Customer Reviews

The Sweetest Days

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Vanessa Williams' name conjures up a few different images. Miss America, timeless beauty, pop chanteuse, broadway diva or respected actress. Vanessa has worn so many hats that it doesn't come as a surprise that she has explored a myriad of musical styles in her recording career. Although her first two albums were paint by numbers R&B/pop collections that did pretty well on the charts, they did show some signs that the Divine Miss W had more to offer (including the brilliant rendition of What Can I Tell My Heart from the Comfort Zone album). The Sweetest Days if probably the closest Vanessa has come to showing the many different sides of her personality and the range of her talent. This collection is classy, urbane and extremely listenable. Vanessa never oversings or overreaches and truly found her "comfort zone". The standouts on this collection are the two Babyface compostions "You Can't Run" and Betcha Never. These songs both use a brazillian jazz theme and choose instrumentation that allows Vanessa to ride the groove instead of being overpowered by it. Vanessa also tackles You Don't Have To Say You're Sorry (by the criminally underated Patti Austin) with great success. Other great numbers are Sting's Sister Moon, Higher Ground (redone by Barbara Streisand in 1998) and one of Vanessa's greatest vocal performances, Constantly. A superb collection that I highly recommend.

I definitely know that a there has been to much to think about with younger divas. It seems more like the looks from the outside, rather than the voice within really do matter. While younger acts like Beyonce' and the oversaturated and erratic Britney Spears seem to rule the rule. But for older icons, they'd have to find other ways to let those voice known. That has been the case the past few years for Vanessa Williams. Her appearance on Ugly Betty, has re-introduced her sassy and down to Earth style as being a great actress, delivered flawlessly as the humorous villainess boss. But, there are those who really do miss hearing Vanessa's elegant voice. Now, they get the chance with one of her most soulful albums to download from Amazon.

Vanessa Williams 1994 album The Sweetest Days, came on the heels of her sensual duet Love Is with Brian McKnight from 1993. The Sweetest Days showed Vanessa's sensual side from beginning to end ata lighter pace, rather than the dance beats that were shown from The Comfort Zone and The Right Stuff. The songs are very elegant with each track you listen to right from the start. There are a lot of great songs here including the beautiful title track The Sweetest Days, as well as songs ranging from Jazz and R&B as you find with songs like Sister Moon which was written by Sting and her Ellamental, a delightful Hip Hop mixed tune paying respect to Ella Fitzgerald. There are a lot of other great songs here, including the seductive The Way That You Love, and Betcha Never which Babyface conjured especially for her voice. Every track feels like it is a special treat on this album.

I still love listening to The Sweetest Days today. It is definitely the best album I've ever heard to Vanessa Williams. It is just too bad Vanessa hasn't made an album that tops the sensual voice she still has today. If you're new to Vanessa's music, I absolutely recommend you download this album and hear the sweetness of these days that still go on and on.

Songs: A-

Price: A-

Mastering: A

Overall: A-

I'm listening to the same cd I bought 10 years later, and I appreciate the songs now that I'm older,

This is a beautiful album and definitely perfect for a romantic evening.

My favorite track is Long Way Home, a very inspiring song

a classic album by a under-rated artist with true talent

Aging gracefully is a wonderful thing, isn't it? Adopting an amiable, yet classy and highbrow attitude on her third album, Vanessa Williams concocted a flawless, breezy suite of songs that touch on all facets of popular music, without sounding incongruous, forced or trendy. This is strictly adult music, crafted with a team of producers who know how to surround Ms. Williams expressive voice with the most full-bodied production of her career. The intro, a wah-wah guitar played over vibes, bass synth and keys, tells the listener right away that they will hear real MUSIC on this album, and the treasures never keep coming; from radio hits, "The Way That You Love Me"(tight, chunky drums, deep bass and a straightforward arrangement that works to great advantage) Latin flavored pop/soul ("'Betcha' Never" & "You Can't Run", two brilliant collaborations with Babyface) to orchestral torch songs and jazz ("You Don't Have To Say You're Sorry" & "Sister Moon" (featuring jazz legend Ron Carter on bass and Sting on background vocals) to the album's masterpiece, the jazz/hip-hop number "Ellamental" a tribute to the great Ella Fitzgerald. The chorus soars, the track is a bass heavy, delicious confection, and the rap by Soulman(?) is perfectly integrated. As an added bonus, trumpeter Roy Hargrove lays down a solo that gives the song a true, authentic jazz feel, you'll love "Ellamental". My personal favorite is the spare, acoustic ballad "Constantly" with it's simple, exotic beauty and gorgeous melody, it's a yearning, passionate ode to unrequited love for your best friend (a subject I'm all too familiar with). A strong, cohesive album that is still a refreshing change of pace. Music this creative and beautiful shows how truly boring, predictable and uninspired Soul Music has been for many years.

THIS IS HER BEST ALBUM EVER! IT HAS A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING IN IT FOR EVERYBODY. A LITTLE BIT OF HIP-HOP, JAZZ, AND R&B. THE BEST SONG ON HER IS "THE WAY THAT YOU LOVE". IT IS A CLASSIC R&B HIT. I RECOMMEND THIS ALBUM TO ANYONE WHO JUST WANTS SOME PEACE AND QUIET, IT WILL SOOTH YOUR SOUL.

When you play this CD for the first time,your amazed at Vanessa Williams fantastic voice.There's no over dubs like most of the newer singers have today."The Sweetest Days" really tears my heart apart. "Listen now,you can hear our heartbeat,Hold me know and don't let Go." Its the perfect love song."Sister Moon," by Sting,really show's off Vanessa's Jazz sounding vocals."Moonlight over Paris," is my favorite cut.You really believe your at the city of lights.I can't understand why this terrific song wasn't released as a single.The last number,"Long Way Home," is the perfect clossing cut.I really loved this CD.Its my Sister's,and I don't want to give it back.

Successfully branching into jazz, Vanessa finds her self in fine form. Shes at her best with the cool and sassy "Betcha Never" written by Baby face. The title song "The sweetest days" is really a sweet song, and the hip grammy nominated "The way that you love" is a heart throb. This is actually the first Vanessa Williams album that I bought and I instantly became a fan. Keep up the good work.

Vanessa Willams is one of my favorite singers. Her voice is very different, and yet, very sweet. I have most of her albums, (including her Christmas album). This cd is good because, her songs are unforgetable. My favorite songs are "The Sweetest Days", & "Higher Ground", well, there's more I like but, I can't think of them right now. Go get this album it's very well done.

It's been awhile since I've really done it this is an album that came to me via a recommendation from Musichound R&B: The Essential Album Guide (Musichound Essential Album Guides). That book is in pieces in my collection now and I've since strongly revised my opinion on selecting music based on the opinions of critics and what I read. All the same this is an album that made me curious. Vanessa Williams is someone I always rather admired as a vocalist but never heard any of her songs save for Save the Best for Last. My knowledge of her mainly extends more towards her celebrity status:as an actress and for...the short time she was a Miss America. In the end the fact is I never listened to one of her albums. Since this was pretty highly recommended and I had very little else to go on with her music I went for it. This came out it in 1994 during the hight of the hip-hop/R&B style of music and,the fact is Vanessa well oiled and emotionally involving vocal style works wonderfully in that style. All the same only one song on the record actually fully embraces that sound on "The Way That You Love":it's well composed,the rhythms roll right along and the harmonics are wonderfully suited to the singer involved. A humungous chunk of the album consists of melodramatically produced ballads such as "Betcha Never",the title song,"You Don't Have To Say You're Sorry","You Can't Run","Moonlight Over Paris" and "Long Way Home". All of these songs are very carefully crafted compositions and extremely well sung but with everyone from Whitney Houston and Toni Braxton building their careers on this type of material Vanessa putting so much emphasis on this mainly for the reason that her biggest hit at this point was based on that seemed somewhat redundant. Vanessa expressess more of her artistry elsewhere on the album. Two of them are beautifully and moodily chorded,reverbed jazz acoustic guitar numbers "Higher Ground" and "Constantly". Both of these songs have a Spanish flavor as well and that add's to the intensity and romanticism they possess. "Ellamental" is a strong candidate for the strongest tune here:it's got this rolling jazz/hip-hop musical flavor featuring Ron Carter on acoustic bass and a vital trumpet solo by Roy Hargrove and a fitting tribute to Ms. Fitzgarald herself presenting the legendary vocalist as someone who "spoke her mind" creatively whatever style she utilized. By this point it should be obvious Williams' apparent interest in jazz is no gimmick but for any still in doubt the lovely,heavily blue noted "Sister Moon" even more emphasizes her strenghs as a potential jazz interpreter,even if her vocals are still very much in the standard R&B mold a lot of the time. Throughout this albums dozen cuts you get all the elements of Vanessa Williams' musical personity: the jazzy hip/hop-soul singer,the pop balladeer and the jazzier vocal stylist. Whatever amount of substance is given or taken away depends on the mood of the song.

AWESOME CD! Always loved Vanessa Williams!Very sultry music, if you like that style!
Great album!!!