Whitney Houston - I Look to You CD

I Look to You CD music The finest example of perfect disco pop, and a record that should be prescribed to musical snobs and manic depressives. The album is a true ambassador of what pop music can be. Jackson whoops and dances through a suite of unforgettable melodies that should be danced to with a smile on your face. Each track offers at least one musical hook, whether it is the beauty of 'Human Nature' (who can resist the 'dada dada da da da') or the 'whoo whoo' of 'Billie Jean'. It's all too good. Principally recorded at Westlake Audio, Los Angeles, California. Additional Tracks Personnel: Vincent Price (rap vocals, spoken vocals); Steve Lukather (guitar, electric bass); Dean Parks, Eddie Van Halen, Paul Jackson, Jr. , David E. Williams (guitar); Larry Andrew Williams (flute, saxophone); Gary Grant, Jerry Hey (trumpet, flugelhorn); William Frank "Bill" Reichenbach Jr. (trombone); David Paich (piano, synthesizer); Greg Phillinganes (Fender Rhodes piano, keyboards, synthesizer, hand claps); Bill Wolfer (keyboards, synthesizer); Tom Bahler (keyboards, Synclavier); Michael Boddicker (synthesizer, vocoder); Greg "Frosty" Smith, Rod Temperton, Steve Porcaro, David Foster, Brian Banks (synthesizer); Jeff Porcaro, Leon "Ndugu" Chancler (drums); James Ingram (hand claps, background vocals); Louis Johnson, Steven Ray (hand claps); Paulinho Da Costa (percussion); Becky Lopez, Howard Hewett, Janet Jackson, Julia Waters, La Toya Jackson, Maxine Willard Waters, Oren Waters, Bunny Hull (background vocals). Audio Mixer: Bruce Swedien. Audio Remasterer: Bernie Grundman. Recording information: Westlake studios. Editor: Stuart Brawley. Photographers: Stephen Vaughan; Dick Zimmerman; Sam Emerson; Ralph Nelson; Lester Cohen. Arrangers: David Paich; James Ingram ; Quincy Jones; Rod Temperton; Steve Lukather; Steve Porcaro. Personnel includes: Michael Jackson (vocals, percussion); Paul McCartney (vocals); Vincent Price (spoken vocals); Steve Lukather (guitar, bass); Eddie Van Halen, Dean Parks, Paul Jackson (guitar); Larry Williams (flute, saxophone); Jerry Hey (trumpet, flugelhorn); Bill Reichenbach (trombone); David Paich (piano, synthesizer); Greg Phillinganes (Fender Rhodes piano, synthesizer, programming); Steve Porcaro (synthesizer, programming); David Foster, Rod Temperton (synthesizer); Tom Bahler (Synclavier); Louis Johnson (bass); Ndugu Chancler, Jeff Porcaro (drums); Paulinho ...

I Look to You album for sale It should come as no surprise that a woman who counts Dionne Warwick as a cousin, Aretha Franklin as a family friend, and whose mother was a legendary session and gospel singer, became a phenomenally successful R&B act. Perhaps more surprising is that it took 17 years after first signing with Arista for Whitney Houston to produce her first greatest hits album. These hits are neatly compartmentalized into a "Cool Down" and a "Throw Down" disc, the former featuring ballads such as "Saving All My Love for You," while the latter showcases remixes of Whitney's uptempo singles such as "How Will I Know." Four new songs, three of which are duets, are also included. At the time of release, her golden voice had led to 16 Number 1 hits (that's two more than Madonna), an Emmy, Grammys and several notable collaborations. A stocking-filler for years to come, we'll wager. Includes liner notes by Amy Linden. Personnel includes: Whitney Houston, Deborah Cox, Kelly Price, George Michael, Jermaine Jackson, Faith Evans, Enrique Iglesias. Producers include: Raphael Saadiq, Q-Tip, David Foster, Rodney Jerkins, Wyclef Jean. 2 CD's

I Look to You buy CD music Previewed via the classy throwback ballad "When a Woman Loves," an instant R&B chart hit, Love Letter follows R. Kelly's Epic compilation by only a couple months. Like "Loves," much of Love Letter -- technically Kelly's 11th studio album -- is inspired by R&B of the `50s and `60s. Arranger: R. Kelly. Recording information: The Chocolate Factory, Chicago, IL. Photographer: Randee St. Nicholas.

I Look to You songs Don't mistake the presence of Jay-Z and Beyoncé on Alicia Keys' fourth album as evidence that the singer/songwriter is burrowing into modern R&B -- take it instead as evidence of the rarefied company Keys keeps, her status as a superstar so solidified that the only cameos possible are R&B/hip-hop elite. Superstars are often given leeway to do anything they want, and so it is on The Element of Freedom, where Keys dials back the outward expansion of As I Am and turns inward, creating a clean, small-scale collection of ballads and Prince-inspired pop. Always apparent on Alicia's albums, that Prince influence is underscored by how she's swapped the retro-soul instrumentation of her earliest music for electronics, but she's retained the warmth, the throwback sensibility and, especially, a sense of reserve, never getting too heated or gauche. This does mean the Prince elements feel more NPG than Revolution, but Keys trademark always has been an easy elegance. On The Element of Freedom, that elegance is so easy it borders on the sleepy, with Keys' understatement undercutting livelier numbers -- chief among them the bubbly Beyoncé duet "Put It in a Love Song" -- so they play as ballads. This isn't a complaint so much as a characteristic: her voice may crack on "Love Is My Disease," but Keys never gets gritty, she remains reserved, never letting her singing or arrangements obscure the melodies or the classy veneer of the entire proceedings. All this determined detachment keeps The Element of Freedom from packing a primal, passionate punch, but there is charm in Alicia's enveloping, quiet cool: she may never break a sweat, but she knows how to sustain a sultry, not necessarily sexy, mood, and she does so here quite fetchingly. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Recording information: Conway Studios, LA; Oven Studios, NY; Strawberrybee Studios, NY. Photographer: Yu Tsai .

I Look to You album for sale It's been eight long years between Maxwell's third and fourth studio albums. BLACKSUMMERS'NIGHT is the first release of a trilogy, with BLACKSUMMERS'NIGHT(rooted in gospel, with a twist, apparently) and BLACKSUMMERS'NIGHT(promised as a disc of slow jams) to follow. Just as Maxwell arrived in 1996, offering an alternative to the exaggerated masculinity that was dominating contemporary R&B, he returns when the airwaves are still stuffed with raging hormones. He has made no concessions to them however--the highly romantic BLACKSUMMERS'NIGHT is all devotion, regret, and heartache. Maxwell's backing musicians morph with every shift in emotion through arrangements that are unfailingly exquisite and sensitively nuanced, even when briskly played. And if the singer got into any adventures while he was away, he does not detail them during these 38 unified minutes. He did go through a serious, failed relationship however, just as "Pretty Wings," the album's floating pre-album single, suggests. Like the real-life flip side to Al Green's "Simply Beautiful"--which Maxwell performed at the 2008 BET Awards, signaling his return--it's catharsis through bittersweet elegance, as is the album as a whole. Recording information: Bowery Digital, New York, NY; Chung King Recording Studios, New York, NY; Platinuim Sound Recording Studios, New York, NY. Photographer: Eric L. Johnson. Personnel: Hod David (various instruments, guitar); Musze (various instruments); Kenneth Whalum III (saxophone); Keyon Harrold (trumpet); Saunders Sermons (trombone); Shedrick Mitchell (organ); Federico Pena (keyboards); Derrick Hodge (bass instrument); Chris 'Daddy' Dave, Chris Dave (drums). Audio Mixers: Glen Marchese; Mike Pela.

I Look to You CD music Stronger with Each Tear's first four songs are decorated like NASCAR vehicles, with IDs from the Runners and Akon, Rodney Jerkins, Ryan Leslie, Stereotypes, and T.I. all heard before the voice of Mary J. Blige enters the mix. Sound logos and gratuitous self-serving plugs from producers and guest MCs are nothing new in mainstream R&B, but when an album by Mary J. Blige is dominated by them, in such an extended succession, a longtime follower's minor irritation has the potential to turn to low-level rage. And while it is also understandable that the appearance of 2009 breakout star Drake on "The One" will help boost sales, the disparity is glaring; the MC was five years old when What's the 411? was released. Trey Songz, featured on another track, wasn't much older. Even when factoring these matters, Stronger with Each Tear is a very good Blige album, if not a classic. One of her briefest sets, it is tremendously (almost studiously) balanced between all the ground she has covered so well before. That's no criticism, though, since most of the songs are easily memorable and display so much range. Those who detest "The One" on principle, for its use of Auto-Tune, need only to forward to the album's final song, a quiet and sparse throwback (to 40-plus years ago) production from Raphael Saadiq in which Blige professes new love to chilling effect. ~ Andy Kellman Audio Mixers: Jaycen Joshua; Dave Pensado; Peter Mokran; Phil Tan. Recording information: 2nd Floor Studios; Germano Studios, New York, NY; Roc The Mic Studios, New York, NY; Silent Sound Studios, Atlanta, GA; The Boom Boom Room, Burbank, CA; The Record Plant, Los Angeles, CA; Triangle Sound Studios, Atlanta, GA; Zac Digital, Atlanta, GA. Photographer: Anthony Mandler.