Force Behind the Power [Import]

Diana Ross | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 3, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: EMI
• Run Time: 58 minutes
• ASIN: B000025GJ5
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,690 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Change Of Heart

2. When You Tell Me That You Love Me

3. Battlefield

4. Blame It On The Sun

5. Your'e Gonna Love It

6. Heavy Weather

7. Force Behind The Power

8. Heart ( Don't Change My Mind)

9. Waiting In The Wings

10. You And I

11. One Shining Moment

12. If We Hold On Together

13. No Matter What You Do

Editorial Reviews

DIANA ROSS The Force Behind The Power (Deleted 1991 UK 4-track CD single includes Edit Version Supremes Medley Youre Gonna Love It - Groovy Radio Edit and Reach Out And Touch - Live picture sleeve! CDEM221)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Safe, Predictable and Pleasant, June 5, 2002

By 

Todd J. Brandt (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Force Behind the Power (Audio CD)

Following the largely negative response to her edgy hip-hop opus, "Workin' Overtime" (1989), Diana Ross returned to safer ground for her follow-up effort. "The Force Behind the Power" (1991) offers up some catchy, memorable tunes, but the production is conservative to the point of being almost suffocatingly sterile, with blame falling at the feet of producers Peter Asher and James Anthony Carmichael.

For instance, the Asher-produced "One Shining Moment" could have "hit" written all over it, were it not for the muzak-inspired arrangement. Ross' performance and Vanese Thomas' supple melody could easily have been couched with a more soulful production. "Battlefield" might have been a solid, "Chain Reaction"-type Supremes homage, but once again, Asher's production sounds dangerously like karaoke.

On the other end of the spectrum, "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" is bombastic beyond belief, and would have benefited from a more restrained hand. Asher nearly drowns Ross in a mass of strings and background voices, but to her credit, the diva manages to give an impassioned performance despite the competing elements.

Asher finds a happy medium on only three tracks (the lovely Stevie Wonder-penned "Blame it on the Sun," the Diane Warren chestnut "Heart Don't Change My Mind," and the absolutely enchanting "If We Hold on Together"), but it's a case of too little, too late.

James Anthony Carmichael fares little better, with "Heavy Weather" and "Change of Heart" given glossy, unremarkable jazz-lite treatments. "You're Gonna Love It" is another attempt at cracking the urban market, and isn't particularly memorable (the subsequent club remixes were a marked improvement), but "Waiting in the Wings" is a definite standout--though more for Ross' beautifully layered performance and the sinuous melody line than for the still-timid production.

Stevie Wonder takes over production for the title track, and the results are decidedly fuller and funkier; unfortunately, the song itself has a distractingly clunky melody and arrangement. Repeated listening makes the whole affair much more listenable, but it takes a while to grow on you.

Ross sounds bell-clear on most of these tracks, and she doesn't coast nearly as much as she did on many of her 1980's RCA albums. However, one wonders what heights her performances might have reached, had there been a truly strong-handed producer at the controls. In the final analysis, this is a good little album (and was a massive international hit for Ross), but could have been great with more effort.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Diana's Classic Pop Album, April 22, 2006

By 

M. Edwards "grenadines" (Buckinghamshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Force Behind the Power (Audio CD)

There are times when even a Diva of Diana Ross' standing simply can't win:

When her previous studio album, "Workin' Overtime" was released, the knives were out (particularly in the USA). Some critics accused Diana of trying to keep up with the likes of Janet Jackson, Jody Watley and Paula Abdul. So, Ms Ross chose to concentrate on more familiar music territory with this album release, yet the brickbats and player haters were out again, this time accusing the chanteuse of releasing "blue eyed soul"!

Diana opted to play it safe with this album by NOT following any music trends. She enlisted the services of British producer Peter Asher, with whom she worked with in 1988 - he produced the classic "If We Hold On Together", which went down a storm in Japan - it remained in their top 20 charts for 2 years! Diana also teamed up with James Carmichael and old Motown label mate, Stevie Wonder.

The best way to describe "The Force Behind the Power" is to state what is isn't; it isn't a red hot R&B album, and it was never intended to be. Instead, it's a contemporary collection of pop songs, with occasional R&B moments.

On its release, the album quickly gained platinum status is the UK. It also signalled a magnificent run on the UK pop singles charts for Diana. All 5 singles lifted from the album were hits, and two of them (the beautiful "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" and "One Shining Moment") made the Top 10.

The ballads are outstanding here. The first, "When You Tell Me That You Love Me", took the UK charts by storm, and was held off the #1 slot by "Bohemian Rhapsody", that had been released following the death of Fredi Mercury. It starts of softly, and builds into an emotional crescendo, complete with a rousing electric guitar solo.

"Blame It One the Sun", a Stevie Wonder cover, is also a lovely, poignant track.

"Battlefield" is the rousing, stomping track with traces of that old Supremes'/Holland-Dozier-Holland magic. It was never released as a single, though.

The title track, and uptempo R&B track that was written and produced by Stevie Wonder, is a song with a powerful social message. The rhythm is tight!

My personal favourite track - "One Shining Moment" - is just a pleasant modern pop song, with an easy-on-the ear melody.

"You're Gonna Love It" is the killer R&B track that'll have you shuffling your feet in no time! The album closes with the fabulously sensual duet with Al B Sure, "Not Matter What You Do", which was a hit on the R&B Billboard charts.

The album didn't burn up the Billboard charts, but that is not a true reflection of its quality. The UK and the USA record buyers clearly have different tastes. For example, look at "Missing You" (from the Swept Away Album) - it was a Top Ten US Pop hit (#1 R&B) yet it bombed in the UK.

There's something for everyone here. If this underrated album isn't part of your Ross collection, I suggest that you give it a try.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SOUL DIVA REMAINS SUPREME, December 2, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (BOLTON, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Force Behind the Power (Audio CD)

At this stage Of Dianas career, she had suffered several set backs. First of all there was the publication of Mary Wilsons startling and highly controversial account of what went on behind the scenes between Diana Ross and the other Supremes which portrayed Diana to be ruthless and manipulative. Coincidence or not, Diana has had no major hit in the U.S since around the time of that book. RED HOT RYTHM N BLUES (1987) saw her return to a style that made her famous, featuring exactly as the album suggests, red hot, solid cover versions of rythm and blues classics such as Tell Mama, There Goes My Baby and Selfish One as well as some new at the time of release material like the pumping Stranger In Paradise and lush Dirty Looks. despite that albums publicity the album and the string of singles taken from it were relativley poor sellers. The next album, WORKIN OVERTIME (1989) was ill fated from the beginning. Diana branched out into Hip Hop, an increasingly popular new trend in black music. The album was a mixed affair. Some of the tracks were incredibly funky whilst others on the album were rather weak. never he less the album was another big failure and none of the singles cracked the Top 100 charts. In 1991 she returned with this album which admitedly verged on the line of being too syrupy but is never the less a breathtakingly beautiful set and whilst the album was another doomed failure in the U.S it catapulted into the Top 10 U.K album charts and featured a handful of big selers with the most succesful being the stunningly beautiful, WHEN YOU TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME which narrowly missed the U.K top spot, with it hanging on for weeks at No.2. YOU'RE GONNA LOVE IT gets down to serious hip hop with a solid performance from Diana whilst other effective and memroable recordings come in a modern day Motown sounding track, BATTLEFIELD with its gritty, rawish lyrics and performance from Diana. Also two glorious tracks written by the truly genius Stevie Wonder, THE FORCE BEHIND THE POWER and BLAME IT ON THE SUN. The rest of the album features several beautiful recordings like WAITING IN THE WING, HEAVY WEATHER, HEART DON'T CHANGE MY MIND, YOU AND I, ONE SHINING MOMENT, IF WE HOLD ON TOGETHER and NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO. On the whole a magnificent album that any true Diana Ross fan will lap up. Soulful, sophisticated and mellow. Highly recommended!