Customer Reviews

Gems

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

 

 

Patti LaBelle is a GEM of our time. Being in the musical industry for over 35 years, she is the best there is. Everyone, including the likes of Oprah Winfry and Rosie O'Donnel, say that they can feel the pressence of God when Ms. LaBelle opens her mouth to sing, and that is the truth here. This album showcases the Patti LaBelle that everyone knows. If you're new to the Patti Scene, this is the album for you. An album of mainly ballads, Patti takes you on a smooth ride with infinite vocal range on such tracks as "Stay In My Corner" and "Come As You Are." You can't miss this classic album by the one and only Diva.

Ok, at a first listen, this may not be one of Patti's best Cds. Afterall, it followed one of her best CDS ever, "Burnin" However, the more you listen to this CD, you appreciate Patti's ability to phrase a song and her ability to purr and to roar. Songs such as "Stay in My Corner", "Right Kinda Lover", "If I didn't have You", "Time will Tell" make this CD well worth the buy. Some of the other cuts you will love the more you listen to them. She does a relaxed but great version of "All this Love". People who prefer to hear Patti belting might be disappointed with some of the selections on the Cd, they all don't give her the chance to break loose. But as always, her style is admirable and there are many times on the Cd her power shines through. I especially like the background vocals that she performs on the Cd.

This a great CD that only gets better with replay. Shows her great range, from soft to belting it out, from funky to smooth. I've owned it for years and still listen to it frequently. Highly recommended.

I have every one of Patti LaBelle's albums, and this one started to trail off in terms of quality songs and powerful performances. There are a lot of background singers , and there seems to be a concious effort to hold Patti back from singing out as usual. A lot of the songs are very run of the mill, and adult contemporary oriented. My favorite is COME AS YOU ARE , the very last track for some reason & the best one on this CD without a doubt. Patti used it as a concert opener too, so she loved this song, written & produced by Canadian rocker Lisa Dalbello. She knew how to write & produce Patti, and more songs like this trademark Patti number are needed on this CD. The remake of The Dells' STAY IN MY CORNER is good too, a real oldie that you know Patti must have loved for years. The hit THE RIGHT KINDA LOVER is catchy, and not at all bad. But the rest of this stuff is mostly forgettable slow ballads that even after 10 plus years of owning this album, I can't even remember some of them. If you want solo Patti at her best , I recommend many other albums, especially the prior album she did BURNIN' , which is really diverse and hot.

While I am a Patti LaBelle fan, I give 'Gems' 3 stars because in my opinion, it leans too much on the ballad side. Don't get me wrong - Patti's vocals are at their best when she delivers an emotional, powerful ballad but 10 of the 12 tracks on this album are ballads. The only real uptempo tracks are 'The Right Kinda Lover' and 'This Word Is All'. If Patti would've included 2 more tracks like these danceful ditties, 'Gems' would be a solid album and a welcome addition to any fan's Patti LaBelle catalogue. This album was quickly forgotten after its release, which is too bad. Patti's previous album 'Burnin' and her follow-up to this one 'Flame' were much better efforts and are definitely worth picking up.

Sometimes you can just say someone's name and one of their talents, qualities and/or characteristics immediately come to mind. When most people hear the name Patti LaBelle, they think of her powerful, soulful, and remarkable singing abilities. On this album, "Gems", her singing talents shine through, just as they do on every song she performs. Although she did a wonderful job vocally, there was something missing on this album. Aside from "The Right Kinda Lover", this album didn't have any distinction. This album is very ballad-heavy and most of the production sounds very akin. Patti includes two remakes on this album, DeBarge's "All This Love" and "Stay in My Corner" by The Dells. I gave it three stars because most of the material is good at best, and "good" to me is equivalent to three stars, so there you have it.

When Patti LaBelle returned with "The Right Kinda Lover", people went crazy, particularly women. I remember when I used to get my hair done, everyone in the salon would be talking about that song and its memorable video. "The Right Kinda Lover" is easily one of Patti's best songs because of its new-school feel, great beat, male-loving lyrics and nice delivery. Patti had just gotten married when this song was released and she was in love, one could imply that because of how sincerely she sang that song. If you needed more credence, the title of the first track is "I'm in Love." This is one of the many ballads on this album. Though it is a basic R&B song, the lyrics and delivery are easy to enjoy. "Too Good to be Enough" is also a great moment on this album, especially because of the melody. Too, it has a good hook. DeBarge has been sampled so many times by different artists, and, though Patti did well on her version of "All This Love", El DeBarge did it best. She did a better job on her rendition of "Stay in My Corner." I enjoyed the nuances included on that number.

As stated previously, this album is good, but it doesn't exceed good. "Gems" is by no means Patti LaBelle at her best, but I'm glad I purchased it, even if only because I know I have a legend's album included in my music collection.

Mikeisha's Top 5

1. "The Right Kinda Lover"
2. "Too Good to be Enough"
3. "All This Love"
4. "Come As You Are"
5. "I'm in Love"

I purchased this CD for ONE song (Right kinda lover), but as it turned out, of course I love the whole CD!

I LOVE THIS CD EVEN THOUGH IT DOES HAVE ALOT OF BALLADS IF SHOWS OFF A SOFTER SOUND TO PATTI'S VOICE. BUY IT!!!

THIS IS PATTI AT HER BEST.FOR ALL OF HER FANS THIS IS A MUST FOR YOUR COLLECTION. SO GLAD I HAVE IT????

Somehow while many of her contemporaries seemed to have difficulty with their career momentum after their heyday Patti Labelle kept rolling right along. On through the 70's,80's and here into the 90's. She kept releasing new music ever few years, just at a swift enough pace to be able to keep her ears to the pulse of the new directions R&B was going as she went. Not only that she found success with her music as well, not to mention with side bars such as television acting and writing cook books. And that's something one can say for Labelle all along. Even as her musical focus changed from one era to another not only did she keep rolling with the punches but kept her wonderful instrument very much intact. And the significance of this album is not only did she maintain her ability to stay contemporary with the same integrity as well as pay tribute to the music of the two previous decades as well.

Overall this album is a collection of smoothly produced 90's slow jams very much in the best area of the new jack/mid 90's R&B sound engineered by the producers of this album-people such as Jam & Lewis as well Teddy Riley. The arrangements are smooth enough to work for 90's urban audiences but with just enough of a bang to them to accomodate Labelles scaling wail of a voice. On "I'm In Love","The Word Is All","I Can Tell My Heart What To Do","Our World" and "Come As You Are" are originals mixed in with covers the likes of DeBarge's 80's classic "All This Love" as well as Bunny Sigler's Philly classic "I Never Stopped Loving You" and The Dells early 60's standard "Stay In My Corner". They are all dressed up in this slick,very lightly keyboard tinged urban jazz-pop/soul style that Anita Baker popularized in the late 80's and became a sound utilized by many retro female singers from the 60's and 70's trying to stay afloat musically in the 90's. But I have to admit Patti did it well and with the gospel inspired lead and backup chorses and the romantically confident and reflective lyrics will,even during this difficult time for R&B really take you places.

So no this album did not mark a return to the fierce funk and dance material Patti seemed to popularize in the 70's and 80's and certainly wouldn't set any new trends in the decade. But this album,much as you can say of most of Patti's solo work is a strong and solid set from start to finish without any really weak moments. Creatively their would be a strong upturn in creative energy again as the decade wore on the the millenium came in-cullminating in a full fleged reunion with the group Labelle in 2008 on Back to Now,which marked a contemporary revisit of their original Crescent City funk and uptempo soul style. But Patti is still holding her own her even if her music is on the softer side and the mixture of class and sass she delivers from her surprisingly shy personality. So even though this has become one of those mid 90's R&B releases that seemed to go straight to the budget bin it should not be discounted by Patti Labelle fans or of quality,slick early 90's urban soul ballads as well.