Customer Reviews

It's a Woman's World

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As a long-time fan of Brenda, I'd like to offer an alternative and very positive review of this album and wish her the best of success. For those who don't know, Brenda Holloway is alive and well and still sounds and looks great in her frequent live performances. After a few listens, Brenda's new album holds its own against any of the current crop of slow-jam stylings offered by today's self-styled 'divas'. It begins surprisingly with an original arrangement of the Everly Brothers oldie 'Walk right back', with girl group and sax backing. Brenda's pleading voice is as strong as ever, with no loss of the high register, which often affects modern recordings made by some more famous 60's soul singers. Eight of the remainder of the tracks were written by veteran Fantasy producers Fred Pittman and Preston Glass. This, together with the persistent use of synthesizers and the mechanical drum sound which pervade modern soul music, brings a certain lack of distinctiveness to some of the numbers. The title track, however, is a slowie with a strong hook and prominent vocal back-up behind Brenda's great voice. The next three tracks are slow smooth ballads, all of which bear repeated listening, especially perhaps 'A perfect rendezvous' with its breathy talkie-bit, complete with giggle. 'Don't keep runnin'' is a catchy mid-pace item sung against the chants of the background singers. It's as worthy of success as any of a number of current hits. No up-tempo songs are in evidence here, as Brenda continues with the slow and dreamy 'I'll keep you dry', and the jerky 'No regrets', which is again set against a mellow guitar hook and nice work from the vocal back-up group (sounds like girls, but it's Angela Sessions plus Preston Glass, according to the sleeve notes). Brenda finally offers the pleasant mid-tempo 'Easier said than done', and then her trade-mark 'ooohs' punctuate the last track, the pretty 'When the time comes...', which I hope is only goodnight and not goodbye. I've owned this album for a little while now and, though my ears are more attuned to sixties soul, I like it more with each playing and recommend it both to new audiences and to Brenda's many staunch fans from years gone by.

What do I like about Brenda Holloway's album, "It's a Woman's World"? Her VOICE! I'd give you ten Beyonces for one Brenda Holloway, any day of the week. Rich, lush, soulful..., all of these adjectives describe Ms Holloway's beautiful burnished contralto voice. What don't I like about the album? Well, almost everything else.

"It's a Woman's World" was recorded in 1999 - 35 years after Ms Holloway's first hit, "Every Little Bit Hurts." According to author Nelson George, Brenda Holloway was "... the most beautiful woman ever signed to Motown...." But Ms Holloway wasn't just a pretty face - not only was she a fine singer, she was also an excellent song writer. Which brings me back to "It's a Woman's World."

Ms Holloway is still a fine singer, but let's be blunt - there are certain songs, or perhaps more particularly, lyrics - that an almost 60 year old woman should not sing. I mean come on, to put words like "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do," (from the title song), in the mouth of a woman with a voice like Ms Holloway's is just silly. The fact that she was able to sing this line without breaking out laughing is a testimony to her professionalism. Unfortunately there's more than a little of this sort'a lyric in the ten songs on the album.

I'm also not a fan of drum machines and synthesizers. ALL of the instruments were "... played or programmed by Preston Glass," (Mr Glass also co-produced and co-arranged the album, and wrote or co-wrote most of the songs). To my ears, there's something "lifeless" about such "music" - and that's a real shame because there's so much life in Ms Holloway's voice.

Finally, there are the back-up singers: Mr Glass, (Mr Glass was VERY busy on this album), and Angel Sessions. Ms Sessions happens to be one of my favorite R&B and urban singers, (the fact that almost nobody has ever heard of her is ample proof that jazz isn't the only music where great singers can go unnoticed) - but here, she and Mr Glass just sound like dozens of other waifish "girl singers."

The sonics are excellent. Volt is now one of the Fantasy Records labels, (all of which are now - 2009 - owned by Concord Records), and the album was cut at Fantasy's Berkeley, CA studio. Ms Holloway's voice is clearly and cleanly presented.

Bottom line: It's a shame that after an absence of almost 30 years, Ms Holloway's first album doesn't include better material. Her voice is marvelous - if only she had better songs to sing.

I was happy to see Brenda release a new cd! Most of the songs are mid-tempo with Brenda's still strong voice, 'Don't Keep Runnin'' would've been great for urban radio stations, 'Never Forget Your First', 'No Regrets', 'Easier Said Than Done' are my favorites, although Preston Glass does a great job with the instrumental programming, i hope for the next cd they use real musicians. I think Brenda's long time fans will be happy with this cd.

Of all Motown's '60s artists, Brenda Holloway was without a doubt my favourite. She had an almost cult-like status in England, and even got her own hits album there in 1968 ("The Artistry of Brenda Holloway"), even though she didn't have any! She's one of the few people who could sing the telephone directory and make it sound great. Unfortunately, on this collection she's saddled with some quite dreadful songs, most of which are written by the producer, Preston Glass. Her vocals are still wonderful, and I just wish she had the material worthy of them. Hopefully, Fantasy will be good enough to do another album with her, this time using real musicians instead of the horrible synth-laden production. She looks great on the cover and it's nice that she's gets to make an album some 35 years plus after her hit single "Every Little Bit Hurts". I'd highly recommend the recent anthology on US Motown as a starting point; there is also a British import titled "Greatest Hits And Rare Classics" (same repertoire as an early '90s US release, but with a much better cover) which has stereo mixes on most tracks (the US release is unfortunately in Mono).