Stares and Whispers is Freda Payne's seventh studio album released in 1977; it was also her first for Capitol Records.

[2] The album was re-released by a British label called Soulmusic.Com on July 26, 2011.

The reissue contains three bonus tracks ("I Can't Live on a Memory," "Baby You've Got What It Takes," and "I Wanna See You Soon", a duet with the Tavares from their album Love Storm) and an essay about Payne's life and career during the recording and release of the album, which was written by David Nathan, founder of Soulmusic.com.

Ed Hogan of AllMusic gave the album 2 out of 5 stars stating "One of the LP's singles, "Bring Back the Joy" is melodic, has two tempos, and conga breaks.

Other standouts are the loping, spacy mid-tempo single " I Get High (On Your Memory)" and the coy "Loving You Means So Much to Me," co-written by Gregory Abbott of "Shake You Down" fame."