Customer Reviews

Unfinished Business

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

 

 

Ronnie Spector has been and still is one of the best female rock'n'roll performers, a fact that seems to be ignored massively by the public, though she has her followers and fans. No one else could have cut a better recording of "Say GoodBye to Hollywood", Billy Joel wrote it with her in mind, her version was ignored while he later had a hit with this song. Although her 1999 rendition of "Don't Worry Baby" (also initially written for her by Brian Wilson) keeps the fresh essence of the Beach Boys' recording, it doesn't sound dated, she manages to make it sound fresh. If you listen to her "Dangerous" CD you'll find her 1987 album "Unfinished Business" entirely included in it, with wonderful lushy power ballads, it was the sound of late 80s, which makes strange to believe that failed to chart, she also recorded a reworked (dance beat) version of Elvis' "Burnin' love" whichs sounds truly well. The leading Single was Diane Warren's "Love on a Rooftop", produced by Desmond Child. It was a fruitful period for Diane Warren, and this is one of her best songs, later recorded by Desmond Child himself and by Cher for her album "Heart of Stone" (with "If I Could Turn Back Time" as opening track) which would be the starting point for a long string of hits and a new and increasing successful time which continues today. It is used to say that nothing is predictable in music business, anyway I think that Ronnie Spector needs to find the right producer who can take the best from her and a label that takes care of publicity to get the massive popularity she once had as lead vocalist of The Ronettes. She still has the voice, that voice that got the admiration of John Lennon, Joey Ramone, George Harrison, Johnny Thunders, Brian Wilson, Eddie Money, Billy Joel, Keith Richard, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Cher and David Bowie. Could they all be wrong?

Ronnie Spector's big throbbing, sensual voice, her instantly-recognizable tremelo and her "oo oo oo's," (borrowed from Frankie Lyman of "The Teenagers,") made her one of the greatest female rock and roll stars of her day, basically the 1960's, as lead singer of "The Ronettes. " She worked for producer Phil Spector, as is well-known, in his legendary studio. She began life, a young, half-Puerto Rican, half-American Indian girl, had that remarkable voice, was "discovered" as a dancing teenager, and, of course, married Spector, the boss. She always said that marriage was maybe her toughest gig, and recent history seems to bear her out on that.

Her voice, with its tremolo, boomed out of jukeboxes world wide, with "Be My Baby," "Baby I Love You," and "Walking In The Rain,"among other hits. She also toured with "The Beatles," and played a major part in Spector's evergreen Christmas album of 1963. She's just inescapably part of everybody's sound track of that time: A lot of people danced to her voice, and romanced to it, too. I've been lucky enough to see her several times, and will not soon forget watching the sheer joy with which a man who appeared to be African danced to her music: I think we all felt that way.

When she split with Spector, personally and professionally, and took up a solo career, it was years before her former producer allowed her to use this reportory. However, Billy Joel wrote "Say Goodbye to Hollywood, " for her, and Brian Wilson, of "The Beach Boys" did the same with "Don't Worry Baby;" both were not hits as big as they coulda/shoulda been. In this album, "Unfinished Business" she has a sexy duet with country singer Eddie Money, and does a sizzling "Dangerous" with backup by Susanna Hoffs of "The Bangles." Desmond Child and Diane Warren wrote the haunting "Love On A Rooftop" for her; Desmond Child produced. There's also a very nice "When We Danced," on which Paul Shaffer collaborated.

If you love Ronnie's music, you want this album.

Ronnie Spector sings as good as always.

Uneven songwriting though, which makes you want to programme your cd player.

I honestly can not understand why this album did not take off. You would think that the immense success Ronnie achieved with Eddie Money on "Take Me Home Tonight" would have been enough to boost this album's sales, especially considering the fact that this album features a follow-up duet with Money ("Who Can Sleep"). I highly recommend the tracks "Love on A Rooftop," "Dangerous," "Unfinished Business," and "When We Danced." Also featured here is a bonus track, Spector's 1977 cover version of Billy Joel's tribute to her and "The Ronettes," "Say Goodbye To Hollywood." True this album is far from Phil Spector's legendary "Wall of Sound," (you won't hear anything like "Be My Baby" or "Baby, I Love You" here; so if that's all that you're expecting here, you WILL be disappointed) but that's okay, this mainstream rock & roll album was expertly crafted, and Ronnie's vocals are stongly and sexily utilized. I highly recommend this CD to anyone who loves great rock music, Ronnie Spector, or just great music in general.

BAD ALBUM!!! No memorable hooks and no great originality. Worst problem of all: Years of smoking have turned the once beautiful voice behind "Be My Baby" into a raspy mess that sounds much older than the none-too-young 44 that she already was when she made this album.

Ronnie Spector has one of the most recognizable voices ever in Pop music! I thought this lp\cd was gonna be huge! but the lack of promotion has made this a hidden gem among die-hard fans of Ronnie..and that is a shame because this is a great record! 'Unfinished Business' & 'Heart Song' are my jams!

Ronnie was the singer of the Ronettes. She used to be married to their
producer Phil Spector. This is her second solo album. It needs more than one
listen to grow on you. You also need to get used to the
Ronnie-kind-of-voice. "When we danced" is a nice ballad. "Who can sleep" is
a duet with Eddie Monie. "If I could walk away" has been covered often. The authors are people like Desmond Child and Diane
Warren. It's quite a nice album to get to know Ronnie.