Vandross attempts to recapture the magic of old by closing the disc with another covers medley (this time, a reading of the Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love” that segues – after a brief instrumental snippet of the Spinners’ “Love Don’t Love Nobody” – into a cover of Johnny Ace’s “Never Let Me Go”), but it lacks both the coherence and the passion of Busy Body’s “Superstar/Until You Come Back to Me” medley.Ī more engaging album than Never Let Me Go but one that doesn’t come close to being as great as it theoretically should have been, Songs is a full-blown covers album. The album’s second single, “Heaven Knows” is quite delightful, but it’s far and away the catchiest song here, and the disc sorely lacks the strong hooks that popped up with such frequency on the prior seven albums.
Vandross is still at the top of his game as a vocalist, but the set of material just isn’t up to his usual standards, and listeners apparently noticed: this was his first album since The Night I Fell in Love to fail to yield a Number One hit on the R&B singles charts (actually, the highest-charting song here, the gospel-flavored “Little Miracles (Happen Every Day),” only climbed as high as #10 on the R&B singles charts and #63 on the Hot 100) and his first since Forever, For Always, For Love to fail to yield a Top 40 pop hit. King’s “I (Who Have Nothing),” done as a duet with Martha Wash īoth a commercial and a critical flop, Never Let Me Go isn’t a bad album per se – merely an easily forgettable one.
#Luther vandross songs full album series#
The album spawned two major Top 40 pop hits (both Top Ten hits), the gently-swinging medley “Power of Love/Love Power,” which couples a fine Vandross original with a cover of the Sandpebbles’ 1968 hit “Love Power” to remarkably good effect, and even better, the lovely “Don’t Want to Be a Fool,” which boasts one of the most unforgettable choruses to be found in any Vandross ballad (“This time around / I tell myself / it’s the game of love …”) The R&B Top Ten hit “Sometimes It’s Only Love,” which sadly missed the Hot 100, is one of the most underrated ballads Vandross has ever made, while the disc fittingly closes with yet another installation in Vandross’ series of show-stopping, album-closing epic cover songs, this time a seven-minute rendition of Ben E. Mind you, the up-tempo songs aren’t quite as charming or as pleasing to the ear as they were when Luther’s grooves were more organic a la “Never Too Much,” but the songwriting itself is still tasteful and Luther also remains unimpeachable in the ballads department.
The world of R&B changed quite a bit in the years since Luther’s last studio album and New Jack Swing had taken hold, so Luther consequently updates his sound here, a risky move on paper that Luther manages to pull off without embarrassing himself.
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