Mary J. Blige - No More Drama

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 77:15
Size: 182,3 MB
Art: Front

(2:46) 1. Love
(4:25) 2. Family Affair
(4:27) 3. Steal Away
(5:37) 4. He Think I Don't Know
(4:51) 5. P.M.S.
(5:26) 6. No More Drama
(4:36) 7. Rainy Dayz [feat. Ja Rule]
(4:33) 8. Where I've Been [feat. Eve]
(3:34) 9. Beautiful Day
(3:24) 10. Dance for Me [feat. Common]
(4:05) 11. No More Drama (P. Diddy/Mario Winans Remix) [feat. P. Diddy]
(4:59) 12. Flying Away
(4:03) 13. Never Been
(4:45) 14. 2U
(4:14) 15. In the Meantime
(1:41) 16. Forever No More - Poem
(5:00) 17. Testimony
(4:41) 18. Girl from Yesterday

Mary J. Blige has come a long way since 1992's breakthrough, What's the 411?, and that's made very clear on this solid disc. The singer/songwriter has blossomed into an all-out R&B diva with a hip-hop edge full of soul and command. Her songs on this recording exude the wisdom of a woman who's seen it all and has found her center. The woman's voice is truly inimitable. It's husky, strong, soulful, and full of maturity. She can still flow like no one's business, too; just check out the bouncy album opener "Love."

While love is a common theme, No More Drama is essentially a personal journey through evolution and spirituality. The final cut, "Testimony," best summarizes the album's theme: finding what's real in life. For Blige, that's self-love and God. Blige has a killer instinct for penning lyrics that people can relate to and creating gritty, thick, and soul-infused R&B fare. Her music is more than heard. It is felt, and audiences would be hard-pressed to not surrender to her groove. [No More Drama was re-released in early 2002 with a handful of different tracks.]~Liana Jones https://www.allmusic.com/album/no-more-drama-mw0000658167

No More Drama

---

Ray Charles - Genius & Friends

Styles: Vocal, R&B
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:41
Size: 132,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:00)  1. Ray Charles & Angie Stone - All I Want To Do
(3:48)  2. Ray Charles & Chris Issak - You Are My Sunshine
(5:08)  3. Ray Charles & Mary J. Blige - It All Goes By So Fast
(3:41)  4. Ray Charles & Gladys Knight - You Were There
(4:28)  5. Ray Charles With Ruben Studdard & The Harlem Gospel Singers - Imagine
(3:42)  6. Ray Charles & Leela James - Compared To What
(3:45)  7. Ray Charles & Diana Ross - Big Bad Love
(4:43)  8. Ray Charles & Idina Menzel - I Will Be There
(4:46)  9. Ray Charles & George Michael - Blame It On The Sun
(4:40) 10. Ray Charles & John Legend - Touch
(5:10) 11. Ray Charles & Patti LaBelle & The Andrae Crouch Singers - Shout
(4:13) 12. Ray Charles & Laura Pausini - Surrender To Love
(2:32) 13. Ray Charles & Willie Nelson - Busted [Live]
(2:59) 14. Ray Charles & Alicia Keys - America The Beautiful

Atlantic/Rhino's 2005 Genius & Friends is the end result of a project Ray Charles initiated a few months before his death in June 2004. According to James Austin's liner notes, Charles called Austin in December of 2003, asking if he could find the masters to an unreleased duets record Ray recorded in 1997 and 1998. Austin found the tapes, but Charles was too sick to work on them, so after his passing  and after his final studio album, the duets record Genius Loves Company, became a number one hit in August of 2004 Atlantic/Rhino decided to finish off the project, bringing in producer Phil Ramone to oversee the completion of the album. This included bringing in singers to record their parts, since apart from two tracks  a 1994 duet with Diana Ross on "Big Bad Love" and a live 1991 version of "Busted" with Willie Nelson (taken from the television special Ray Charles: 50 Years in Music) these are all studio constructions, with vocalists duetting with a previously recorded Ray. 

While not quite the monstrosity it could have been posthumous duets albums like this always bear an unsettling ghoulish undertow Genius & Friends is also not a particularly good album either. This isn't because the pairings are ill conceived  apart from the woefully outmatched American Idol winner Ruben Studdard on "Imagine" (which boasts perhaps Ray's best vocal performance on this record), there's nobody here who doesn't hold his or her own, and Ramone has skillfully edited the new recordings with the existing tapes so it sounds like they were recorded at the same time, even if it rarely sounds as if the vocalists were in the same room together. Rather, the problem is that the productions are caught halfway between '90s adult contemporary and modern neo-soul, sounding too slick and polished to really be memorable. It's pleasant enough and it's top-loaded, too, with the duets with Angie Stone, Chris Isaak, and Mary J. Blige being among the best cuts but it's not as relaxed or appealing as Genius Loves Company, which had the feeling of being a real duets album. This feels like what it is a professional studio creation. Not a terrible thing per se, but not something that makes for a good album, either. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine  http://www.allmusic.com/album/genius-friends-mw0000381429

Personnel: Ray Charles (vocals, piano); Chris Isaak, George Michael, Idina Menzel, John Legend, Laura Pausini, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, The Andraé Crouch Singers, Patti LaBelle, Angie Stone, Ruben Studdard, Willie Nelson, Gladys Knight, Diana Ross, Leela James (vocals); Rodney "Cortada" Alejandro, Darin "Zone" McKinney, Jamshied Sharifi, Aaron Zigman (programming).

Genius & Friends

---

Mary J. Blige - A Mary Christmas

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 45:54
Size: 105.1 MB
Styles: Holiday
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[4:08] 1. Little Drummer Boy
[4:37] 2. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
[3:50] 3. My Favorite Things
[3:18] 4. This Christmas
[3:53] 5. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
[2:27] 6. Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer
[3:42] 7. When You Wish Upon A Star
[3:48] 8. Mary, Did You Know
[4:19] 9. Do You Hear What I Hear
[3:57] 10. Petit Papa Noël
[4:24] 11. The First Noel
[3:26] 12. Noche De Paz (Silent Night)

A truly Mary Christmas would match the distraught look on the cover. Blige's first Christmas album, guided by David Foster and Jochem van der Saag, doesn't feature sad or embittered chestnuts like "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" or "Fairytale of New York" (was Method Man busy?). Instead, it contains a mix of standard holiday songs -- a couple playful, many solemn, all dramatic. It's a big production; an orchestra backs Blige on most of the songs. She pours herself into all of the material, even when she's joined by Jessie J (of all people) for a version of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" that is overcooked. It could use a couple more joyous songs in the vein of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas," which is a delight despite so many versions since the original 1970 version. A Mary Christmas won't likely reach the high status of, say, Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas, but it's a full-effort holiday release that many of her fans should be able to enjoy for several years. ~ Andy Kellman

Recording information: Air Studios, London, UK; Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA; Chartmaker Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Platinum Sound Recording Studios, New York, NY; Verve Studios, Santa Monica, CA.

A Mary Christmas

---