Customer Reviews

Sweet Sensation

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The one star I have given this release is NOT a reflection on the album itself or Stephanie Mills' talent. The negative score goes entirely to Vinyl Masterpiece / PTG for their lackluster methods. This company do not put out quality releases using the original master tapes. Instead, they take a vinyl copy and rip that to a CD like any of us could do. In some cases tracks are edited so we don't hear the cracks and pops from the vinyl. There is no way a vinyl transfer will ever sound as good as what can come from the original masters. Stephanie Mills deserves a lot better and so do you for your money. Do NOT buy this release!

Wait until January 2009 as Universal Japan are releasing a LEGITIMATE CD version of this album. The Japanese always release CDs that have the best quality sound and the original source tapes are used. The packaging is also always of the highest quality. Stephanie's "Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin'" came out on CD last August courtesy of Universal Japan and the release was flawless. Mills' 1981 release "Stephanie" is also coming out on CD for the first time (the same day "Sweet Sensation" is reissued) so save your money until then.

In the meantime do NOT support these inferior vinyl-to-CD releases!

'Sweet Sensation' (1980) by Stephanie Mills is a classic album chock full of hits and favorites produced by James Mtume & Reggie Lucas. Now almost 30 years later, it FINALLY shows up as an overpriced CD from Japan. Personally, I grew tired of waiting for this album to appear on CD, so in 2005, I remastered my mint vinyl album & combined it with the previous classic from 1979 (''What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin'') to create a 2 on 1 CD (Both albums fit PERFECTLY on a single disc!!). This is what should've been done by the company who's charging over $30.00 for the items here on Amazon. Make no mistake, 'Sweet Sensation' is a classic album, BUT not for this price!! Universal Records needs to release a proper 2 on 1 disc for USA fans!

Response to Chakasworld's review:
You know, you're absolutely right. I wish they had've done the same thing, but for both of those albums we as Americans have to suffer because the label's divisions here at home are too lazy and too cheap to do it! Sweet Sensation is also on CD for the first time, but costs an arm and leg. To top that off, not released by Universal, could possibly be recorded from a vinyl source (VinylMasterpiece?) It's an excellent recording, so it's cool, plus it has a 12" version of the title track (which was better than what the actual label did for Whatcha Gonna Do...) It's amazing, 30 years later for both these releases at 30 bucks a piece. It's becoming a standard in the recording industry for reprints to be imported. I'm sick of it, that's why I give a shout out to Mr. Paul Williams at Reel Music in Boston for releasing what he has and I look forward to more of this to be done here at home.
In addition:
Overall, it is a classic album by Stephanie Mills and it should have been printed to CD waaaay before now. Sweet Sensation is another, but it remains a mystery why Universal released the entire Barry White 20th Century/ Casablanca collection years ago and not Stephanie's! I found one of her Casablanca albums on CD, which I believe is the only one, and it was a German import. The MCA catalog was all printed in America (most are out of print) and by the time of those releases, CDs were pretty much the norm. I love these albums, and I wish they would stop the BS on the CD availability and print these more domestically. Hey, hit up Hip-O Select and request Stephanie Mills' entire catalog be reprinted to CD (I just picked up Rare Earth's 3 CD collector set which includes ALL of their studio albums - go pick it up!)
Shout to PTG/ VinylMasterpiece for at least finding pristine resources for their reprints. Shows some integrity and empathy for the listeners of good soul music (and linear notes are in english, plus this release includes some history of the artist) Thank You.

I bought this album in 1980 when it was released. This has got to be her best work. I love an album that you can listen to from start to finish. Every track here is a winner. I remember seeing her in concert when I was about 15 and she held my hand while she sang "I JUST WANNA SAY". One of the best love songs of all time in my estimation. "STILL MINE" shows off her vocal skills (THIS GIRL CAN SANG YA'LL). "DANCIN", "SWEET SENSATION" and the classic "NEVER KNEW LOVE LIKE THIS BEFORE" can still get a house party jumpin. I've waited over 20 years for this to be released on cd and now I have it. Now that's a "SWEET SENSATION".

Stephanie Mills is another vastly underrated singer in the r&b field. This album brings back so many happy memories for me - especially riding around in my cousin's car while the (get ready to laugh) 8-track version of this album played over & over.

I was too young and my allowance too small to purchase the album for myself so when I saw this version for sale, I jumped at the chance to purchase it. I have 2 of Stephanie's greatest hits cds so I purchased this solely to hear my favorite ballads: STILL MINE & I JUST WANNA SAY in addition the uptempo tracks: TRY MY LOVE, MIXTURE OF LOVE & WISH THAT YOU WERE MINE. Her voice soars and this album is so consistently great that I wish she'd have experienced cross-over success with it. Anyway I'm just happy to hear my favorite tracks again.

Well, in 1980 everyone hated disco... well not everyone, but the genre was suddenly killed off overnight. Soo... if a disco song just happened to do really well in 1980, it must have been a really good one, right? No, wrong. It must have been a really super wonderful awesome one. Right! And so is my estimation of 'Never knew love like this before'.

This 1980 'disco' album is interesting because the arrangements are somewhat subdued in the mix. It's actually quite effective; rather than being big and pompous, they can be at times so subtle they are almost 'ghostly' and add a real surreal effect. That said, only a few of the songs are really strong. Other than 'Never knew love like this before', 'Wish that you were mine' is a slightly haunting disco number with some eerie chord changes, and the equally eerie ballad 'I just wanna say', is equally impressive.

However, some of the other songs are just very generic. The easy 'Mixture of love' is probably the best of the rest, but the totally cliched 'DANCIN' is plain awful.

So the LP is a bit lopsided, about three excellent songs, a few dismal ones and one or two in between. It's about 2 1/2 or 2 3/4.

The plastic arrived broken, just like all of my purcheses. Every thing is vert goog, but every time i have my plastic cd box broken.

This is not the official Sweet Sensation release. If you want the official release from Universal Music (the owner of her catalog), get the Japanese limited edition pressing. It's a part of the Surfer Soul Series from Universal Japan.

The sound is 100 times better on the official release, but the artwork is complete in this Holland edition. I'm still not sure if original master tapes are used with Vinyl Masterpiece releases. But they're becoming acceptable by most retailers.

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 40 bucks on both the "Sweet Sensation" & "Stephanie" CD's thinking they were remastered from the original master tapes. Do not buy any CD's if its from a vinyl source PERIOD. If you find out it is send it back to the company and demand for a refund. This is truly false advertisement. It's not fair for consumers to be mislead by this new deception of vinyl source rips to CD where they are charging us an arm and a leg. It is much cheaper to buy these vinyl records for 2-4 bucks at most places!

As part of the Surfer Soul re-issues series from Universal Music Japan comes Stephanie Mills "Sweet Sensation."
Finally available on CD are the tracks: "D-A-N-C-I-N" and "Try My Love" and "Mixture of Love." "Try My Love" was a huge album cut back in 1980 that largely contributed to the album doing so well, despite the lack of a solid ballad release.

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).

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. sweet sensation
2. try my love
3. i just wanna say
4. wish that you were mine
5. d-a-n-c-i-n
6. still mine
7. never knew love like this before
8. mixture of love