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City Streets
About a year ago, word got out that Carole King was talking to Warner Bros. vice-president Russ Titelman about producing her comeback album. For King's long-suffering fans, this was practically thrilling news. Titelman, after all, had rejuvenated Steve Winwood on his Back in the High Life; moreover, Titelman had known King in her Brill Building […]
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Through the Storm
Aretha's records used to make history. Now they're just historical "events" that she can't seem to get through without a lot of help from her friends. Of the eight (count 'em) cuts on Through the Storm, four are "pairings of the century": Aretha with James Brown on "Gimme Your Love" (a series of whoops and […]
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Any Love
On his sixth album in seven years, Luther Vandross sounds a bit fed up. As the most powerful and popular balladeer of the Eighties, he has doggedly defended romantic bliss, or at least the hope for it. Any Love might mark the end of that cycle, however, as some doubts start to creep in. It's […]
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Touch the World
As the quintessential American band of the middle and late Seventies, Earth, Wind and Fire neither set trends nor adhered to them. Danceable but not disco, tough but not funk, multi-tiered and brassy in an age of economical sound, the band's records sold by the crateful — not only because they were shamelessly slick and […]
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Coming Around Again
Once Carly Simon joined Arista's gallery of Eighties ladies, it seemed inevitable that label head Clive Davis would make her sweat — that is, force her into some unlikely duet or load her with high-tech production, tricks that have helped revive the careers of Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick. Instead, Davis has paired her with […]
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Aretha
Even after Aretha's dramatic comeback in 1985, some questions lingered about how long it would last. Was Who's Zoomin' Who? truly redemptive or merely a fluke? Could Aretha assume enduring relevance for a generation of listeners not yet born when "Respect" came out? The answers come in two new releases: Aretha, which finds her still […]
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30 Greatest Hits
Even after Aretha's dramatic comeback in 1985, some questions lingered about how long it would last. Was Who's Zoomin' Who? truly redemptive or merely a fluke? Could Aretha assume enduring relevance for a generation of listeners not yet born when "Respect" came out? The answers come in two new releases: Aretha, which finds her still […]
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Control
On their latest albums, two members of pop music's first family move in markedly different directions. While Jermaine regresses toward unmitigated sap, Janet steps out and boldly states that she's not the Jacksons' baby sister anymore. As usual, Jermaine's is a case of wasted potential. The general consensus was that once he broke free of […]
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Ice On Fire
It's too much to expect a substantial album from Elton John at this point, but with the return of his longtime producer, Gus Dudgeon, for Ice on Fire, there was the hope that he might at least whip up a few frothy singles. Though the riffs abound, they're warmed over from other hits — most […]
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