Customer Reviews

Stephanie

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

 

 

Again, it is such a relief to have Stephanie's early 80's catalog finally see the light of day on CD. "Stephanie" contains her now classic duet with Teddy Pendergrass "Two Hearts". Despite some other very strong cuts, "Two Hearts" was the lone hit from this album. So it's great to finally get several underated cuts finally on CD.

However, for whatever reason, Universal decided to use a vinyl source to master both "Stephanie" and "Sweet Sensation", as well as a number of other Japan only reissues that came out in February of 2009. It definately takes away from the quality and is very surprising since they used master tapes to reissue "What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin". Not sure why they took the vinyl route this time, but, if they do decide to reissue "Tantalizingly Hot" and "Merciless", I hope that they use master tapes instead.

Do not bother buying this product. The CD is from a vinyl source and not from the original master tape. You're better off finding a copy of the LP from a used record store and transferring it yourself. I wasted [...] bucks on both the "Sweet Sensation" & "Stephanie" CD's thinking they were remastered from the original master tapes.

If you're reading this review, you're already aware of this album. If not, BUY IT. It has a much more urban adult contemporary mood to it than its predecessor, Sweet Sensation. The ballads are more complete as 'songs' and less lyric heavy. The tracks finally available on CD from this album are: "don't stop doin' whatcha do," and "magic." All others have been available on various Mills compilations for years.

The packaging is minimal, but that's because this is a budget line reissue title called "surfer soul series" from Universal Music Japan. The music is mastered for SHMCD (super high material)playback. It sounds really good, but not as good as "What Cha Gonna Do" from Volume 2 of Surfer Soul series. The downside of the mastering is that music sounds really loud. But that is typical of the way music is being mastered nowadays because it's really being mastered for digital delivery. So, ultimately, I can't say that it sounds FANTASTIC! But it is still very good. For those who claim that it is mastered from vinyl: that is untrue and without merit. THIS IS NOT A VINYL MASTERING RELEASE from Universal, who owns all the masters to Stephanie Mills' catalog...(duh common sense).

Sweet Sensation is also available as a part of this limited edition series. Hopefully, Tantalizingly Hot & Merciless will appear later this year, which will complete here 20th Century/Casablanca discography. Remember that all of her music is owned by Universal Music; so, hopefully we will see the last few titles pre-1979 (along with Love Has Lifted Me) finally reissued as well.

Volumes 3 & 4 of the Surfer Soul series have longer runs in print that the other two because of the response and market demand for the product. So, these have been around for over a year, but will probably go out of print soon. Get it while you can.

1. winner
2. two hearts (ft. Teddy Pendergrass)
3. don't stop doin' what cha do
4. top of my list
6. i believe in love songs
7. my love's been good to you
8. magic