Customer Reviews

Michael Franks Anthology: Art of Love

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While freely admitting to being an avid fan of Michael Franks for many years now I will confess to being more then slightly prejudicial when it comes to reviewing any disc that carries his name. Largely regarded for composing songs that, for the most part, are widely known ( and justifiably admired ) for being immensely enjoyable in their incredibly playful use of words ( " I hear from my ex on the back of my checks " ) Mr. Franks is a favorite in the music genre of Smooth Jazz and is an artist whose songs have been covered by a dizzying array of artists such as Diana Krall, Al Jarreau and David Sanborn. That being the case a two disc retrospective of his lengthy, and highly enjoyable, back catalogue is a welcome addition to my music library. And while, at first, I suspected that writing a review of Rhino's " Michael Franks Anthology: The Art of Love " was going to be a simple excercise in finding enough superlatives to get my point across as to my deep admiration of this artist it has become slightly more then just that.

When releasing a two disc retrospective on any given artist there's always a chance of, while attempting to be all encompassing, it may also unintentionally reveal a weaker aspect of that artists back catalogue as well. And after my initial listen to disc one of this compilation I was enthralled with Rhino's choices and the remastering that they had accomplished. From the sinfully playful " Popsicle Toes " to the exotic " The Lady Wants To Know " and moving on to one of my favorites, " Antonio's Song " every selection included here is top-notch and I can think of no songs found on the first disc that should not have been included on this anthology. That being the case I, to my great surprise, ran into some trouble on disc two.

To be perfectly blunt the tunes to be found on disc two simply do not scale the rather dizzying heights that I feel the first disc acheived. And while there are some wonderful songs to be found on the second cd, i.e. " Innuendo " beng one of my favorites and " The Art of Love " though I'm at a loss as to why they only included this one track from " Blue Pacific ", many of the second discs songs simply are not of the same superior quality and the anthology as a whole suffers slightly because of it. Granted when you have a disc that includes such classics such as " Lotus Blossom " and " On My Way Home To You " it would be difficult to maintain that exuberant quality through-out any compilation. Unfortunately though, many of the songs on the second disc simply tend to lose a certain amount of playfullness that has become a staple in Michael's back catalogue. In fact one or two of the tracks to be found, such as " Flirtation " and " Rainy Night In Tokyo " could easily have been left off and others included, such as " Island Life " from " The Camera Never Lies. " or " Long Slow Distance " which, for me , is without question one of his very best! Now, it isn't my intention as to complain about why some songs made the cut and others didn't ( that's the very nature of compilations ) but I must wonder as to some of the choices on the second disc. Although granted, even less the sterling songs of Michaels are appreciably better then most artists at their very best.

Now with all that being said I would, without question, recommend this disc to any music lover. Whether you're a casual fan of Mr. Franks or a lifetime admirer, such as myself, owning a copy of " Michael Franks Anthology " is a must for any serious lover of Jazz, Pop or for that matter, any style of music that you subscribe to.

What an excellent gift from Rhino/Warner Brothers. This wonderful collection of Michael's music was released on my fortieth birthday and although it's a happy concidence, thanks anyway! There will be those who will complain about missing tracks, but I feel this anthology does a perfect job encapulating Michael's career. The one album not represented is Michael's self titled debut, but that cd is widely available. This set presents Michael's recordings chronologically, as did his "Backwards Glance" best of cd, released a few years ago. The mastering is, redundant as it now is to state with anything from Rhino, superb. The song selection is comprehensive without feeling manic or overwhelming. This collection picks up where "Backwards Glance" left off, giving us more than just a taste of each Warner Brothers album. This set closes with "Mr Smooth," a song from his "Barefoot On The Beach" album for Windham Hill. I'm very happy to see Michael's track "Leading Me Back To You" is here and remastered. It's from Joe Sample's "Spellbound" and that album contains Michael's "Somehow Our Love Survives" sung by Al Jarreau. The live songs, "Don't Be Blue" and Monkey-See Monkey-Do will be released again on an upcoming live set. "Don't Be Blue" which always sounded like an outtake from "Art Of Tea," is originally from "Sleeping Gypsy" and "Monkey-See Monkey-Do" is from "Art Of Tea." While I wish the studio version of "Don't Be Blue" was here in remastered form, the live version here refreshes the song. The Yellowjackets produced Michael's studio version of "The Dream," the live version presented here is also available on their "Collection" album on GRP records. Brenda Russell and Marilyn Scott provide the expert backing vocals on this live version. The studio version of "The Dream" is available on "Dragonfly Summer." "On My Way Home To You" with it's chord progression and modulation reminds me of Barry Manilow and "Ready To Take A Chance Again." I felt this song should have been included on Michael's "Backwards Glance" and am happy to see it presented here. "Innuendo" is one of my favorite songs from "The Camera Never Lies," the guitar arrangement is a mind blower. This set closes with Michael's humorus scatting on "Mr. Smooth." It's a fun soft-swing number that's so catchy you'll be singing it in your sleep. I guess my point is all the songs here are well chosen, not a mis-step in the bunch. All anthologies should be this well done and one more point, there are no edits here, all are full length versions.

This is one schmooove compilation. Hours of good listening I played a whole 3 hours of Internet Spades while listening to this ENTIRE Set. LOVE IT!! I'm not a dedicated, old Franks fan but my boyfriend is and I can tell you that I have a New found respect for this artist. Nice, Unhurried just str8 up Easy Jazz Listening. I can't go into detail like the other reviews because I'm not feeling that deep tonight but I can say if you purchase this CD you won't be dissapointed there are some songs that you will pause and WANT to pay attention to and there are some songs that would be nice "background" music for a Sunday Afternoon.

Respectfully Reviewed

It's murderer's row of Franks' best songs. I keep buying his repackaged, vintage stuff-and still truly enjoy every note. I think I've got popsicle toes on 4 different CD's. What makes this go-round worth the 32 bucks, is having most of the best on 2 cd's, including live versions of Monkey see and Monkey do. It's the little variations that are most welcome and enjoyable. For example, "Why do we fuss and fight like Arabs and like Jews", written 30 years ago when such talk was the norm, has been replaced with "Like Crazy people do", and the keyboards on the live tracks included are very un-Joe Sample like, but still a nice change. Since I usually give away my favorite CD's to turn people on to his music, this CD was a welcome addition to my always dwindling collection. In summary, if you want a comprehensive list of MF's hits, here it is. If there was one thing that should have been considered to make this CD even more desirable, it would have been to have had a "vote forum" on his website and let the fans pick the tracks that what they wanted on this CD. By the way, His new CD, "Watching The Snow" is fantastic. Especially tracks 1,4, and 9. Don't bother trying to find it here though, you can only get it by mail order at his website. It will be great to see him at the Ramshead Tavern In Md. on 12/06!!

I remember one morning as I was getting out of bed.I heard a smooth singer on the radio singing a smooth song. Well it took me about two months to find out who the singer was and the name of the song.As you may have guess the singer was Michael Franks (Mr.Smooth) and the song was 'The Lady Wants To Know'.And that's when I became a Michael Franks fan.What's so amazing to me about Michael is his ability to create such fantastic lyrics.The man really has a way with words.He's like the Cole Porter of smooth jazz.Just check out the lyrics on songs like Eggplant,Living On The Inside,Innuendo and Monk's New Tune just to name a few.And they are just a few of the songs included on Michael Franks Anthology cd set. The songs on this compilation were recorded during Michael's years with Warner Brothers.The first disk focuses on Michael's early years (1975 thur 1980).The second focuses on his later years (1982 thur 1999).During those years Michael got to work with recording artist like Rob Mounsey,Larry Carlton,Joe Sample,Kenny Rankin,Earl Klugh, Luther Vandross and David Sanborn.All of whom are present on this two cd set.Also on disk one is a song called 'Antonio's Song (The Rainbow)'.This song was written by Michael with his dear friend in mind Antonio Carlos Jobim.But unfortunately for me some of my most favorite songs of Michael Franks early years did not make disk one.Tunes like St.Elmo's Fire,One Bad Habit and Still Life.But all is not lost because songs like Living On The Inside,Tiger In The Rain,Inside You and Lottus Blossom are perfect songs to cuddle-up to with your love one on a rainy day.Now after listening to disk one disk two seems like a bit of a letdown.Simply put the song selection on disk two is a little weaker than on disk one.But disk two does has it's moments with songs like When Sly Calls (Don't Touch That Phone),Innuendo,The Art Of Love,Ranny Night In Tokyo and Monk's New Tune.But again unfortunately for me some of my favorite songs of Michael Franks later years did not make disk two.Tunes like Alone At Night,How The Garden Grows,Wnen She Is Mine and All I Need.You would think that with the length of Michael Franks career,and the volume of material to choose from. They could have made this a three disk compilation or maybe a box set.So is this two disk compilation worth buying? Well let me put it to you this way.If you like good,relaxing and well compose music this cd set is for you.So just sit back and let Michael Franks smooth you from your head all the way down to your Popsicle Toes.

Michael Franks is a cerebral and erudite performer with hypnotic, mellow vocals invariably accompanied by stellar musicians and dynamic music. He is also a Baby-Booming utopian who advocates vegetarianism,animal rights, environmentalism and many green causes. I have all of his CD's and each has a few to several quality songs. "Abandoned Garden" and "Blue Pacific" are incredible CD's. This man is so cool he lives in Woodstock. Conversely, I have always felt that universal fame eluded Franks because he has written too many sappy little love songs that have tarnished his legacy and aura. When Michael Franks pens a poignant or melancholic tune he ascends to the greatest of heights. If he only penned more of them who knows how far the boundlessly talented Michael Franks could have resonated with the musical masses.

I really enjoyed this compilation. It's not written on the inserts and back cover but several songs on cd1 and almost all songs on cd2 are HDCD encoded (my cd player's HDCD indicator lights up when these were played), the discs were made in Germany. My only criticism is that Vivaldi's Song, Mr. Blue and Down In Brazil were not included. Notwithstanding, I highly recommend this!

Michael Franks is not very well know in Denmark and I take the same goes for the rest of Europe - and what pitty that is! He's such a great composer and he's performance definitely is outstanding.
If you like great original songs performed in soft jazzy/funky arrangements this CD set is what you're looking for.

This is a fine compilation which he seems to be emphasizing in his more recent concerts. It may not be 100% pure platinum, like "A Backward Glance," (he lift out "Hourglass," "Island Life," "Love Duet," and "Soutmate"), but its a very worthy collection.

I saw Michael Franks perform in Annapolis, Maryland, recently. He gets two points off for the brevity of the set (80 - minutes). However, more than offsetting this was the quality of the musicians he invited to play along with him on stage. (Don't you wish you could hear the names when the lead singer introduces the band members?) He had FIVE other people with him on stage - a person on keyboards, drums, woodwinds, stand-up base, and a female back-up singer. They were all fantastic. They would have been fantastic without Michael!

Ultimately, you appreciate it when an artist tries to give you a great show. Michael hired top notch musicians, who helped him turn out a top notch show.

As a result, I can recommend "Anthology," and I can highly recommend Michael Franks in concert.

Like several others who left reviews, I might have made different selections in putting together this anthology. However, having all the individual albums from which the choices were made, I can listen to my personal favorites at any time.

Where Rhino slipped up is that there are no "extras," songs not generally available. Mr. Franks is something of a perfectionist, so it's understandable that there are no unissued tracks from his various recording sessions. But his contributions to several movie soundtracks ("Author! Author!" and "Are You My Mother" as well as his duets with Livingston Taylor and Bob Mintzer's Big Band would have been welcome inclusions and would have made this anthology more of a must-have for completists.