Decent, but not distinct...
at0mic0734 | Calgary, AB Canada | 01/20/2004
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Samantha Cole's first (and as yet last) album was one of those countless albums specially engineered for the mainstream, but never had much to show for it.. eventually falling flat in the charts and banished to the annals of mainstream mediocrity. One only needs to look at the seven producers on board including super-producers Nile Rodgers and David Foster, Diane Warren, Jon-John (who had worked with Diana Ross around this time), Richard Marx, Carl Sturken, Evan Rogers and Jimmy Harry (whew!)... Unfortunately, despite (or because of) all the producers on board, many of the songs end up sounding fairly generic and anonymous (even for MOR standards). Case in point: yet another pointless cover of "You Light Up My Life"..yuck. In addition, much of the songs sound astonishingly dated when compared to other records released around this time, especially some of the more uptempo R&B numbers (esp. "Sweet Sweet Surrender"..which is quite painful, really). Some of the best tracks include the first single "Without You", the Richard Marx duet "Surrender To Me" and "I'm Right Here" all of which are produced by David Foster and/or Richard Marx. Although fairly typical in it's David Foster MOR schlock value, at least it's well-crafted and well performed MOR schlock, and easily the best of this bunch... Nile Rodgers, one of my favorite producers, contributes a couple of the more uptempo numbers, but still doesn't seem to live up to his usual standard on this record.. "What You Do To Me" comes close, but not quite. Although Cole has a fine voice, the early Whitney/Mariah AC/MOR approach on this album fails. Cole may have the vocal ability, but hardly the vocal presence of either, nor the distinctive material to get noticed.. good luck to her on a follow-up, if it's ever to come.."
Quite disappointed
at0mic0734 | 03/02/2002
(1 out of 5 stars)
"The songs on the cd are not memorable. She has very weak and poor singing skills. (You can hear some out of tune notes and cracking.) I was hoping for some expressive music (like Mariah Carey) but found dull music and not very much talent. Please don't buy this album, it's really not worth your money. I wish I hadn't listen to her album, I was quite disappointed."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1