Customer Reviews

Give Me the Reason

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This and the CDs "Never Too Much" and "Songs" are my favorite Vandross CDs. This CD boasts the hyperkinetic rhythm arrangements of studio wizard/jazz bassist Marcus Miller who was also doing session work with the late great Miles Davis, it has pianist/arranger Nat Adderley, Jr. involved with some of the mellower love songs, it has some of the best session background singers around--Cherry, Lynn, Agee, the gorgeous Lisa Fisher (man, am I envious--all those great ladies), it has two international hits, "Stop To Love" and "Give Me A Reason", it got Greg Hines off Broadway long enough to do a duet, it has the monster mellow jam "So Amazing" and the Bacharach/David cut "Anyone Who Had A Heart".... and IT HAS LUTHER! Who in God's Green Earth wouldn't find Vandross' rich barotone fabulous, I ask you? There's only one Luther and despite what the critics say, this is one of his best. I mean, com'on! This will make your CD player love you forever--maybe even your intimate partner.

This album was Luther's fifth solo set and the one that took him to new heights thanks to his gorgeous duet with Gregory Hines ("There's Nothing Better Than Love") and the title track--both of which brought him closer to mainstream pop success. For me, the gorgeous ballads "Because It's Really Love", "So Amazing" and his jazzy remake of Dionne Warwick's classic "Anyone Who Had A Heart" are the CD's best moments. The only track worth skipping is the terrible and overproduced club track "I gave It Up When I Fell In Love".

I enjoyed Luther's cuts from the 80's. He always had some Cuts that always came in at the right time. He did a Great Job on covers as well.Him&Marcus Miller truly have strong Musical Chemistry.cuts still sound good.Luther is One of the Best vocalists over the past 25-30 years easily.

Having only explored the music of Luther Vandross in the last several years of his life it's taken me some time to fully grasp him as a musical entity. His singing was not as emotionally charged and excited as Teddy Pendergrass and he didn't possess the same sort of melodic complexity as a songwriter as Stevie Wonder. More over he could be viewed as something of an 80's version of Sam Cooke-a more sweetly soulful,low singing with an excellent range and a songwriter with a crafty pop/R&B sensability who worked within a diverse range of styles. He was actually probably just what the 80's needed;someone who was able to musically progress with the times but also stay rooted in a classic tradition of the music as well. Not only that but he was very talented as an interpretive vocalist and on this,his fifth album of the decade he really gave his all for what turned out to be one of his most definative albums.

While it seemed difficult in the music world of 1986,especially in the R&B world to put out music with both style AND substance but somehow Luther managed it. One of the reasons for that is that he maintained his strong musical pedigree with Marcus Miller,Nat Adderley Jr and Paul Jackson still in the mix with their playing and co-writing/production maintaining itself as an important factor in the flavor of the album. "Stop To Love" is a wonderful way to start out the album-a slickly modern varriation on the soul/gospel rave ups that inspired Luther in the first place,complete with backing choir vocals from members of the old Sweet Inspirations and,as with the rest of the music it maintains a genuine effection and involvment in the lyrics as well-in this case seeing the true meaning of love in a more demanding world. "See Me" represents the type of song Luther naturally excells at-midtempo jazzy R&B/funk with a moody chord flavor and even though it's been said midtempo songs are often the easiest to sing Luther really makes it a challange in his own softly cooing way.

"I Gave It Up (When I Fell In Love"-a song with that shuffling Sam Cooke influence again is another highlite while the title song and "I Really Didn't Mean It" all have a fast paced mid 80's funk/pop flavor to them and,even though it seems Luther is not highly regarded when it comes to uptempo tunes it was important that someone in his field at this time maintained the tradition of musically AND lyrically strong fast material in his sound and as geared to the musical ethics of their day as these songs are they are among some of the better examples of the genre. "There's Nothing Better Than Love",featuring a well thought out duet with the honeyed voice of Gregory Hines,"So Amazing" and "Because It's Really Love" all showcase the aspect of Luther's talent that made him famous-the rich voiced balladeer and on each number he maintains his integrity in this regard very well. The album ends with the old Bacharach/David standard "Anyone Who Had A Heart",a wonderful interpretation peppered well with a David Sanborn like sax solo from Kirk Whalum.

No matter how you cut it there's a truth to one thing:Luther Vandross never did deliberately seek out the hardest and heaviest elements of his music as a focal point. And that might have something to do with the reason that a lot of old school funk and soul fans,including at one point myself may have thought of him as something of a traditionalist throwback to earlier styles of soul/R&B as opposed to someone with anything really progressively musical to say. Though in a lot of ways,although less obviously than others Luther could also be seen as something of an early example of what we might now call "neo soul",something that maintains the classic flavors of the genre without totally ignoring the modern spirit. So if one views this album and Luther in that sense and basically just enjoys and grooves to the music for what it is you'll find a real treasure.

I have the record of this at home and I love the hit, Stop to Love.

I HAVE ALL OF LUTHER VANDROSS SONG ON CD.THIS CD IS MY FAVORITE
CD.