Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GOOD PLACE TO START..., June 1, 2000
Hey - I'm a Janet fan, and my favorite Janet album is 'Rhythm Nation 1814'. My favorite Janet video is "Alright". So that might clue you in to what I'm into since Janet has so many facets to her.As far as this album goes, it's excellent. The best part, however is for those with the ear to notice that some of the 'Rhythm Nation' hits (which make up the majority of this album) are remixed single versions! That is, "Alright", "Black Cat", and "Come Back To Me" are all revised like they were on the radio...improvements on the ones you'll find on the album - especially "Come Back To Me". But all the 'Control' hits are here (in their original form - get the remix album if you want the single versions) and there's "That's The Way Love Goes" from her 'Janet' campaign that makes you wanna pop that CD in to keep it going. "Twenty Foreplay" is an O.K. song but I absolutely love "Runaway" which seems to go back to her 'Rhythm Nation' days al la Escapade. I just wish she included "On and On" - the B-side to "Throb", but other than that, this is a must own, especially since Janet is dropping her new album very soon, and her new single, "Never Fall In Love" is off the hook! (I guarantee this one will be a hit, or my name isn't Knyte.) Trust me.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
'Decade' my ass, girl., March 17, 2005
In spite of the misleading title, this collection of pop singles spanning a mere 4 years, 1986-1990, is a far better buy than either of the two albums from which its songs were culled.
Janet Jackson is one of those frustrating performers who has had a succession of excellent pop singles, the majority of which are necessary to own if you want the hit versions versus the more readily available full length releases where these same tracks tend to drag on forever and are locked into their respective albums by pointless, overlapping interludes.
Fortunately this collection presents the seperated mixes and the songs included here are fantastic examples of mid-late 80s pop at its finest.
From 1986s Control: "What Have You Done For Me Lately", "Nasty", "When I Think Of You", "Control", "Let's Wait Awhile" (shamefully not the single remix), and "The Pleasure Principle" (curiously not the Shep Pettibone remix used in the video as well as on the international single release, but an edit of the painfully bland album version).
From 1989s Rhythm Nation 1814: "Miss You Much", "Rhythm Nation" (the album version for which a special "pledge"-less intro has been mixed), "Escapade", "Alright" (fortunately the Shep Pettibone single remix and even more fortunately Heavy D's rap has been removed), "Come Back To Me" (the radio remix), "Black Cat" (ditto) and the edit of "Love Will Never Do (Without You)".
The rest of the album (a whopping 3 songs) is filled out by the lone Virgin Records offering "That's The Way Love Goes" and two at-the-time new cuts, "Runaway" and "Twenty Foreplay".
The US edition of Design Of A Decade is great for what you get. The international edition is even better, boasting two additional tracks ("Whoops Now" and "The Best Things In Life Are Free") and fewer album versions of tracks ("Nasty", "What Have You Done For Me Lately", "Miss You Much", "Control" and "Rhythm Nation" all appear in different versions...improved, concise edits originally found on their respective singles). The cover artwork also differs from country to country.
Coming back to the title for a moment (and I really don't mean to harp), it's a bit unfair for A&M Records to have titled this Design Of A Decade and worse still imply that it spans "1986/1996" when her 1991 to 1995 output is represented only by "That's The Way Love Goes". The omitted Virgin singles eligible for inclusion are among her biggest and most well known tracks, and at that time were what most consumers were anxious to hear alongside her 80s output, and probably what most (myself included) thought they were getting.
Furthermore, no attempt is made at including material from her first two A&M albums (1982s Janet Jackson and 1984s Dream Street). While this isn't technically a loss, with the limited resources A&M had for compiling a retrospective they could have thrown in a track or two to represent the first half of her time with them. At least then this could have been called Design Of A Decade with the subtitle 1982/1992, stopping just before the Virgin Records era.
Then there is the problem of how to follow up this release. With Fall 2005 (the tenth anniversary of Design's release) fast approaching and Janet Jackson's career in decline, it seems logical that Virgin would want to whip up their own 'Decade', which would have to stretch all the way back to the summer of 1993 to pick up what didn't appear on the first release, making then for an over-inflated thirteen year decade.
*ceases fire*
Though I definitely recommend opting for the better international edition, there is no denying that this is a fantastic collection of hit singles worthy of a place on anyones CD shelf.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pop/soul at its polished finest, June 9, 2000
Back in 1986 Janet Jackson, with callaborators/producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, set a new standard in R&B, making music that was knee-shakingly funky and still managed to cross over to the pop genre. In hindsight her hits from the late 80's and early 90's isn't so much a dated exercise in nostalgia as it is a measure of how good contemporary soul music can be.Ok, so she's adorable, sweet as can be, etc...but let's face it. Janet has never possessed the sort of pipes that would steal material away from Whitney Houston. But Jam & Lewis capitalized on the limits of her voice by placing them smack dab on top of the heaviest, thickest grooves you'll ever find in pop music, and the contrast between the two is striking. Her low moans on the likes of "Nasty" and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" opposite Jam & Lewis' pounding beats make for delicious ear candy; ditto for her energetic delivery on Prince-inspired dancefloor anthems like "Escapade" and the damn-near-perfect "Miss You Much." Janet even proves that she can flat-out rock on the guitar-heavy "Black Cat." "Alright" is a brushed-up single remix, which serves the song well, considering it has minimal melody and no chord progression whatsoever. Why then, didn't they include the killer video version for "The Pleasure Principle" or the slick single remix for "Let's Wait Awhile"? The album versions of these two tracks sound a bit empty in comparison. Still, with new material at the level of the funky "Runaway" and the sultry "Twenty Foreplay," there's little to complain about. You're even treated to the best track from her "janet" release ("That's the Way Love Goes") without being subjected to the rest of that album's overheated, Madonna-wannabe sexuality. All in all this is as comprehensive and enjoyable a compilation as any casual fan of Janet or R&B in general could ask for.
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~ Janet Jackson
~ Michael Jackson
~ Michael Jackson
~ Janet
~ Michael Jackson
by Janet Jackson 
