Permanent

Randy Crawford | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 28, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B00005NG5X
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,667 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Wild Is the Wind

2. Merry Go Round

3. Free the Child

4. Permanent

5. Sweetest Thing

6. Fire and Rain

7. When I Get Over You

8. Alfie

9. When the Evening Comes

10. All I Do

11. When Will I Be Free of Love's Taboo

12. Tell It to Your Heart

13. I Get a Little Burned

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Smooth jazz fixture Randy Crawford has a wide-open, expansive voice that's soothing yet not soporific, laced with a jazzy élan and precise phrasing that lends itself to adult contemporary pop as well as the R&B "Street Life," her hit 1976 collaboration with the Crusaders. She's the female equivalent of Al Jarreau in that neither are jazz singers, but both boast way too much musicality and grown-up reserve to really slug it out in today's R&B/pop market. Crawford's vocals are sheer bliss through the pleasing Permanent, though some fault lies in the uneven material. For every soulful, moody cut like the Albert Hammond-penned ballad "I Get a Little Burned" and the insistent title track, there's a throwaway like "Merry Go Round," which comes across as a Lifetime network anthem and finds Crawford confessing, "Our love is like a merry-go-round / Sometimes it's up, sometimes its down" with more dignity than such clichés deserve. Just because you can sing the phone book doesn't mean you should. --Amy Linden

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Permanent class, August 28, 2001

By 

WAYNE ALLAN DICKSON (Glasgow, Lanarkshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Permanent (Audio CD)

Since parting company with Warner Bros in 1993, Randy Crawford has been enjoying a creative freedom courtesy of WEA Germany. Both Naked And True (1995) and Evey Kind Of Mood (1997) saw Randy return to her sophisticated Jazzy Soul roots of her first three albums while most of her contemporaries record albums with increasing smoooooooooothjazzzzzzz blandness. Released in Germany late last year, this album went under the title Play Mode in Europe. It's a more varied affair drawing on both Old Skool and more contemporary styles. The first Euro Single MERRY GO ROUND is a simple Adult Contemporary Ballad which although pretty enough, does not display the true genious of the album. That came in the second single PERMANENT, a rhythmic shuffler that allows Randy to scale both her fantastic lower and higher registers in the same way that she did on the classic DECLARATION OF LOVE from 1979's RAW SILK. Anyone who has ever watched a warm summer evening in an exotic location slowly burn into a hot summer night will melt at the sound of THE SWEETEST THING. The sort of track that until now, I used to say "They don't make them like that anymore!". WHEN THE EVENING COMES and her fantastic retro-disco cover of Stevie Wonder's ALL I DO are equally evocative. As far as the Dancier numbers go, the album's one weaker point is FIRE AND RAIN which strangely emulates the production style of Britney Spears' hits. For those who long for the Randy Crawford of ALMAZ or ONE DAY I'll FLY AWAY, Your prayers are well and truly answered with WHEN I GET OVER YOU which is as majestic as any Craig Armstrong or David Arnold arrangement. Here as with the opening cover of WILD IS THE WIND, Randy manages to create dramatic tension without losing so much as an ounce of her trademark subtlety. Her old US Label WARNER BROS obviously thought the album was strong enough to resign her. Permanent should take her back to the upper regions of the Jazz and R&B charts. Welcome home Randy!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful work of art, February 27, 2002

By 

J. Fulghum (Beeville, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Permanent (Audio CD)

I had never heard of Randy Crawford until Christmas of 2001. I received a gift certificate from a department store and used it to buy Randy's CD titled "Permanent" and glad I did. She is AWESOME! What a beautiful work of art and a powerful, high octane vocal range she has. All the tracks in this CD are good from start to end. It was the best gift I received for Christmas that year. My personal favorites are "When I Get Over You", "Tell It To Your Heart", "Permanent", "Free The Child" and "Fire And Rain". If you like R&B, then I highly recommend you buy this cd. You will not regret you did.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "PERMANENTLY IN MY CD ROTATION...", January 22, 2002

By 

L. Kelsey "lkelsey" (Riverside, CA. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Permanent (Audio CD)

is the latest from Randy Crawford, one of my favorite vocalist. Randy is at her soulful best on such tracks as "Permanent," "Free the Child" and "Tell it to Your Heart." The two tracks that MOVE ME though are "Wild is the Wind" and "I Get a Little Burned." Both songs examine the emotions of being in love and no one expresses these better than Randy. From the opening strains of "Wild is the Wind," with Randy singing,"love me love me, say you do, let me fly away with you," I knew I was hooked. Nina Simone's version is a classic, but Randy pays homage with an excellent rendition of this song. This album is a WINNER!