Customer Reviews

Destiny

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Destiny" was Chaka Khan's answer to Tina Turner's successes with 'Private Dancer', but Chaka wasn't able to connect with the listeners in the same way with her brand of Pop Rock. After all, Chaka was well know for her funkier tunes like 'Ain't Nobody', 'I Feel For You', etc. What would make her think she'd be able to capture the rock audience with songs like 'Watching The World' and 'So Close' which each have their share of crunch guitars?

On "Destiny" Khan's voice was strong as ever, and in some cases it was overly husky on tracks like 'Otherside of the World', but it somehow managed to get buried deep in the mix. Possibly for good reasons.

Khan's executive producer, Arif Mardin, was very creative with his use of various instrumental textures and mixes on 'Destiny. Sonically, 'Coltrane Dreams' was a stretch, considering most instruments in the song were samples of Chaka's own voice.

The best cuts for Khan's longtime fans would have to be the funky rave 'Tight Fit', with its warmer, jazzier feel, and the lead track 'Love of a Lifetime', a quirky funk/dance tune with lots of magic dust and swirling synths dancing around Chaka's voice.

Neither Chaka's best or worst work. "Destiny" was an attempt made for mass commercial appeal. Emotional punch, typically associated with Khan's work, is somewhat lost or exaggerated depending on the track. Creatively the collaborative effort with her longtime producer Arif Mardin had to have been a lot of fun. Grade C+.

Still riding high from the 1984-85 international success of "I Feel For You", Chaka Khan decides to step out on a limb and release "Destiny" in 1986. Although not as sucessful as the previous album, this is a great CD.The first single, "Love Of A Lifetime" marks the beginning of what would turn out to be a long musical relationship with producer David Gamson.What makes this CD stand out from the others is that this marks the first time Khan is allowed to fully explore Rock music. Cleverly belting out gems like "So Close", "Who's It Gonna Be", "My Destiny" and "Watching the World", Khan proves that Tina Turner is not the only Soul diva capable of belting out Rock n' Roll tunes.Also on this CD you will find the sweltering second single, "Tight Fit" and an alternate version of "The Other Side of the World", which originally appeared on the "White Night" soundtrack a year prior.The silly and ridiculous "Earth To Mickey", written by Cameo's Charlie Singleton, seems a bit out of place on a Chaka album. Khan's great vocal performance manages to salvage the song and keeps it from being a total disaster.Sadly, this CD marks the exit of Arif Mardin as Chaka's executive producer.Although higly underrated and overlooked, this CD is a classic and if you like or love Chaka Khan, you have to add this one to your collection. This is a winner!

Sure this album is a bit uneven and betrays some overkill production that sounds a tad MTV-rock-pop 80s (like the Phil Collins-helmed Watching the World), but most of the tracks on DESTINY showcase the main event: Chaka's full-bodied, full-throttle vocals that, once again, sing notes that aren't even in the book. The highlight, of course, is the intricate, stop/start synth-pop-funk of LOVE OF A LIFETIME, penned and produced by GREEN GARTSIDE/SCRITTI POLITTI - in fact, when you listen to this amazing pop single, you a) wish it had been the big radio hit it deserved to be and b) you can hear it as a Scritti song that would sound akin to Cupid & Psyche 85 - but other cuts from the album are close seconds, like the quirky 80s dance of EARTH TO MICKEY and the late-night jam TIGHT FIT, which features an impossibly sexy delivery by Ms. Khan. OOP in the US (typical), pick this up if you can find it - it's a worthy addition to your Chaka complete CD collection! Don't forget COLTRANE DREAMS, an entire groove build around clever samples of Chaka's vocal instrument.

"Destiny" is more is a more consistent album than "I Feel For You," even if the high points aren't as high. Chaka branches out into hard rock with "So Close" (written by country singer Pam Tillis!) and pulls it off without a hitch. "Coltrane Dreams" borrows from John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" and builds its entire rhythm track on vocal samples. It shouldn't work, but it does.

I'm docking "Destiny" a full star because Chaka's voice is placed so far back in the mix. The melodic leaps in "Love of A Lifetime" give her something to chew on, but the heavy production overpowers her by the end of the song. She's barely audible over the fake crowd noises in "Who's It Gonna Be." It comes as a relief when she finally gets to cut loose on the spare, eerie "Tight Fit," but you'll have to wait until track 9. A few poor song choices don't help, either. Contributions from Mr. Mister and Mike Rutherford aren't up her alley, and her own composition "My Destiny" demonstrates why she isn't known for her writing.

I remember the first time I heard "Love of a Lifetime" on the radio -- I nearly crashed my car, because it was a Scritti Politti song sung by Chaka Khan! Unbelievable. It's still nearly as good a performance (and a dance song) as "I Feel for You" and I have no idea why it wasn't as big a hit. ::sigh:: It's still completely thrilling after all these years, due to David Gamson's incredible production, Green Gartside's songwriting (and backup vocal) skills, and Khan's soaring vocal. This song really is worth the price of the CD.

The naughty "Tight Fit" (and if the listeners can find the remix to that, they will have died and gone to heaven) is worth even the $19 pricetag on this import, but the radio hit "Love of A Lifetime", the tracks "Coltrane Dream", "Other Side of the World" (from the soundtrack "White Nights") and the get-a-clue track "Earth To Mickey" are what makes this a good CD.

This is NOT your average slice of CK!She drop-kicks the
hip-hop of her previous outing and lays down the heavy dance-rock!"Love Of A Lifetime" is a classic pop single (why she didn't choose it for her Epiphany complitation I don't know) and
"Earth to Micky" is one of the Jam/Lewis soundalike dance hits
and one of my favorites on the album."My Destiny",as with almost
everything else here falls into a mid 80's dance-rock vibe-Rufus
flirted with rock early in their career's but this is Chaka's
hardest rocking album,aside from some dancey material."It's You"
is another song that would've made a KILLER single but I doubt
Warner Bros. did anything to promote that OR the excellent
"Earth To Micky".
Chaka of course ends off everything with the
vital jazz tribute "Coltrane Dreams"-a less then two minute
theme that should have been extended into a singlong jam or
something.That not having been done 'Destiny' is'nt terrible
but it's not ammong her stronger records and doesn't have
perfectly written songs.But it's not that off putting and it's
alot better then what it could've been!

Speaking from the point of view of a longtime "chakaholic" this was one Chaka Khan album I just couldn't quite get into at first. Also speaking as a big fan of 80's music I found this music a bit too ridden with clishe's of the middle of that decade when I first heard it. All the same the years have given me some time to more fully absorb it and appreciate it's charms. Considering her big success with I Feel for You (personally her least favorite album so I hear) Chaka and Arif were definately on the tip of Tina Turner's huge mid 80's success and decided to take a little creative detour into having Chaka sing and record more rock oriented material. In the end this didn't turn out to be Chaka's "rock" album but rather a quick tempoed 80's dance-pop/funk record including some songs with a lot of metallic rock guitar riffs. The opening track,the bouncy "Love Of A Lifetime",in fact has nothing whatever to do with rock and much as with the Minneapolis influenced "Earth To Micky","I Can't Be Love" and "It's You" are pretty straight ahead dance-funk tunes with strong pop melodies. "Watching The World" and "The Other Side Of The World",one with an inward and the other with an outward lyrical message both go for more of an epic type of ballad flavor but no one will mistaken these for Whitney Houston. The production is broadly spacious,soulful and vocally of course Chaka gives them her all. The confidant "My Destiny","So Close" and the faux live sounding "Who's It Gonna Be" are the only tunes here that have the rock flavor and even still they're basically dance-funk tracks especially if you take the hard edged guitars away. Then again,in a lot of ways much the same can be said for some of the tracks on Tina Turner's somewhat similar blockbuster album Private Dancer. All of these songs are very beat heavy and feature a lot of synthesizers and although the music is somewhat similarly produced it totally lacks the period hip-hop/scratch flavor found on much of her previous album. That is....except for the final song "Coltrane Dreams" and,brief as it is my favorite overall tune on the album. It goes back to her tradition of jazziness on her albums as it features some unique use of synclavior based beat boxing and disonant saxaphone as Chaka sings of how the music of John Coltrane takes her to another world. It doesn't fit musically with the rest of the album exactly but it's a reminder of her true musical colors. As with her self titled 1982 album none of the songs on this album made her Epiphany album and again there are plenty of evidence that neither of her two mid 80's albums,including this one were her favorite recordings of her career but again it's a strong link in a chain in a fabulous career and is sure nothing to be ashamed of.

I really wanted this CD when they promised and that's when I got it. I received e-mails letting me know when my purchase would come and they followed up when I received it thanking me for my business. It was a pleasure doing business with them.

Best Regards,

Jewelie Gabriel

Though the single greatest moment of her career came with the 1984 hit "I Feel For You," from the album of the same name, this 1986 album is Chaka's most well-crafted and listenable album of the 80s. One of those precious few artists who couldn't make a bad album if she tried, Chaka Khan has been wildly successful with the many things that she has tried, from being the female vocalist of Rufus in the 70s to her dance/funk oriented 80s to being the classy, polished chanteuse of the 90s and beyond. This album features a strong selection of catchy, hummable tunes (particularly "Love Of A Lifetime" and "It's You") nicely complimented by Chaka's distinctive voice and slick, polished production.