Michael Mcdonald - Ultimate Collection
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CD Details
Artist: Michael McdonaldBrand: Ultimate
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2005-08-09
Model: 00081227316723
Music Label: Rhino
Soundtracks:
- AinÂ?t No Mountain High Enough
- What A Fool Believes (The Doobie Brothers)
- I Keep ForgettinÂ? (Every Time YouÂ?re Near)
- Yah Mo B There (w/ James Ingram)
- TakinÂ? It To The Streets (The Doobie Brothers)
- Sweet Freedom
- Minute By Minute (The Doobie Brothers)
- On My Own (w/ Patti LaBelle)
- You Belong To Me (The Doobie Brothers)
- Real Love (The Doobie Brothers)
- I Stand For You
- It Keeps You RunninÂ? (The Doobie Brothers)
- Take It To Heart
- No Love To Be Found
- I Gotta Try
- No LookinÂ? Back
- Blink Of An Eye
- Open The Door (Urban Remix)
- Lost In The Parade
Music reviews of Ultimate Collection
Music Review: Michael McDonald: amazing vocalist, great songwriter... but this is hardly an "ultimate" retrospective of the man's work
Rating: 3 Stars
It's easy to see why Rhino Records would release a CD like Michael McDonald's "The Ultimate Collection"--they're well aware that this is instant money in the bank. Hopelessly unadventuresome casual fans will buy it based on the familiarity of many of the songs, while certain people will buy it for the sake of completism, so it's basically a win-win situation for Rhino. For serious listeners though, this is a truly disheartening collection. If you're reading this, you probably don't need me to tell you that Michael McDonald is one of the most incredibly soulful vocalists that music has ever had. And don't forget about his incredible knack for composing sophisticated and irresistibly catchy soft-rock tunes. Irresistible grooves, soulful vocals, and powerful hooks are Michael's stock in trade, and this 19-song compilation is a long way off from "ultimately" representing Michael.
Part of what is so annoying is the title: "The Ultimate Collection". The very title sort of implies that this disc is definitive, one-stop shopping for Michael McDonald's music, which really does the man a terrible disservice--anyone thoroughly familiar with Michael's work, both with the Doobies' and as a solo artist, will realize this instantly. The idea of "The Ultimate Collection" is really simple, and that is to bring together the big hits that Michael McDonald sings lead on and put them on a single disc. So, this includes his Doobie Brothers hits ("What A Fool Believes", "Real Love", etc.), solo hits ("I Keep Forgettin'", "Sweet Freedom", etc.), as well as duets with James Ingram and Patti LaBelle ("Yah Mo B There" and "On My Own" respectively). In terms of a sizable hit that's missing, the Doobies' "One Step Closer", on which Michael shared the lead vocals with Cornelius Bumpus, is the only particularly glaring omission.
Back in 2001, Rhino/ Warner Archives released both a Doobie Brothers "Greatest Hits" and a "Very Best Of Michael McDonald" CD. For the most part, all this supposedly "Ultimate Collection" does is pick various tracks from those two aforementioned collections and put them together on a single CD that isn't in even remotely chronological order. The only tracks here that don't appear on either of those other two collections are "I Stand For You" from 1993's "Blink Of An Eye" album, "No Love To Be Found" from 2000's "Blue Obsession", "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" from the "Motown" album, and "Open The Door" which is presented here in an "urban remix".
A big part of the problem is that Michael is very much NOT an artist whose work you can sum up with merely his very biggest hits. From an artistic standpoint, Michael's two "Motown" albums seem to be a trifle at best despite their popularity, and the inclusion of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is hardly necessary. "Sweet Freedom" was a big hit, but it's a ho-hum uptempo tune. I'm not aware of "No Love To Be Found" being a radio hit, but even if it was, it's still a dull piece of horn-laden R&B and makes for a baffling inclusion.
An even worse offender is the Patti LaBelle duet "On My Own" which seriously has no place on a disc that represents the ultimate work of Michael McDonald. Fittingly, the two weren't even in the same studio together recording the song, and it never appeared on an actual McDonald album (he had no part in writing the song); it DID appear on Patti LaBelle's 1986 album "Winner In You", and presumably it's more in line with her work than McDonald's. I don't care that the song hit #1 and sold a million copies. Despite the fact that it was co-written by the legendary Burt Bacharach, it's a lousy song--it has a painfully sterlie and generic mid-'80s adult contemporary sound, it has weak lyrics, LaBelle's mannered vocals are laughable, and Michael's trademark wailing sounds seriously out of place in this context. The contrast between this song and a Doobie Brothers classic such as "It Keeps You Runnin'" is jolting, and not pleasantly so.
Yes, "It Keeps You Runnin'", "What A Fool Believes", "Minute By Minute", "Real Love", and "I Keep Forgettin'" are great songs for sure, but they're just so ubiquitous--on the radio, in supermarkets, department stores, restaurants, you name it--it can be very hard to escape these songs, and it's quite likely that you've already heard them countless times without ever having to play them yourself. This is not meant as an insult to the songs themselves in any way, but as the saying goes, variety is the spice of life, and Michael McDonald's music, both with the Doobie Brothers and solo, DOES INDEED GO DEEPER THAN JUST THE BIG HITS. I think what would have been nice to do is perhaps make a collection more along the lines of Phil Collins' 2 CD "Love Songs" set which Rhino put out last year--go ahead, include the classic hits, but also spotlight lesser hits/ album tracks that are probably far less known yet still deserve to be remembered. As far as Michael's Doobie Brothers work is concerned, "Losin' End", "Here To Love You", "Open Your Eyes", "Dedicate This Heart", and "Keep This Train A-Rollin'" are all great songs; and as for his solo career, "All We Got", "Love Can Break Your Heart", and "Build Upon It" are a few great ones that come to mind. "Playin' By The Rules", which seems to be something of an adult contemporary staple, is another great song that's missing. The song "Open The Door" from the "Blue Obsession" album is indeed a terrific song, one of his best ever, but they totally dropped the ball here by including an "urban remix" of the song; a big key to the original version is that it sounds so gloriously retro as if it was unearthed gem recorded in the early '80s, but apparently someone thought otherwise, and this "urban remix" is a travesty and yet another indicator of the lack of care that went into assembling this collection.
I realize this is stretching it, but from an artistic standpoint, what would be ever better than including Michael's "duet" with Patti LaBelle would be to include a song or two from his wife Amy Holland's solo career which Michael was HEAVILY involved with. For instance, Michael's self-penned "Show Me The Way Home", from Amy's self-titled 1980 album, is a terrific song that has McDonald's stamp all over it. Again, I realize that would be stretching it. I'm not saying that any track Michael's ever been involved with should be a candidate for inclusion; for instance, I think it would be going overboard to include Christopher Cross' "Ride Like The Wind" or Steely Dan's "Peg", because although Michael's vocal contributions on them are significant, he was basically "guesting" on these songs and they really belong to their respective artists.
If you don't have any McDonald/ Doobie Brothers in your collection, I HIGHLY recommend the Doobie Brothers' "Minute By Minute" and "One Step Closer" albums, and I also solidly recommend Michael's 1990 album "Take It To Heart". With all due respect to the many great songs this disc does contain, I recommend that you do not buy this "Ultimate Collection"--Rhino could be making much better use of their time for serious music fans than releasing a disc like this.
Description of Ultimate Collection
One of the most immediately recognizable voices in all of contemporary music, Michael McDonald's signature sound fuses rock, R&B, soul, and gospel. As he evolved onward from his formative days as a backup singer for Steely Dan, McDonald's artistry bridged the gap between jazzy blue-eyed soul and and chart-topping pop rock, earning him superstardom both as lead vocalist/keyboardist for the Doobie Brothers and as a solo artist. Spanning 1976 to the present, this hit-packed new compilation spotlights his inimitable baritone on 19 timeless songs that will have you believing from the very first minute.Pop CDs
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