the title track from his 2020 album, One World, where a more concerned, political voice emerges from Ocean’s decades-running calls for love and embrace, and it may be this that spurred him back into making music.
Nobody could’ve predicted what a soulful maestro who’d left a decade-long gap between albums would come out with next. Some might have safely assumed that Ocean was done with making albums and quite happy having a secure catalogue to sail through at his will.
‘Betcha Don’t Know’
Another superb track from One World, where “I bet you don’t know” is sung to a similar tune as Tina Turner’s 1989 hit, ‘The Best’. It’s so memorable and is equally as likely as Turner’s hit to become engrained in your mind.
One World received a positive reception from critics, and tracks such as these is why it feels unfair to refer to Billy Ocean as a ’70s or ‘80s star because his new music is worthy of the same acclaim as ‘Love Really Hurts Without You’ or ‘Suddenly’.
Ocean has certainly not abided by the two or three-year album turnaround that we would typically expect from popular artists, but this sporadic output has worked in his favour. The long gaps between albums meant he had plenty of time to work with different sounds.
Ocean has just announced three additional dates to his 2025 tour, ‘The Very Best of Billy Ocean’; you never know, he might give some much-deserved attention to his lesser-played songs!
Fancy grabbing tickets? Get them here.
Words by Kai Palmer
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