Search - Chaka Khan :: C K

Great album, Underrated

Tall Paul | San Diego, CA United States | 02/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Its a shame this album didn't catch on in 1988 because it has some great tracks and great musicians. In 1988 the New Jack Swing era had just begun and this album got lost in the shuffle. Notable guest appearances from Stevie Wonder (on harmonica), Bobby Womack, Bobby McFerrin, Prince, and Miles Davis. The killer tracks are Its My Party, Sticky Wicked, Soul Talkin', and Baby Me. The album's centerpiece is the haunting Prince tune Sticky Wicked which features Miles Davis on trumpet. This song tells the tale of a drug addicted mother who is so strung out she doesn't recognize her own daughter."

Mediocre deliver

André Ming | Europe | 01/17/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Just look at Diana Ross' or Aretha Franklin's discography: when a great Soul/R&B singer names for the zillionth time an album after herself, chances are that a bomb is gonna come.

It's sad but true: even a hugely talented and gifted vocalist can fail if the material she's offered to record is - to say something nice - mostly ordinary. Chaka Khan rarely writes her own songs, and she's not always lucky enough to receive fine material to work upon. A team of top producers - including Prince and R. Titelman - and a lot of machines and silly synthesizers give birth to a strange, DATED video-game alike sound that otherwise makes the songs in this album sound like the soundtracks of low quality cartoons. One of the best tracks here is opener `'Signed, sealed, delivered - I'm yours'', a cover of Stevie Wonder's classic (with him playing his fine harmonica here too) which, despite of the silly programming and Tiny Toons arrangement, received a very powerful, expressive vocal arrangement from Chaka, full of her typical colours, melismas and superposed vocals. But remember: it's still a 70's STEVIE WONDER song, and it could not be that bad anyway, although it's not one of her best performances. Two covers of standards (''The End Of A Love Affair''*, with Chaka's superb, flexible vocals and `'I'll be around'') find themselves out of place in the record, and the rest of the tracks is made of so ordinary fillers that even Chaka's phenomenal voice wasn't able to rescue them. To be avoided, unless you are a Chaka completist. [*also included on Chaka's hits compilation `'Epiphany''].

"

Under Appreciated

Andre' S Grindle | Bangor,ME. | 05/10/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After the overkill production of 'Destiny' Chaka Khan knuckles down with a leaner,smoother and therefore funkier set
of songs.On the Prince pend horn funk of "Sticky Wicked" Khan tries her expert hand at rap and on a cover of "End Of A Love Affair" she tries to pull off Billie Holiday's beaten,defeated
vocal style yet comes off much nicer.And on cuts like "Soul
Talkin'","Make It Last" and the grooving "It's my Party" she
shows as savvy that proves even during Chaka's own personal
crisis with coming off of drugs and dealing with a teenage daughter her independant flair still comes off nicely."