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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I LOVED IT!, July 2, 2004
This album was sooo good! I especially love the song No Question. The beat is tight and LL did the rap hook in it so you know it's good! Every time I listen to this, it takes me back to when my family took our first trip to New York...this was the CD I bought. I recommend everyone get it cuz it's the bomb!
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Off To A Good Start, March 11, 2002
Back in 1997, multi-platinum albums for artists weren't enough; they had to have their own record labels so THOSE artists could go multi-platinum as well. Thus explains Mariah Carey's short-lived Crave Records, which gave birth to a soulful quartet called Allure.Most of the songs on the album aren't just good-they're DOPE. "The Story" is just that-a smooth track wondering how rushing into a relationship will turn out, "Come Into My House" is a very sexy-sounding interlude that makes you wish they made it into a full song, and their cover of Full Force's "All Cried Out" (featuring 112) is arguably one of the best remakes ever done. Allure's voices combined with the nicely penned lyrics throughout the album work very well together. There is no way anyone could dislike the smooth "Last Chance," and "Head Over Heels" is written so beautifully, if you read the lyrics first you'll be surprised that it turns out to be a fast song-but it works. Since this album was made in 1997, of course it has its share of guest rappers. Nas helps out on "Head Over Heels," Raekwon spits a verse at the beginning of "Give You All I Got," and LL Cool J does some average rhyming in "No Question." (This was a weird selection of rappers because none of their albums that year were anything to celebrate.) The only weird guest spot was Nature (of The Firm fame) during the intro, because I have never heard of a guest rapper during an intro. This album would have received one more star if it weren't for something that can make or break an album-the production. This album was produced by Track Masters, so what does that mean? Sample, sample, sample! "No Question," for example, contains a sample from Mtume's "Juicy Fruit." It doesn't make the song bad, but after hearing The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy," any other sample like that seems unimportant. And we all know Poke & Tone say "Track Masters" at the beginning of most of their songs, but do they have to say it at the end, too? Also, many of the songs are written by Mariah Carey or Mary J. Blige, which, combined with Poke & Tone, make some parts of the album sound like it should be called Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige present Allure. Don't worry too much about all that though-get the album.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Stellar Debut, May 13, 2004
Okay, here's the story, told by me to you compressed so as to save valuable time. Allure, an African-american girl group (how strikingly original, right?) find themselves on Mariah Carey's doorstep. Well, actually, at "Craves" doorstep. Crave was Mariah's so-called 'vanity' label, and Allure were the premiere, and to my knowledge, only group they signed to Mariah's fledgling record company. Of course, even before the release of their excellent debut album, they caught flack, of course, for being mentored by the ultimate in pop divaness, Miss Carey herself. Many listeners will hear signs of Mariah spotted hither and thither throughout Allure's album, but that doesn't mean that Allure don't grow into their own groove somewhere along the way. As mandatory, writers and producers amassed to help craft this album.The women of Allure mesh well enough to make their first album exactly that: their own. While they don't harmonize quite like En Vogue, groove like Xscape, or keep a party raging like Destiny's Child, they still sound, well, "pretty." Allure only fall flat on the sugary sweet remake of "All Cried Out", which by anyone's standards is unbearable. Ironically, it was their biggest hit. While Allure's debut doesn't promise constant play in anyone's CD deck, it is a great effort. There is occasional filler, a wasted cameo by LL Cool J, and an overall "heard this before" vibe that doesn't fully emblazen this as an r&b classic. After Mariah's label 'Crave' folded, Allure went to MCA records with a new attitude, and *sigh*, new members to craft a harder edged album, but their debut stands as their best.
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