Customer Reviews

#1's

5 star:		(291)
4 star:		(76)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(25)
1 star:		(47)

 

 

There is a reason these songs went to number one. That reason is that they are absolutely incredible! ALways Be My Baby is truly classic, Hero is absolutley inspirational, One Sweet Day is heartwrentching. Honey is a great dance tune and Dreamlover is awesome. Believe it or not, despite her fame, I only recently discovered Mariah Carey. Her Rainbow album was coming out and Bought it because of Heartbreaker. Around that time, The radio stations started playing old Mariah Carey songs. I half-listened to them and went to buy #1's, which I figured were her only good songs. I bought it, fell in love with it and now I have all of Mariah Carey's albums. She really is a talented artist and this CD more than proves it.

Amazing!!!!!!! Mariah has done it again by putting out another hit album.This one contains all 13 #1 hits,from her debut in 1990,Vision of love,to her most recent #1,My All.She really knows how to put feel into her songs.For example,in the song Emotions,she gets you up and dancing and happy.Also I Don't Wanna Cry,she really brings across the sad and depressing moods in this song,like you've just lost your girlfriend or boyfriend.She also has 4 new recordings,Sweetheart(with JD),When You Believe(with Whitney Houston),Whenever You Call(with Brian McKnight),and a remake of the hit I Still Believe by Brenda K. Starr.All are excellent.Personally,Whenever You Call is my favorite on this album,in my opinion.This cd is DEFINITELY a must buy,and it makes an excellent Christmas gift.

I'm sorry, but any way you look at it this is a greatest hits album, which is not necessarily a bad thing. While other artists like Whitney Houston and Celine Dion are compiling "Greatest Hits" LPs with glaring, and I mean GLARING, omissions, and replacing those major singles with mindless uninspired filler, it's nice to see a hit records compilation that does actually deliver what it promises. These are in fact Mariah's most popular records- signature pop classics like "One Sweet Day", "Dreamlover", "Hero", "Love Takes Time", and "Emotions", along with a few new cuts as an added perk. It's everything a greatest hits album is supposed to be, but seldome is anymore. It offers casual fans a 13-track skimming of her anthems, and some bonus nuggets along the way. Considering how many major singles were actually included, I'd say this LP definitely ranks among the most generous best-of compilations around. Absolutely a must for the pop music fan. Don't be afraid to call it a greatest hits- this one actually is...

I must have been about eight years old when I first heard Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love." She really blew me away (along with several million other people in the United States and worldwide). How many people do you know who have perfect pitch and a five octave range? This girl was wailing harder than a jazz sax. I was hooked on that debut album, and although I wasn't feeling the later songs she put out (one too many rap artists doing guest work on the tracks--they all began to sound the same).

"# 1's" is a great cross section from the highlights of Ms. Carey's career...oh wait, we are calling her "MiMi" now, huh?
My personal favorites from this compilation are as follows:

Track #3: "Whenever You Call (With Brian McKnight)"
The first time I heard this, I said, "This is definitely going to be playing at my wedding." As most of us who have heard Brian McKnight can agree, he is a master of the romantic R&B ballad. His range is sweet, tender and sexy, and together, with MiMi (see, I'm trying to get used to the new nickname), their voices compliment each other just beautifully. Definitely a song to keep in rotation on your sound system for a romantic evening!

Track #14 "Someday"
This is off of the "Emotions" album. I love the upbeat rhythm and how we get to hear MiMi's low and high (oh lord, is it HIGH) register. I mean, I am talking almost super sonic, here. Although it might not be for all tastes, you can't help admitting it's pretty astounding.

Track #16 "Vision of Love"
I love the more traditional sound of the melody on this track. This could have easily been recorded by Aretha Franklin back in the day. It's what MiMi does to bend the song, give it her own flavor, originality and original interpretation that truly makes it her own. This was from her debut album, "Mariah Carey."

Track #17 "I Still Believe"
I don't care what people think about this song, and that is might come off as middle of the road. It's a beautiful song about the hope for reconciliation with an old flame. We hear the haunted, tender and broken MiMi trying to pick up the pieces as she croons on this track. Far better than the salsa version! (Yes, believe it or not, Corrine, a young Puerto Rican singer, reminiscent of Brenda K. Starr, did a remake of the tune over a rhythm fusion of Carribean beats and R& B flavor....didn't work so well...)

All in all, this really is (in the words of Mimi) "her all." Enjoy it!

she has 3 songs that i've liked for her whole career dream lover,vision of love,&honey.but that's all.her music is life less and all sounds the same.her voice used to be better now she barks.it's mindless music.

This CD is a mixed-bag. On one hand, it has all the old songs which feature Mariah's powerful voice that made her famous. Songs like "Vision of Love", "I Don't Wanna Cry" and my personal favorite "Hero" showcase her talent like nothing else. But in recent times (1997-onward) Mariah has been straying away from her fans, into hip-hop. "When You Believe" is good, and "I Still Believe" is good, but it clearly shows that Mariah's voice has gone downhill. Love the old songs (but WHY did they ruin "fantasy"), but the new songs are only so-so. For a good and consistent greatest-hits album that features more than 3 new songs, check out Celine Dion's "All The Way" album. That's the best greatest hits I own.

Length:: 1:44 Mins

Some people embrace change. Some people avoid it like the plague. It's the latter that will find #1's annoying, and who will give it a low rating. This album definitely showcases how Carey has changed since she first stepped onto the music platform in the early 90s, and the older ballads are remarkably different from her newer songs. I must agree with the album art -- it is a bit trashy, and the same follows with some of her other albums -- but one, I am not here to evalute Carey's taste but rather her music, and two, weren't you tired of seeing close-ups of her face on every album?

A lot of people think Mariah's voice declined in her later years. I deny this (just listen to The Emancipation of Mimi, her new album), but I do think Mariah sold her incredible voice out a bit in favor of pop/hip-hop-"lite" sounds. That's the reason I deducted a star -- the song she does with JD ("Sweetheart") and "I Still Believe" are...empty.

However, I think "When You Believe," Mariah's duet with Whitney Houston, is quite nice. I don't seen a clashing or "duel" but rather a fusion of their voices with much musical strength.

The actual hits blend together nicely -- they are arranged in roughly reverse chronological order from her newer #1's ("Honey" and "Fantasy") to her older hits ("Vision of Love" and "Love Takes Time"). It showcases where Mariah has come from to be where she's at now, and how her music has changed. The change is not necessarily a bad thing.

Mariah Carey's #1's album is a must-have album! Even the bonus tracks are excellent. I guess this one is not the type of album to introduce you to Mariah's less known songs, because you probably know well all the songs here. The order of the songs is set from her very recent (back in late 1998) #1 hit, "My All" to her first one, "Vision Of Love". In general, all the tracks are amazing (!), with the emphasis on "Vision Of Love", "Love Takes Time", "Dreamlover", "Hero" and "Always Be My Baby".
The US version includes (as expected) the #1 US single "I Don't Wanna Cry" while the int'l one includes "Without You" instead.
It's a very understanble move, since this one was a huge hit for Mariah all over the world. Bonus track include two covers. The touching "I Still Believe", a cover of Diana's Ross amazing "Do You Know Where You're Going To" and two duets. The first being Mariah's collobartion with JD in "Sweetheart" and the second, the worldwide hit "When You Believe" which hit #1 in many countries but only #15 in the US. If you would like to start collecting Mariah albums, start from this CD. It's certainly one of the best collections ever made.

I can't deny Mariah Carey has a wonderful voice, it's just a shame she doesn't put it to better use. Clearly designed to succeed commercially rather than have any artistic value, "#1's" is boring, and has an incredibly smug title to top it all off. Of the so-called "divas," Mariah Carey's certainly got the attitude, but she lacks the musical talent of her peers.