In a career spanning four decades Steveland Judkins Morris has been many things: child star, funk hero, political chronicler, the saviour of Motown Records and depressingly, the instigator of the painfully schmaltzy R&B ballad. Thankfully, this exhaustive "Best Of...", timed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his first appearance as Little Stevie Wonder, focuses mainly on the 1966-1980 glory ...
Manufacturer: Umtv
These days she's fodder for tabloids and late-night comics, but way back in the 1990s Mariah Carey reigned as one of the world's bestselling female performers. This two-CD Greatest Hits collection offers up chart-topping evidence why, for better or worse, Mariah's five-octave, pop/R&B styling set the diva standard. Culled from her five albums on Sony, (before signing to Virgin), and you get ...
Manufacturer: Columbia
Songs in the Key of Life was the highest high-point of Stevie Wonder's career. More sprawling than Innervisions and Talking Book, this 2 LP-plus-EP was also less of a consistent stunner than either of those masterworks. That Songs retains an enormous amount of visionary relevance, though, is demonstrated not only in Coolio's borrowing of "Pastime Paradise" as a template ...
Manufacturer: Universal / Island
M!ssundaztood is the follow-up to Pink's platinum selling debut. On Can't Take Me Home Pink established herself as one of the biggest R&B/pop acts of 2000; a status she later confirmed by stealing the limelight from fellow divas-with-attitude Missy Elliott, Mya and Christina Aguilera on their No. 1 cover of "Lady Marmalade". M!ssundaztood, however, reveals an ambition that ...
Manufacturer: Laface
She's been hailed for her multi-octave vocal range--a tool that sometimes detracts from her pop recordings, but actually works quite beautifully in the context of this charming holiday collection. Fans will surely approve of Carey's renditions of slinky secular songs like "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" and a nicely subdued "All I Want for Christmas Is You". But where she really surprises is ...
Manufacturer: Sony Budget
Given the pace of Michael Jackson's post-Thriller release schedule, it's striking that Off the Wall appeared between two albums--Destiny (1978) and Triumph (1980)--which the twentysomething phenomenon made with his brothers. Aided by richly detailed but not overdone production, Off the Wall defined how much Michael might do. Tracks such as "Don't Stop 'til You ...
Manufacturer: Epic
Balancing raw power with shades of vulnerability, Gaye rose to the top of Motown's roster without the benefit of a supporting vocal group. Whether singing love songs or social commentary, Gaye's voice displays an earnestness and sincerity that are a soul singer's most potent weapons. Among these 47 hits are his memorable duets with Mary Wells, Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell along with Motown ...
Sly & The Family Stone might have psychedelicised soul music, but Marvin Gaye personalised it. Although the powers-that-were Motown didn't even want to release the record, the unexpected success of What's Going On, issued in 1971, inspired Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, and just about every other black artist on the planet to take greater responsibility for their music and its meaning. ...
Manufacturer: Island
Michael Jackson's Thriller is the bestselling album of all time, with 45 million worldwide sales powered by eight Grammy Awards. The 1982 album was also a success from which the pop superstar never really recovered--subsequent albums seemed to have no other goal than to beat the records set by Thriller. The highly- polished sound of Quincy Jones's production sounds almost ...
"We wanted a tough album," producer Quincy Jones recalls in a bonus interview on this special edition of Bad. Though the 1987 blockbuster would appear to be Michael Jackson's most personal statement to date--nine of its 11 cuts were written solely by him--its appeal also rested more on craft than the idiosyncratic art of Thriller and Off the Wall. At the same time, most of ...
