Quincy Jones From Q, With Love Vols. 1 & 2 CD

Personnel includes: Sarah Vaughan, Take 6, Barry White, James Ingram. Al B. Sure, El Debarge, Siedah Garrett, Patti Austin, Tamia, Toots Thielemans, James Moody, Brian McKnight, Rachelle Ferrell, Michael Jackson, George Benson, Brandy, Heavy D, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Catero, Bernard Ighner, Luther Vandross, Tevin Campbell, Aretha Franklin, Ron Isley, Aaron Hall, Charlie Wilson, Naomi Campbell, Kirk Whalum, Mervyn Warren.
Engineers include: Bruce Swedien, Tommy Vicari, Francis Buckley.
Includes liner notes by Quincy Jones.
Grouped together, as they are on the double-disc From Q with Love, producer/arranger/conductor Quincy Jones' love songs sound an awful lot alike, with high-gloss production, silky smooth harmonies, and lead singers who all happen to bear a strong vocal resemblance to Jones' most famous client, Michael Jackson. It helps that From Q with Love is loaded with hits from Jones' past 30-plus years, including Patti Austin and James Ingram's "Baby, Come to Me" and "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?," Ingram's "One Hundred Ways" and "Just Once," Jackson's "Human Nature," and a handful of tracks from Jones' 1989 golden showpiece, Back on the Block. ~ Michael Gallucci
Grouped together, as they are on the double-disc From Q with Love, producer/arranger/conductor Quincy Jones' love songs sound an awful lot alike. The high-gloss production, the silky smooth harmonies, the lead singers -- who all happen to bear a strong vocal resemblance to Jones' most famous client, Michael Jackson -- and even the tunes themselves have a one-note, suite-like sweep to them that can be mind-numbingly tedious after a couple hours. It helps that From Q with Love is loaded with hits from Jones' past 30-plus years (Patti Austin and James Ingram's "Baby, Come to Me" and "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?," Ingram's "One Hundred Ways" and "Just Once," Jackson's "Human Nature," and a handful of tracks from Jones' 1989 golden showpiece Back on the Block), but even they can't totally overcome the thick sap that drips through most of these cuts. Most grating of all is the overuse of a cappella sextet Take 6, whose soulless in-studio "perfection" easily qualifies them as one of the most annoying groups on the planet. ~ Michael Gallucci
This double CD from master producer, songwriter and arranger Quincy Jones is a collection containing some of his personal favorites of the love songs that he has produced/written over his glorious career. The 25-song collection has some of the biggest names in music attached to it. Michael Jackson ("The Lady In My Life," "Human Nature") Frank Sinatra ("The Shadow of Your Smile"), Aretha Franklin ("Somewhere") and George Benson ("Love Dance") are just a few of the artists featured.
A follow up to the platinum selling Q's JOOK JOINT, this album also contains songs from James Ingram and Patti Austin ("How Do You Keep The Music Playing") and Brandy & Heavy D ("Rock With You"). There are also four new songs including tracks from Tevin Campbell, Siedah Garrett and El DeBarge, Patti Austin and new Qwest recording artist Catero. It's hard to imagine what the music business would be like without a mega-talent like Quincy Jones. Fortunately, we can only imagine.Entertainment Weekly (2/12/99, pp.82-83) - "If familiarity breeds contempt, someone forgot to tell this dude....somehow this collection of 25 love songs (including four new ones) rises above the usual smarm..." - Rating: B