The latest musical offering by Deborah Cox is a worthy CD for any collection
because it showcases her soulful R&B side and the sexy dance pistol side
so many gay men have come to know and love.
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By Andy Zeffe
Friday, June 25, 2004
CANADA HAS GIVEN THE world some great recording artists. Right at the top of
the list, alongside Celine Dion, Anne Murray and Alanis Morisette, is Deborah
Cox.
Few singers can release a torrent of emotion upon a throbbing dance floor
with the same aplomb as Cox. At the center of any circuit party, study the
crowd when hits like “Absolutely Not” plays. It’s like an
automatic rise of energy.
Now, Cox has put the best of her maximum-motor music into a greatest hits
CD, “Ultimate Deborah Cox.” It is a worthy CD for any collection
because it showcases both of Cox’s sides: the soulful R&B side, and
the sexy dance pistol side so many gay men have come to know and love.
The track “Nobody’s Supposed to be Here” is a perfect example,
starting a soulful ballad with rich back-up vocals, then bursting out with
dance beats mid-way through. The mixes on this album are pure heaven.
Yet, in the beginning of her career, it didn’t seem as though Cox would
fashion herself as a dance floor goddess, especially among gay listeners and
the circuit crowd.
She got her first big break after performing back-up vocals for fellow Canadian
Celine Dion at Bill Clinton’s 1992 inaugural ball. Prolific producer
and president of Arista Records, Clive Davis, signed Cox to his label. The
man behind Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin knew he had found something
special.
Her first album, “Deborah Cox”, paired her up with music industry
brass such as producers Babyface and Dallas Austin. The result was a catchy
R&B/pop album with sassy and well crafted cuts like “Sentimental” and “Who
Do You Love.”
The LP was a modest success in the Unites States, hitting number 25 on the
R&B charts. It fared better back home in Canada, where Cox earned two Juno
Awards, Canada’s equivalent to the Grammy’s.
However, Cox hardly found herself a superstar. The market at the time was
flooded with young and glossy R&B singers, and Cox was lost in the glut.
Instead, her niche came in the form of the dance charts. When she released
a Hex Hector remix of “Things Just Ain’t The Same,” it surged
to number one on the dance charts and introduced Cox as dance music dynamite.
Since then, Cox has reigned supreme on the dance charts, with hits like the
Phil Collins cover “Something Happened on the Way to Heaven.” Most
recently, Cox brought her powerful pipes to Broadway, taking over from Toni
Braxton in the musical “Aida.”
Cox seems to be going high glam with her image in an effort to join multi-faceted
acting, singing, modeling and dancing superstars like J-Lo.
THERE ARE FEW singers out there who can express torrid love and romance with
the style and integrity of Carly Simon.
On “Reflections, Carly Simon’s Greatest Hits,” her classic
70s rock numbers meet with familiar 80s adult contemporary standards.
There has always been something eloquent and earnest about Simon’s voice,
and an insightful, keen intelligence to her songwriting. Her music is the kind
one associates with a special time and place.
Songs like “Anticipation” and “Haven’t Got Time For
The Pain” are subject matter anyone can relate to. “You’re
So Vain” is a much more elegant precursor to Alanis Morisette’s “You
Oughta Know,” a slap in the face for a selfish lover featuring back-up
vocals by Mick Jagger.
“Nobody Does It Better” is one of the best James Bond theme songs ever
made, and the duet “Mockingbird,” with ex-hubby James Taylor, is
filled with sass.
She roared back in the 80s with the album “Coming Around Again” and
lovely, uplifting tunes like “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of”, “Give
Me All Night”, and “All I Want Is You”. She capped off the
decade with “Let the River Run,” the Oscar-winning theme song for
the film “Working Girl.”
Simon has proved her longevity and timelessness, and this CD captures both.
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