Mariah Carey's Page Continued 4
The tempo of this arrangement is slow and should be ideal for singing
along to at Christmas parties and carol concerts; there is also a drum
accompaniment to make things really easy. What better way to get your
children to sleep on Christmas eve! As perfect as ever.
Produced & arranged by Mariah Carey & Loris Holland 1994 Columbia.
Walter Afanasieff and Mariah both write brilliantly and no more so than here. The bells of Tamla Motown become the sleigh bells of Father Christmas and the Joanna gets a good old work over in this rip-roaring bounce round the tree. Dan Huff does well by holding it all together on bass too.
Mariah sings, using her middle range, as delightfully as ever with her
regular backing singers adding that little extra. Some nice oooohs in
there at the end!! An absolutely essential listen as it's unique and
tremendous songwriting as well. I love it!
Produced & arranged by Walter Afanasieff & Mariah Carey. 1994 Columbia.
The melody lends itself to her style of singing and Walter Afanasieff (who takes care of the accompaniment with Dan Huff on bass) also gets a chance to solo on keyboards which is rare - that's the Christmas Spirit for you too! Those reasons, amongst others, make it a recipe for success in my book.
Melonie Daniels, Shanrae Price and Kelly Price sing backing vocals which adds greatly to the alto part of the carol; this may be another reason why I love it so much. The words are glorious too and not particularly cliched.
Probably the most impressive part is the ending, funnily enough. The arrangement is appropriately structured, positive and predictable which is a good idea for a carol and stretches her lungs which everyone enjoys!
A marvellous effort, ten out of ten for sure! This is one to listen out
for around Christmas and must be the best track on this album.
Produced & arranged by Walter Afanasieff & Mariah Carey. 1994 Columbia.
This one should do well at parties and is easy to sing along to. What
more can you say, it's another perfect pop song.
Produced & arranged by Walter Afanasieff & Mariah Carey. 1994 Columbia.
Mariah sings simply and delicately with no backing or layering using
her middle register in a way similar to 'Vanishing'. The words are loving and meaningful and not overly
cliched, but very sad, about a lover who is deeply missed. Sob sob.
Produced & arranged by Walter Afanasieff & Mariah Carey. 1994 Columbia.
As the name suggests it's a very happy song and Mariah certainly seems to enjoy singing it along with Melonie Daniels, Shanrae Price and Kelly Price.
It works really well and makes for easy listening.
Produced & arranged by Walter Afanasieff & Mariah Carey. 1994 Columbia.
Mariah sings wonderfully with her middle register and Walter Afanasieff adds suitable synthesised orchestral accompaniment in the form of piano, strings, woodwind, tubular bells, cymbals and brass.
The result is a delightful carol and arrangement which the children
will be proud of for the rest of their lives and hopefully we will hear it
at Christmas time for a long time to come. Marvellous.
Produced & arranged by Walter Afanasieff & Mariah Carey. 1994 Columbia.
Mariah (who sings using mainly her middle register), Melonie Daniels, Shanrae Price and Kelly Price are joined by children again who sing and add background chatter in a party mood.
All in all a brilliant song for the festive season for everyone to join
in. Where are the crackers?!
Produced & arranged by Walter Afanasieff & Mariah Carey. 1994 Columbia.
Loris Holland plays the piano and organ whilst Walter Afanasieff plays synthesised orchestral accompaniment of flute and strings.
A fine performance and a good album track.
Produced & arranged by Walter Afanasieff, Mariah Carey & Loris Holland.
1994 Columbia.
The second section has a much faster tempo with quite an abrupt change after a false ending. Kirk Lyons leads the accompaniment with 'walking' (or perhaps it should be 'running'!) bass and Mariah has her work cut out to keep up and get the words out, but she does and brings the whole song to a fitting climax. Bernard Davis performs spiritedly and holds it all together. The song slowly fades away at the end. It's a marvellous effort by all performers and beautifully produced too.
It may be quite a surprise track if you know her other albums well as
it is so unique. Obviously it's an essential, essential listen and if
you're like me it will grow on you. Phew!
Produced & arranged by Walter Afanasieff, Mariah Carey & Loris Holland.
1994 Columbia.
The sleeve gives credit to the song 'Candy' by L. Blackmon and T. Jenkins All Seeing Eye Music courtesy Universal Music Enterprises which is used as a sample(s) by Mariah.
The track starts with a real party atmosphere with some phat kick drum and assorted percussion. The various guests sort themselves out with some introductory party shouts. After a few moments the main rhythm begins with a really unusual (for Mariah) heavy, funky, bass guitar and tambourine hit with a drumstick? There is also some kick drum but not much. It's almost as if they started recording before the rest of the band got there. The shouts carry on sporadically along with the main vocals. There is a little keyboard during the chorus but only a few notes. The song is difficult to classify because it doesn't have a real rhythm as most R&B songs do; so it must fall into the pop song category. It was the first single released from the album.
The vocals are a real potpourri. They start with a rap by the guest
artists before Mariah joins in singing the main verses (with a slight cold
by the sound of it). She sings about her loverboy and how much she
enjoys him making love to her. The strength of the lyric puts the song in
the same category as 'Honey' on
'Butterfly' and carries the song nicely. Da Brat sings strongly in the chorus
too, and all in all gives a very solid performance. This is
understandable as they have often worked together before e.g. 'Heartbreaker (Remix)'.
Produced by: Clark Kent and Mariah Carey. 2001 Mariah
Carey/Sony/Virgin..
This down tempo track starts with piano, played by James Wright, and Mariah singing along reminiscent of 'Vanishing'. But this song has a totally different Mariah voice. This is the voice of the third millennium; the new Mariah; the post(?) Thomas Mariah; Luis's Mariah; the hippy hoppy Mariah without the rap; the wispy, wobbly, thirty something year old voice of a mature American Christian woman tentatively venturing into the twenty-first century with a voice and a perfect figure. It figures the voice must be perfect too.
Gone are the punchy, lung dominant, 'heaving breathing' type of vocals so fashionably dominant in the previous century as heard on 'Mariah Carey', her first album, and the vast majority of her songs, e.g. 'Someday', on her first few albums. This is a pretty voice of a woman crying out to keep singing and the Carey name respectable - to carry on in the family tradition like her Mom; to keep the Stars and Stripes at the forefront of the music industry - in short, the voice of a dutiful woman.
But wait! All of a sudden the electronic percussion and keyboard starts and we're into another Carey/Afanasieff offering we are so familiar with. Drums, strings and bass voices using keyboards are present. With a little support from the electronics our Mariah finds her old voice and we are treated to some more of her marvellous vocals which got her to the new millennium. Rightly so, I hasten to add; on her best days no-one can beat her. Mariah is practically acting, (just like an opera singer's daughter) and I can't help but feel for her and give her the support she deserves.
So, Walter makes a comeback to give some instrumental muscle to
'Glitter' and very nice too. This is an R&B/pop song and could make a single
because it's a nice love song too. The words are simple and describe
Mariah's feelings for a lover. Mary Ann Tatum sings backing vocals. All in
all not Mariah's best work but still pleasant listening and good for
all Wally fans!
Produced by: Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff. 2001 Mariah
Carey/Sony/Virgin..
This delightful track is heartening in that it is very simple like many of her most successful songs in the past, but it is also very different. Compared to songs like 'Prisoner' and 'Underneath The Stars' this is a complete contrast and I welcome the contribution of the guest artists, this time Ja Rule and Nate Dogg; and breathe a huge sigh of relief that they are able to add such depth and interest to Mariah's songs.
She has a predicament. How can she improve on her past performances and still keep her millions of fans happy with interesting songs that can compete with new, upcoming talent? 'If We' and songs like it are the answer. The guest artists have beautiful, deep voices and provide interesting contrast to Mariah's wispy, crybaby voice.
This hip-hop track has a wonderful, rumbly bass with a clap and strings
added to great effect. There is also a music box sound.
The overall effect is quite charming and the result is an excellent
track and very easy to listen to. Mary Ann Tatum is on backing vocals. Top
marks to the producers Damizza and Mariah.
Produced by: Damizza and Mariah Carey. 2001 Mariah
Carey/Sony/Virgin..
This up tempo track is a cover of a 1986 Robert Palmer pop song and starts with a roll on the electronic drums and then a funky, keyboard/synthesizer rich rhythm follows with bass guitar voice and minimal percussion. Mariah sings using her middle and upper registers with Terry Lewis, Trey Lorenz and Mary Ann Tatum on backing vocals. The lyrics describe a relationship with a male which she doesn't want to develop into anything more than just friendship and she apologises if she gave any other impression. She just wanted to be nice to her dancing partner.
There is a solo on the synthesizer about half way through and they make they're presence felt at intervals through the song from then on. This is a new instrument to Mariah's album collection.
The song is produced well and quite catchy but is unusually cool for
Mariah reminiscent of 'You're So
Cold' and very different to her normal sort of song.
Produced by: Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Mariah Carey. 1984 Mariah
Carey/EMI/Virgin.
This song is, as you would guess, funky pop/hip-hop with guest rap
artist Mystikal giving an extremely solid performance allowing Mariah to
totally relax and enjoy her singing. It starts with a single trumpet then
breaks into a simple percussion led rhythm with shouts by Mystikal,
then with bass and lead guitar and then piano. The track builds nicely
with Mystikal eventually coming in with a full rap followed by Mariah
singing with her little girl type voice (middle and upper register) with
DJ Clue on backing vocals. Mystikal raps about dancing without
cigarettes amongst other things.
Produced by: Mariah Carey, DJ Clue and Duro. 2001 Mariah
Carey/Sony/Virgin.
I love the start to this with a synthesizer used to simulate mains hum and the engineer setting the EQ just like a big live gig. It made me chuckle! Funnily enough, Mariah, Mary Ann Tatum, Panzie Johnson and Rere on backing vocals are chuckling throughout this track as well. I guess it was one big giggle from start to finish. I think it is my favourite song on the album and again has big synthesizers, courtesy of Bryan Loren, to give it the 1980's retro feel necessary for the film context.
It is a pop/R&B song and quite danceable with basic percussion, wah wah guitar by Michael Herring (another first for Mariah's album collection) and gentle keyboards.
Then lo and behold in comes another first for Mariah - a flute. Not
even on her 'MTV Live and Unplugged' EP did she have any flutes so this album is notable for many newly featured instruments. It makes the song so much richer and
interesting. Fernando Harkless plays it just like Ian Anderson! Mariah sings,
using her middle register, about her lover and how she loves and prays
for him with the flute and synthesizer adding fills and backing between
the lyrics. Brilliant work!
Produced by: Mariah Carey and Rick James. 2001 Mariah
Carey/Sony/Virgin.
This slow pop track starts with just piano and Mariah humming. She then
sings with her middle register and wispy, little girl voice about
whether she is cared and loved enough by others especially her parents.
There is a little drum and bass guitar voice by way of accompaniment.
The song is a little like 'Lead The
Way'.
Produced by: Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Mariah Carey. 2001 Mariah
Carey/Sony/Virgin.
This long hip-hop track features Busta Rhymes, Fabulous and DJ Clue. It
has a rumbly, funky bass line and lead guitar with basic percussion.
Mariah sings about the merits of the local DJ and how his performance can
solve many problems in his listeners' lives. The raps are generally
nonsensical shouts.
Produced by: Mariah Carey, DJ Clue, Duro. 1982 Mariah Carey/Comart
Music/EMI/Virgin.
This pop/R&B love duet with Eric Benet is similar to 'Whenever You Call' but not quite so
dramatic. The lyrics are fine, about how much they want each other and don't
want to wait to make love, and the song has quite a nice feel. Mariah
uses her middle and upper registers. The accompaniment features mainly
keyboards and minimal percussion but is kept subdued so as not to detract
from the two vocalists. Mary Ann Tatum, Trey Lorenz and Nicole Richards
sing backing vocals.
Produced by: Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Mariah Carey. 2001 Mariah
Carey/Sony/Virgin.
This beautiful love song is more in the classic Mariah Carey tradition and has the feel of a film soundtrack due to the orchestral accompaniment. It was the second single released by Mariah from 'Glitter' and the album version reviewed here has violins, violas, cello and English horn all dramatically arranged to good effect.
If that wasn't enough there is also some soporific acoustic guitar for
good measure. Having set the sonic landscape in such a marvellous way
Mariah builds the tune into one of great quality by careful
pronunciation and soulful words about a love that never really came to anything but
has obviously etched itself into her memory and will always maintain a
special significance for her. A top class performance and one of her
best arrangements ever.
Produced by: Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Mariah Carey. 2001 Mariah
Carey/Sony/Virgin.
This short track is a sad song with minimal keyboard accompaniment. It
is evidently about a girl called Twister who does strange things.
Produced by: Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Mariah Carey, "Big Jim" Wright.
2001 Mariah Carey/Sony/Virgin.
The sleeve gives credit to the song 'Candy' by L. Blackmon and T. Jenkins All Seeing Eye Music courtesy Universal Music Enterprises which is used as a sample(s) by Mariah.
This is the original version of this song, the remix being track one, 'Loverboy Remix'. 'Loverboy' was released
as a single in 2001 and got to number two in the U.S.A.. It features Cameo and
is very similar to the remix. Mariah has a new lover/boyfriend (and
still a cold by the sound of it). It has the same funky bass guitar with
kick drum.
Mary Ann Tatum sings backing vocals.
Produced by: Clark Kent and Mariah Carey. 2001 Mariah
Carey/Sony/Virgin.