Deniece
Williams: Free - The Columbia/ARC Recordings 1976 - 1988
(Cheery Red Records U.K./SoulMusic Records CD Box Set)
Sound:
B Extras: C+ Music: B
One
of the most interesting singing careers in U.S. Music has to belong
to Deniece Williams, an amazing vocalist with a distinctive voice
like no other, whose career has been long and enduring, whose biggest
hits are playing on the radio somewhere anytime as a permanent staple
of music and that includes several classics.
Though
more of her recordings in recent years were in the Gospel genre, her
faith was never missing from her music, she was very outright about
it, proud of it and from a time where that was much more common. The
fine new CD box set Deniece
Williams: Free - The Columbia/ARC Recordings 1976 - 1988
delivers almost every single hit she had in the Soul/Pop arena and it
is easy to forget how successful commercially she really was, but the
better critics knew how good she was from the beginning.
Save
her Family
Ties
TV series theme song duet with her ever-great duet partner, the
legendary Johnny Mathis, you get pretty much every song you could ask
for in this collection with brand new transfers that bring out the
sonic quality of the recordings and her brilliant singing with its
knack for unforgettable phrasing and a vocal range rarely heard
anywhere else. When the material is not up to her singing, she just
powers right through it like Tina Turner, yet one of the big
surprises here is how many of her songs she actually wrote or
co-wrote (more than you'd think) and even produced.
Here's
the contents of the CDs, then I'll comment on specific tracks
afterwards.
Track
Listing:
DISC
ONE: THIS IS NIECY / SONG BIRD
1.
IT'S IMPORTANT TO ME
2. THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR
3. HOW'D I
KNOW THAT LOVE WOULD SLIP AWAY
4. CAUSE YOU LOVE ME BABY
5.
FREE
6. WATCHING OVER
7. IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE
8. TIME
9.
THE BOY I LEFT BEHIND
10. WE HAVE LOVE FOR YOU
11. GOD IS
AMAZING
12. BABY, BABY MY LOVE'S ALL FOR YOU
13. SEASON
14.
BE GOOD TO ME
15. THE PAPER
DISC
TWO: JOHNNY MATHIS & DENIECE WILLIAMS: THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE
FOR (EXPANDED EDITION)
1.
YOU'RE ALL I NEED TO GET BY
2. UNTIL YOU COME BACK TO ME (THAT'S
WHAT I'M GONNA DO)
3. YOU'RE A SPECIAL PART OF MY LIFE
4. READY
OR NOT
5. ME FOR YOU, YOU FOR ME
6. YOUR PRECIOUS LOVE
7.
JUST THE WAY YOU ARE
8. THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR
9. I JUST
CAN'T GET OVER YOU
10. TOUCHING ME WITH LOVE
BONUS TRACKS
11.
TOO MUCH, TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
12. EMOTION
13. LOVE WON'T LET
ME WAIT
DISC
THREE: WHEN LOVE COMES CALLING / MY MELODY
1.
I FOUND LOVE
2. ARE YOU THINKING?
3. MY PRAYER
4. I'VE GOT
THE NEXT DANCE
5. TOUCH ME AGAIN
6. WHEN LOVE COMES CALLING
7.
GOD KNOWS
8. LIKE MAGIC
9. TURN AROUND
10. WHY CAN'T WE FALL
IN LOVE?
11. MY MELODY
12. IT'S YOUR CONSCIENCE
13.
SILLY
14. STRANGERS
15. WHAT TWO CAN DO
16. YOU'RE ALL THAT
MATTERS
17. SUSPICIOUS
18. SWEET SURRENDER
DISC
FOUR: NIECY / I'M SO PROUD
1.
WAITING BY THE HOTLINE
2. IT'S GONNA TAKE A MIRACLE
3. LOVE
NOTES
4. I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES
5. HOW DOES IT FEEL
6.
WAITING
7. NOW IS THE TIME FOR LOVE
8. A PART OF LOVE
9. DO
WHAT YOU FEEL
10. I'M SO PROUD
11. SO DEEP IN LOVE
12. I'M
GLAD IT'S YOU
13. HEAVEN IN YOUR EYES
14. THEY SAY
15. LOVE,
PEACE AND UNITY
16. IT'S OKAY
DISC
FIVE: LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY / HOT ON THE TRAIL
1.
LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY
2. I WANT YOU
3. PICKING UP THE
PIECES
4. BLACK BUTTERFLY
5. NEXT LOVE
6. HAUNTING ME
7.
DON'T TELL ME WE HAVE NOTHING
8. BLIND DATING
9. WRAPPED UP
10.
WHITER THAN SNOW
11. WISER AND WEAKER
12. HOT ON THE TRAIL
13.
HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT
14. VIDEO
15. I FEEL THE NIGHT
16.
WE'RE TOGETHER
17. STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART
18. HEALING
DISC
SIX: WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE
1.
I CONFESS
2. NEVER SAY NEVER
3. WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE
4.
LOVE FINDS YOU
5. NOT BY CHANCE
6. ONE LESS LONELY HEART
7.
I BELIEVE IN YOU
8. SOMEONE FOR SOMEONE
9. BABY THIS IS
LOVE
10. DON'T BLAME IT ON MY HEART
DISC
SEVEN: AS GOOD AS IT GETS
1.
I CAN'T WAIT
2. THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS
3. WE ARE HERE TO
CHANGE THE WORLD
4. ALL I NEED
5. MEMORIES
6. THERE'S NO
OTHER
7. I AM SURE
8. IT'S YOU I'M AFTER
9. DON'T STOP THE
LOVE
10. HOLD ME TIGHT
DISC
EIGHT: BONUS TRACKS
1.
FREE (LONG SINGLE VERSION)
2. BABY BABY MY LOVE'S ALL FOR
YOU
(PROMOTIONAL SINGLE VERSION)
3. SILLY (SINGLE VERSION)
4.
IT'S YOUR CONSCIENCE (SINGLE VERSION)
5. IT'S GONNA TAKE A MIRACLE
(SINGLE VERSION)
6. DO WHAT YOU FEEL (SINGLE VERSION)
7. IT'S
OKAY (SINGLE VERSION)
8. I FOUND LOVE (12'' DISCO MIX)
9. I'VE
GOT THE NEXT DANCE (12'' DISCO MIX)
10. LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY
(12'' VERSION)
11. NEXT LOVE (12'' VERSION)
12. THE WISER GETS
WEAKER (12'' EXTENDED VERSION)
13. NEVER SAY NEVER (12'' EXTENDED
VERSION)
14. I CONFESS (12'' DANCE MIX)
15. I CAN'T WAIT (12''
VERSION)
''Free''
was a solid Top 30 Pop Chart hit, but even bigger on the Soul chart
and in the U.K., it was #1 for two weeks. A beautiful debut song and
huge all around hit, it was only the beginning and the labels and
artists she was working with knew what to do. Her debut album was
also a #1 Soul chart album and a serious new talent had arrived. The
follow-up album included the stunning epic song about the pain of
divorce entitled ''The
Paper''
and remains one of her masterworks on an album that broke the
sophomore jinx.
The
next album was her duet album with Johnny Mathis that began a
beautiful musical union like no other, the remarkable melding of
their voices and styles a match made in music heaven and it led to
one of the greatest duet ever recorded: ''Too
Much., Too Little, Too Late''
that topped charts all over the world and only gets better with age.
Hits
in all shapes and sizes kept coming as she recorded works by David
Foster, Peter Noone, Carole Bayer Singer, Thom Bell and moire
following how Maurice White instantly established her, then her
remake of The Royalettes 1965 classic ''It's
Gonna Take A Miracle''
became another hit in 1982 that went right through the roof on charts
worldwide and she more than sped past the Disco era and navigated
changes in the business with remarkable ease.
Then
cane the soundtrack the the film Footloose
in 1984 and her single ''Let's
Hear It For The Boy''
was one of the biggest early MTV hits for a woman of color on a
post-Thriller MTV Network, was another massive worldwide
chart-topper, helped sell the film and its soundtrack and became the
title song of her album that year. That is the style and tone she
stuck with for her remaining albums before her time at Columbia came
to an amazing end.
The
bonus tracks are also very interesting and telling of her dance chart
and dance club successes, as well as further enforcing her mass
appeal to a wider audience than she gets credit for. The former
backup singer in Stevie wonder's Wonderlove group had come a long way
and it is great such a collection has finally been issued. I always
loved her singing, but the new transfers reveal just how dynamic and
powerful her vocals are here and the PCM 2.0 16/44.1 Stereo could not
sound better. Add all the bonus tracks and this is a definitive
release.
The
case also comes with a high-quality booklet on her career with lots
of tech info on the 11 albums over 8 CDs and also includes great
promo stills, covers for all the albums and pictures off of various
singles (nice photography) and a scholarly, thorough and informative
essay by Justin Kantor that is worth reading throughout.
I
would just wait until you really listen to all the music. A great
triumph for Cherry Red Records U.K. and the SoulMusic label, it is a
stunning anthology that is the best way to hear and experience
Williams' incredible career.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
