Genre Pop
Evaluation Let me start off by saying that I love Celine Dion. She has one of the most powerful voices in pop music today, and she has done some great songs. But this album, and here is where I get to blast not her but the record companies, is just a pile of cutting room rejects and covers so as to make another few million bucks for the record company. A talent such as Celine Dion deserves better material than this. Don’t get me wrong. There is 1 great song, 1 good song and 1 pretty good song on this album. They are in that order:
1)It’s All Coming Back To Me Now - A classic Jim Steinman composition. You can always tell a song that was written by this genius. For one thing, they go on forever. This one is 7:37 and every second just breathtakingly gorgeous. This is one of Celine Dion’s finest moments as a vocalist, not that she has any bad ones with that killer voice of hers. This song will give you the chills and alone is worth the price of the CD, almost.
2)Because You Loved Me - A little more laid back than the above. This was a very big hit and they played it to death. Still it is a very good song and Celine’s vocals on this are as smooth as silk. I admit I enjoy the more ’’belt em out tunes’’ that she does but no one can deny she does a great job on this mellow tune.
3)Dreamin Of You - A Decent tune that’s kind of catchy. It flows well and Celine does a great job on it. Not a show stopper but certainly pleasant to listen to.
But THAT’S IT!! Also on the album are two cover tunes, Eric Carmen’s All By Myself which Celine sings great, but the arrangement is so bad it’s embarrassing. The other is River Deep Mountain High which has been done over and over ad nauseum. This arrangement is so over the top that you get the feeling they were all on speed when they recorded it. Really bad.
The rest of the album is just plain non descript with generic tunes such as Make You Happy, Seduces Me and a song that is as generic sounding as it’s title, I Love You. Please, can we be a little more original than this? Some of the songs don’t even fit Celine’s style as it seems they’re trying to stretch her range here. I don’t mind that so much as the fact that they literally changed the sound of her voice. Please, at least let Celine sound like Celine for crying out loud. The next to last song Call The Man starts out with promise but doesn’t go anywhere for 5 minutes. Finally when it does seem to take off it ends with some stupid chant. What’s that all about? What a way to kill a decent tune. And then there is the finale Fly which is one of the worst ending songs I have ever heard in my life. It is 3 minutes of, nothing. Guys, if you can’t get better material than this, please wait until you do and put out a decent product worthy of a voice like Celine’s.
Bottom Line: If you are totally in love with this woman’s voice, which is hard not to do, you may enjoy this album. While too many of the songs are generic she does a good enough job on them that they’re at least easy to listen to. But for me, 1 great tune doesn’t cut it. No, I didn’t buy this CD. It is my daughters. Even she can’t remember half the tunes. Anyway, my advice is to get her greatest hits album instead and pass on this one. Nothing here that isn’t on her greatest hits that you’ll miss, trust me on that one.