Customer Reviews

Ultimate Luther Vandross (Spec)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For one thing, the songs presented are not a good representation of a twenty-year career. His first hit, "Never Too Much", and his last, "Dance With My Father", are on here, but the stuff in between? Much too limited. To me, an ultimate collection is a lot closer to an anthology than what they came up with for this one.

What's more, I see a disturbing pattern starting to happen to the beloved Vandross now that he's gone. I see J Records scraping up whatever sonic leftovers Luther may have left behind, getting somebody else to mix them (very badly, I might add), and then tacking them onto any number of badly thought-out compilations now and in the future. Take the two "new" songs on this collection, for example, "Shine" and "Got You Home". The first one sounds like something from his "Chic" days, it sounds like a cull that they manipulated to bring his vocal to the forefront instead of the background like it was when he was their background singer. It has a great beat, though, and should end up being a great club mix. "Got You Home" is awful. It feels very false. I don't see Luther Vandross sampling his own song, "Take You Out", and I can't imagine him not having more than one verse to a song. There's not even a bridge to it. This is an awful mix that goes to show that arranging makes all the difference in a song, and with the master arranger gone, you just end up with dreck.

But maybe the record company is hoping that their youthful audience will not care about anything but the beat. But for me, this fabrication isn't worth the price of a full package. I can't believe they're doing this to Luther, but in a way, yes, I can. My advice: if you must have the two previously unreleased songs, go to your iTunes, spend less than two dollars for them. That way, if you end up enjoying them, fine. And if you're as disappointed as I was, you won't be out much.

The late, great Luther was - and still is - the best male vocal artist of the last 25 years, bar none. The fact that, now that he's gone, his record labels see fit to exhume his corpse and continue to rehash/remix/reissue his back catalog is lamentable, but typical. Now on to this "Ultimate" collection...mind you, there was already another "Ultimate Luther" CD released a few years ago...how can anyone in their right mind call this latest CD his "Ultimate" anthing, when is skimps on this prime 80s Epic cuts and loads it down with way too much bland J Records recent tracks? While it's nice to have TWO new unreleased Luther cuts, they are hit & miss - SHINE is prime upbeat/disco/dance Luther as only he can do - with a gleaming, slick JAM & LEWIS groove that slyly samples CHIC's "My Forbidden Lover," SHINE could be a big club hit that might just crossover to pop radio - well, probably not in 2006, but here's hoping. What can you say about the abysmal GOT YOU HOME, aside from the fact that it's clearly warmed-over re-heated scraps from his TAKE YOU OUT session, like a poor demo that should have stayed in the vaults. The rest cheats on many ESSENTIAL Luther cuts - and if you're a big fan anyway like me, you already own all his solo CDs anyway. So what's the point? What J Records & Epic should do is join together to release a RARITIES/UNRELEASED CD from the late Luther, featuring never-before-heard cuts (there MUST be some from past Ray Bardini/Marcus Miller/Nat Adderly sessions?!) as well as never-before-on-CD 12" mixes culled together in one place, such as MORALES mixes of "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now," MAW mixes of "Are You Using Me?", UNO CLIO remixes of "Love Power," MK remixes of his Janet duet "Best Things in Life Are Free," I could go on...now THAT would be a gift to the fans, not this cynical "greatest hits" collection that's neither great, nor a hit. Nice cover art/photo booklet, though. Two stars for the lone new song SHINE, zero stars for major-label corporate greed. LONG LIVE LUTHER, RIP.

Luther Vandross was unquestionably the finest male R&B singer of this generation - with a fabulous voice, immense songwriting, arranging, and production talents - he was definitely an entertainer who rightfully earned his place in musical history. I thought, how can anyone go wrong with a collection with his music? Well, there are many Luther Vandross collections out there to choose from, however, I wish I had not chosen this one. I had only purchased it because of the two new songs, "Shine" and "Got You Home", which are okay, but far below the standards I believe Luther would have allowed for his music to be released. These songs sound like they were in the vault for some time and just now being put out there to sell this CD. If you are a LV fan, then you have all if not, most of his albums anyway. But as I said, because of the two "new" songs, I bought this.

The song "Shine", produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, appealed to me only because I used to be a fan of Chic's music back in the day. I know Luther used to sing background for them before his amazing debut album, NEVER TOO MUCH, came out, so it was like he had come home, so to speak. Luther's voice sounds exquisite over the old "My Forbidden Lover" track. However, my main gripe is with Jam and Lewis, who are both veteran musicians and talented producers.

The evidence of how great they were is in the early hits of Cherrelle, Alexander O'Neal, Morris Day, the S.O.S. Band, The Human League, Janet Jackson and later, New Edition, Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant. But in the last ten years or so, they have increasingly relied on samples with each new CD they produce, and now, that's ALL they use. What happened to these guys, are they just lazy?? Just listen to almost any Janet Jackson CD made after RHYTHM NATION 1814 and you'll understand what I mean. A few samples, okay, I can see, to enhance the song. But to rely on the entire sample itself? Come on!! They put absolutely no effort into making those songs at all. They are no more creative than Diddy or a Kanye West, jacking for beats, and that's a shame because we all know what they were ONCE capable of. They did this with Luther on "Shine" and I honestly believe if Luther were still here, he would have never allowed it to be released.

"Got You Home" is obviously something that didn't make the grade for Luther's first CD for J Records, so they put it away and reworked it into "Take You Out". I'm quite sure it was not meant to see the light of day.

I don't think that the late, great LV is represented well here. First of all, the versions of his hits and most well-known cuts are edited and not enough of his work on Sony/Epic is here. Secondly, the collector's edition includes an extra CD, but it has nothing but a bunch of remixed Luther songs for club play on it. It's a waste. They could have scraped that and made it a decent 2-cd collection with more of Luther's popular songs....the songs from his Epic days that people WANT to hear, instead of what they decided to give us here. Needless to say, this is a big disappointment to me. If you want a better repesentation of what a vocal juggernaut this man was, buy his individual albums instead, and steer clear of this one.

I lost a hero when Luther died. There will never be another male singer like him. This CD is a must have!

* Another Luther Vandross collection, another "Ultimate Luther Vandross", another one disappointing.
* It includes ten tracks from the Epic era, two tracks from the 2001 album, four from the 2003 album, two unreleased songs but none from the 1998 Virgin album (not even the marvellous "I'm only human" with Cassandra Wilson).
* First of all we have the same old songs we have on the other compilations in the same versions. Worse, here, they are sometimes edited ("Superstar/Until You Come Back To Me" for example). Then we have the two unreleased songs. "Got You Home" has no personality and samples "Take you out" when "Shine" samples a minor 1979 hit from Chic ! And we can be suspicious about both, recorded two years ago and remixed yesterday : Luther Vandross would not have allowed anybody to do that.
* On cd 2 we just have less than 40 minutes of remixes and it's not a complete overview like cd 2 on "The ultimate Prince" Warner released. The first song is an edited version of "Shine" remixed by Freemasons. Why don't we have the 7:38 version ? "Power Of Love/ Love Power" and " Stop To Love" are remixes already availables on the double cd "The essential LV". "Take You Out Tonight" is a 7" remix from the 2001 cd single. "I'd Rather" is in its short edited version and not in the superb 8:52 one ! "Can Heaven Wait" and "'Til My Baby Comes Home" are the only true 12" mixes.
* When will we have a compilation with a majority of versions unavailable on the other ones? Vandross, like the Motown acts or Dionne Warwick, seems doomed to the same old tired anthologies. Some songs are usually hard to find and they would fit perfectly on a good compilation : the duet with Cheryl Lynn "If this world were mine", "She's so good for me" (from "The Goonies"), "That's what friends are for" live with Whitney Houston & Dionne Warwick, "Treat you right" (1989), "Doctor's orders" with Aretha Franklin, "Heart of a hero" (from the 1992 movie "Hero")... And some excellent mixes are waiting to be released on an innovative compilation : "I'd rather" (Metro mix), "Your secret love" (Charles Roane mix), "The rush", "Power of love/Love power" (the original Shep Pettibone 12" or the Colin Peter & Carl Ward 1995 mix), "She won't talk to me", "I really didn't mean it", "Bad boy/Having a party" to name a few, without speaking about all those stunning acappella versions available on the original 12 inch records.
* The best LV collection is still "The essential LV" and for the 80's remixes a UK collection of four 12" ("Twelve inch mixes"). And if you like "Shine" the vinyl is excellent with the lp version, the Freemasons 12" (7:38), the Freemasons dub (6:32) and the acappella (4:34). This new double set "The ultimate LV" is a wasted opportunity, interesting just for completist fans or people who don't own any record of Vandross.
* Here are the trackslist and the timings :

1. Shine 4:50
2. Got You Home 3:38
3. Never Too Much 3:51
4. Take You Out 3:26
5. Superstar/Until You Come Back To Me 4:32
6. Here And Now 5:22
7. Dance With My Father 4:25
8. A House Is Not A Home 7:06
9. Give Me The Reason 4:45
10. I'd Rather 4:19
11. Any Love 5:00
12. Power Of Love/Love Power 4:19
13. Think About You 3:28
14. Wait For Love 4:16
15. Your Secret Love 4:01
16. The Closer I Get To You 4:25
17. Buy Me A Rose 3:48
18. Endless Love (Duet with Mariah Carey) 4:18

19. Shine (The Freemasons Mix) 4:51
20. Power Of Love/ Love Power (The Dance Radio Mix) 6:30
21. Can Heaven Wait (David Harness Soulful Club Mix) 7:19
22. Take You Out Tonight (Allstar Remix) 3:45
23. I'd Rather (Mike Rizzo Global Mix) 3:36
24. 'Til My Baby Comes Home (Dance Version) 7:38
25. Stop To Love (12" Mix) 5:32

There are times where a good greatest hits collection can be a well-driven collection that defines a act, or just something that has extras that can miss out from what the artist truly made a definitive album. This past year, there have been great hits collections from Foreigner, Bryan Adams, and Patti LaBelle to name a few. However, with the heartbreaking death of Luther Vandross last year, many people have really forgotten about how beautiful his silky, smooth voice really was. Surprisingly, there have been so many different hits collections of his great music that've been released within the past several years, it is just tough to decide. This one happens to be no acception.

The 2006 Ultimate Luther Vandross Limited Edition, is a double album reflection of Luther's elegant voice, and 25 songs that are highlighted in remixes, and the original editions. The songs here hhave all been remastered well, within each track. The album though does a excellent job at highlighting his J records albums the self-titled Luther Vandross and Dance With My Father, with tracks like I'd Rather, The Closer I Get To You with Beyonce', and Take You Out.

Unfortunately, that doesn't say the same thing with his near 20 year status with the Sony Music era. Although there are some off his great tracks here that were well delivered like Power Of Love/Love Power, the soulful Any Love, and his wonderful remake of Endless Love with Mariah Carey, there are just so many delightful songs that weren't delivered like Don't Wanna Be A Fool, Anyone Who Had A Heart, and Always & Forever to just name a few. This record also falls a bit short with showcasing a extra disc of several of his great tracks remixed, a problem that plagued other greatest hits records from acts like Whitney Houston.

Nevertheless, with so many people being geared more into Hip Hop than the smooth sounds of traditional Soul & R&B, it is sometimes too easy to forget about great singers from the past. Still, even though The Ultimate Luther Vandross Limited Edition could've been a whole lot better, I'd still rather listen to his songs. Because even though he is gone, the sonnets are still so beautiful to escape to, and that is a real power of love.

Album Cover: B

Songs: C

Price: C 1/2+

Remastering: B-

Overall: C 1/2+

I just wanted to say that you can not go wrong with Luther deep down in my heart. I think this is a really good CD and I would recommend it to any on that likes Luther and I'll give this a 5 plus.

I like the new single "Shine", which has the backdrop of Chic's song, "My Forbidden Lover". I was looking forward though to some unreleased gems (which I understand thru a source in the music industry, Luther has plenty of unreleased material, particularly from the Epic days). I hope J records releases them and not deprive the public of this great singer and his body of work. I already have EVERYTHING Luther has made,so personally I don't need another cd with previously released songs.

I love Luther!! So sad he is gone, however, his music lives on and this is a fantastic collection.

I have so truly enjoyed this album. I wish Luther was still her to make great music like this album.