Various Artists [All Woman]Here's a nice little female compilation disc, i played this for the first time today, a mix of songs i know, and some i don't, usually i somewhat shy away from single disc compilations, but this has some good tracks on it, and these are certainly tracks i wouldn't collect in any other way, the individual Artists and their albums, even their greatest hits packages, always seem to have a few tracks worth collecting, and the rest is just filler, at the very least this disc can be an introduction to some further explorations [think Beth Orton here, which happened to me recently].
As far as the front cover goes, it's a fantastic picture of a woman [photo by Trevor Rogers], nicely side / back lit, and that long lovely flowing hair, all curly, and the woman is cleverly placed to the left hand edge of the picture, and the lettering is placed to the right over her hair, only 9 Artists are listed on the front, it would have been better to have the rest in two columns, with a vertical line between them, that would have been perfect.
The best tracks were 5, 9-10 & 15, with track 9 the very best, here's a short synopsis of these 4 tracks,
5 Natalie Cole - Miss You Like Crazy, ok, i guess corny to certain degree, mushy too, but it's a great tune, and the chorus is really powerful, and Natalie Cole's voice is so good also.
9 Whitney Houston - One Moment In Time, a song that i guess was quite a hit, i have really been out of the loop of the charts, sure i've have heard it before, but never really listened to it, and what a fabulous tune it has, especially the chorus, it starts off quite Abba-esque, doesn't sound as if it's going to be truly anthemic, and at the end all the stops are pulled out, a bit predictable.
10 Maria McKee - Show Me Heaven, shows up on loads of compilation albums, a song i really like, and worth having here even though i got it on loads of other compilation albums, it starts off with those drumbeats, very uneven, and hit all over the aural spectrum, again the chorus nicely explodes, and the incessant but quiet triangle sound at the start of the second verse is excellent.
15 Joan Armatrading - The Weakness In Me, i used to own her Greatest Hits, but i just didn't feel that a majority of the songs justified the owning of the album, so i sold it, this was one of the songs i liked the best, and now i collect her best songs on compilation albums like these, she has a really nicely acoustic way with songs, sounds a lot like Tracy Chapman, nice use of piano in the background, and she has nice lyrics too, the middle of the chorus gets wonderfully passionate, and before the second verse the piano is nicely atmospheric, a song which doesn't force itself on you, it quietly grows on me, and has a lovely gentle ending.
5 Natalie Cole - Miss You Like Crazy, ok, i guess corny to certain degree, mushy too, but it's a great tune, and the chorus is really powerful, and Natalie Cole's voice is so good also.
9 Whitney Houston - One Moment In Time, a song that i guess was quite a hit, i have really been out of the loop of the charts, sure i've have heard it before, but never really listened to it, and what a fabulous tune it has, especially the chorus, it starts off quite Abba-esque, doesn't sound as if it's going to be truly anthemic, and at the end all the stops are pulled out, a bit predictable.
10 Maria McKee - Show Me Heaven, shows up on loads of compilation albums, a song i really like, and worth having here even though i got it on loads of other compilation albums, it starts off with those drumbeats, very uneven, and hit all over the aural spectrum, again the chorus nicely explodes, and the incessant but quiet triangle sound at the start of the second verse is excellent.
15 Joan Armatrading - The Weakness In Me, i used to own her Greatest Hits, but i just didn't feel that a majority of the songs justified the owning of the album, so i sold it, this was one of the songs i liked the best, and now i collect her best songs on compilation albums like these, she has a really nicely acoustic way with songs, sounds a lot like Tracy Chapman, nice use of piano in the background, and she has nice lyrics too, the middle of the chorus gets wonderfully passionate, and before the second verse the piano is nicely atmospheric, a song which doesn't force itself on you, it quietly grows on me, and has a lovely gentle ending.
