Customer Reviews

Compositions

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Everyone knows Anita's hits from her breakthrough release, "Rapture" and its successor, "Giving You the Best That I Got"...you had to be under a rock in the mid-to-late 80's to not hear "Sweet Love," "Same Ole Love (365 Days a Year)" and "Giving You the Best That I Got" played on the radio in regular rotation (those were the days when adult artists still got airplay and cracked the Top 40...and in Baker's case, the Top Ten). But "Compositions," Anita's fourth album, is her true work of art.

As the title suggests, Anita contributed to the writing of most of the album, even penning one tune solo. The result is some of the most well-measured material in her career. You'd be hard-pressed to find a song better suited to Baker's voice than "Talk to Me," a warm ballad that could either be from friend to friend or lover to lover. The same can be said for "Perfect Love Affair" and "No One to Blame," songs that, instead of sounding like leftovers from "Rapture," manage to further mine Anita's definitive style, coming off as instant classics.

Baker's forays into jazz were always frequent ("Rapture"'s "Been So Long" and "Giving You the Best"'s "Good Enough" have always been considered among her best) but "Love You to the Letter" and "Lonely" (the latter of which is Anita's solo composition) take her over the edge into full Swing Diva mode. Somewhere between Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, Anita finds her own jazz voice and makes you wonder what sort of magic she'd conjure up on an album of standards. "Fairy Tales" even offers a taste of modern jazz, offering an extremely generous piano solo and feeling like an old-fashioned jam session as it clocks in over eight minutes.

Throw in the lush pop of "Soul Inspiration" (rightly a successful pop single at the time of this album's release) and you have the portrait of an artist in top form. Her voice has never sounded better and her material has never been better suited to her talents. "Rapture" will always be a classic and it is definitely the album that brought Anita to the world's attention, but "Compositions" shows the heights to which a gifted artist can truly soar.

If Anita Baker ever looked at the customer reviews of her work in Amazon.com, I'm sure she would find it a heartening experience. Her fourth album COMPOSITIONS was not generally well received by critics in its day. It lacked an obvious hit single like "Sweet Love" or "Giving You the Best that I've Got." In fact, these songs, most of which were co-written by Anita herself, were cooler and jazzier than her 80s efforts (I know that may scarcely seem possible, but, as she proves here, it is). There is a kind of languor about this material that some, on first hearing, took for torpor. It requires a few re-hearings to hear what Anita and band were really up to--and there is good stuff here, to be sure.

Typical of the critical reaction is J.D. Considine's dismissive remarks in THE ROLLING STONE ALBUM GUIDE ("...an album so devoid of cogent songwriting that one wonders if the title wasn't meant ironically"). I think Considine was being way too glib--aside from being plain old unfair--but I can see how one can have some initial doubts about this album. Upon first hearing it, I found the "compositions" a little amorphous too, but there was something about that forced me to give it repeated listenings and I found my opinion considerably altered by the third or fourth time. Anita's quiet storm gradually gained strength, and now I consider this album among her best.

Anita Baker is a singer who has carved out her turf. You could say that she has her limitations (what singer doesn't?). "Lonely," which she penned herself, is about as uptempo as she gets. You're not going to find funk here. Everything else is mid-tempo jazz-inflected soul. Arrangements are expansive and leisurely (no track clocks in at less than four and half minutes). Baker does not do everything, but what she does do, she does very well.

Baker's (self-imposed?) exile stretching from the mid-90s on has been a source of frustration to her hard-core fans (see some of the comments below). For many others, she has become another "whatever-happened-to" artist, remembered somewhat fondly when she is, in fact, remembered. It wouldn't take much, however, to reinvigorate her career. Somebody should scour the vaults for another "Sweet Love" (for the masses), and Anita and crew should get work on producing more compositions on the order of these tracks (for the rest of us).

on this, her fourth album, anita baker continues to give us the best that she's got. though _compositions_ contains fewer breakaway masterpieces, baker's songwriting and vocals are as flawless as ever. acheiving popularity during the height of 1980s fascination with quiet storm, baker remains a much-respected fixture in the music industry, and is almost single-handedly responsible for perserving rhythm and blues in its truest form. the fact that baker is actually in the studio with the musicians, coupled with the powerhouse back-up vocals of perrí, make for extraordinary listening. baker's songs speak of love in a way that is far too seldomly done, nowadays. "fairy tales" the album's crowning glory, though dealing with the pain of heartbreak, takes us back to a time when love invoked romance before sex. baker's voice is at it's best as it soars and sails over the metaphorical lyrics, making the listener hungry, already, for her next release.

This is one of Anita Baker's most complex works. Most of the songs were written by Anita in collaboration with other accomplished songwriters.

Some of the highlights include the richly intricate "Talk To Me". Next there's the most mellow "Perfect Love Affair" with Anita's velvety vocal. "Soul Inspiration", with a dazzling arrangement and Anita's full-bodied vocal, is a shining star! "Lonely" is fascinating with its varied tempos and Anita's sultry vocal. She builds this one to a red-hot frenzy! The piano solo is a cooker as well. Then there's "No One To Blame" with its bluesy atmosphere and raw emotion. The finale "Fairy Tales" weaves a lyrical story complete with a fine arrangement as Anita's vocal builds along with this tale. Kudos to Greg Phillinganes on the piano solo at the end. It is hot!!

This album had much stronger jazz influences than Baker's three previous albums. At a time when most female R&B singers were turning to heavily-synthesized and terribly over-produced club/ dance music, Baker refused to compromise her artistry -- in the end, she came up with a real winner. "Talk To Me", "Whatever It Takes", "More Than You Know", "Perfect Love Affair" and "Soul Inspiration" are all excellent examples of smooth and classy Adult Contemporary-R&B at its best. No serious fan of adult-oriented R&B or jazz vocals should be without this album.

The 1990's were a very tough start for Anita Baker, but her music still remained as strong as ever. Her fourth album, Compositions, showed a bit more diversity in her music, with the same sincere, sophisticated style she has always been known for.

Although many people were hoping that it would have the same numbers as Rapture, and Giving You The Best That I Got, the record has a little more style and feel in songs like Perfect Love Affair, and Lonely, and Soul Inspiration. Each song still is as romantic and understanding as if it was released all over again.

While many radio stations still ignore Anita Baker's music, in place for corporate rules and songs by those saturating and overexposed Britney Spears and NSYNC, it is so nice to hear Anita Baker in the full swing of fairy tales, again. Compositions will never say you're lonely.

ANITA BAKER HAS BEEN ONE OF MUSIC'S MOST SOULFUL VOICE OF OUR TIME.I HAVE EVERY CD THAT SHE RECORDED.FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW,ANITA USED TO SING IN A BAND YEARS AGO CALLED "CHAPTER 8". THE SONGTRESS WAS HER FIRST SOLO ALBUM AFTER SHE SUNG WITH THE BAND.RAPTURE WAS THE SECOND ALBUM.I HAVE BEEN TO HER CONCERT AND SHE SOUNDS JUST AS BEAUTIFUL AS SHE DOES ON CD.SHE SINGS ABOUT THE REALNESS OF LOVE AND BEING IN LOVE AND NOT THE ARTIFICIAL LYRICS THAT GROUPS PUT OUT HERE TODAY!!!!I'M JUST WAITING TO BUY HER NEXT CD TO ADD TO MY COLLECTION.ANITA,I LOVE YA AND IN THE MEANTIME I'LL LISTEN TO YOUR PAST CD'S UNTIL THE NEW ONE HITS THE STORES.

Anita Baker is the greatest R&B singer of today. I call "Compositions" her best album this side of "Rapture." Her powerful voice delivers on such songs as "Talk to Me," "Fairy Tales," "Whatever It Takes," and "No One to Blame." My favorite song is "Soul Inspiration," because I play that song with my wife sitting on the couch and me lip-syncing to her. The musicians are also something to listen to, and Greg Phillinganes' piano solos on such songs as "Lonely" and "Fairy Tales" absolutely blow me away! Anita Baker is the best in the R&B business, and if you don't believe me, one listen and I guarantee you'll change your mind and agree with me. 'Cause "You know I don't lie!" You go, girl!

I've always fallen in love with Anita Baker ever since the first time I heard her sing "Sweet Love." This is just another great album that never ceases to amaze me! I play this album frequently, and still I can't get enough of it! My favorite songs are "Soul Inspiration," "Fairy Tales," "Perfect Love Affair," and "Lonely." I often cruise the streets of Baltimore with this album playing on my stereo. At home, at work, riding on the Jones Falls Expressway-- every time this album ends, it leaves me yearning for more! I hope Anita Baker comes back to make albums as good as this! And Patti LaBelle, if you're listening, thank her for letting you be her soul's inspiration!

The lyrics in Fairy Tales move me in such a way that I cannot begin to discribe. It was like she read my mind and made it just for me. All of her past and present music is the greatest in the world in my book. When I think of the greatest songstrists in the world there is only one person I can think of that is the great ANITA BAKER!!!!!!!!!!!

K. Hughes