In a parallel universe, Ultra Naté is a huge star!
Johnny Myo | London, UK | 07/03/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"First, to clear up any confusion caused by the listing, this is not a CD single but an album - and an outrageously accomplished one, too.
You only have to see my review of her latest, Grime, Silk, Thunder, to see that I like Ultra Naté. The house music stalwart often gets referred to in terms such as "cult diva" - shorthand for an underrated talent, I guess. But it also implies that she just knocks out belting house grooves for a sweaty minority when, in fact, each of her albums shows a willingness to experiment and try out different styles, both musically and vocally.
This means that you'll rarely love each track on an Ultra Naté CD with the same immediacy, but each collection as a whole is none the worse for this experimentation. I'll say Stranger Than Fiction is my favourite (it's the fourth out of five), but really you could hardly get a cigarette paper between this and its predecessor, Situation Critical, for sustained quality and invention.
I'm only really choosing this because "Critical" contains three - yes THREE - versions of her crossover hit, Free, and - nothing against this great track, I hope it provides Ultra with a decent pension - but I've just heard it too many times (I happened to be in Ibiza the summer when it was inescapable; plus it's still on a TV ad for an acne cream here in the UK - joy of joys!).
Unfortunately, Strictly Rhythm tacked it on to "...Fiction" as well, presumably for another bite of the cherry, so let's skip quickly to the rest:
What you get is one of Ultra's beloved prologues, before some tight, uptempo soulful dance music in the shape of Ain't Looking For Nothing, Get It Up, and Desire. Eternal is a bit of a lull, the type you get on every UN album, while the curveball here is Dear John, a curious ditty about a break-up, told in the third-person.
Twisted is a real gem. Produced by 4Hero, it's downtempo and loungey, and should certainly be on any "Best of Ultra Naté" compilation you might choose to burn for your own personal use (since one is not commercially available ;o)
Pretender is another uptempo number on which her powerful voice lets rip, but what makes this album particularly good fun, for me, is the sheer exhuberance of retro-disco stormer Breakfast For Two (guess what, you're not going to be kissing goodnight on the doorstep tonight... and you're going to be enjoying breakfast for two... you get the picture). It's like all Dan Hartman's high points fused into one - check out that insistent cowbell - and it's followed by another scorcher, I Don't Understand It, about picking up a stranger on the streets of New York for some afternoon delight. "Doing freaky things other people won't dare" indeed!
Then we get a foray into UK Garage with Gone Like Yesterday. It's not MJ Cole, but it's more than adequate... and a - oh, what the hell, why not? - "haunting" ballad called Ghost. It's not as essential as It's Crying Time on "Situation Critical" or her cover of "I Specialize In Loneliness on "One Woman's Insanity" - but, let's face it, what is? It still provides the perfect mood to round off the album (I'm skipping through the remixes, remember).
So all I can add - phew! - is if you like any of her other recordings, make sure you don't overlook this one - it's a blast!"
'Crown of the Jewel' Album
Emino-G | Germiston, South Africa | 07/19/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Ultra's 2001 release continues her musical evolution with transitional themes of pop, acid-jazz and house. This is her most unique release of all her albums, followed by Grime Silk Thunder. Different new producers such as 4 Hero, Anthor & Bloodshy, B-15 Project, Brian Alexander Morgan & Dubaholics add to the popular D-Influence and Mood II Swing establishment. Outstanding Tracks are 02, 03, 04, 05,
06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11 and 13. The South African Edition I own contains Tracks 1 to 13 as listed by Amazon, with 3 additional Bonus Tracks: How Deep Is Our Love [Bee Gees Tribute], Get It Up [Spen & Karizma Vocal Mix] and Get It Up [Adam Derived Radio Mix]."
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1