"Soul Love" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie from his 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

Lyrically, the song is about numerous characters dealing with love before the impending disaster that will destroy Earth as described in the album's opening track "Five Years".

[2] Biographer Nicholas Pegg notes that the song acknowledges Bowie's formative years, calling the riff reminiscent of "Stand by Me" by Ben E.

[4] Author Peter Doggett writes that Bowie's voice sounds reminiscent of his 1977 album Low: dull, jaded, depressed and "sapped" of vitality.

[6] Doggett notes that following the "panoramic vision" of "Five Years", "Soul Love" offers a more "optimistic" landscape, with bongos and acoustic guitar indicating "mellow fruitfulness.

It opens with Woodmansey on drums playing rapid eighth notes on a closed hi-hat with a "kick-rimshot-kick" pattern, "garnished" by handclaps and congas.

[4] "Soul Love" was released on 16 June 1972 by RCA Records on Bowie's fifth studio album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, sequenced as the second track between "Five Years" and "Moonage Daydream".

In his book The Complete David Bowie, Pegg calls the track "sublimely melodic", giving praise to the "tight" guitar work and "charming" saxophone solo, writing "[it provides] a perfect bridge between the apocalyptic foreboding of 'Five Years' and the glam meltdown of 'Moonage Daydream'.

[8] When reviewing the 30th anniversary edition of Ziggy Stardust in 2002, Daryl Easlea of Record Collector called "Soul Love" one of Bowie's "greatest moments".

[12] Ian Fortnam of Classic Rock, when ranking every track on the album from worst to best, ranked the song at number ten (out of eleven), writing, "[the song] is significantly perkier than its portentous "Five Years" predecessor, but still sparkles with gorgeously under-stated Mick Ronson guitar details, Bowie's light and reedy sax break and an inspirational lyric highlighting love's all-pervasive carelessness.