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  ©1994-1998
  Elke Moritz  
 
  Last updated:
  Apr.28, 1998

In The Deck

On Rotation:

Playlist:
  • Billy Porter - Untitled, I'll Be There, True Love, Maybe I'm Amazed
  • Rahsaan Patterson - Where you are
  • Babyface - Simple Days
  • Joe - All That I Am, No One Else Comes Close
  • Tony Rich - Leaving
  • Five Guys Named Moe - Azure Te, "The Cabaret" (all songs)
  • Riverdance - The Countess Cathleen, Firedance, Thunderstorm ...
  • Fünf Sterne Deluxe - Dein Herz Schlägt Schneller, 5 Sterne Deluxe
  • Tha Alkaholiks - Last Call, Likwit
  • Jurassic 5 - Concrete Schoolyard, Unified Rebellion
  • The X-ecutioners (X-Men) - One Man Band, The Countdown, Get Started, Word Play
  • The Neville Brothers - Shake Your Tamborine (Live)
  • Earth Wind & Fire - In The Stone, September, Let Your Feelings Show, Let's Groove, Africano (all Live)
 
Complete CDs:
the recent additions to my collection, of course :-)

Recent additions to my collection:

The Rating-system: My alltime favorites (on the "Music"-Mainpage) all got 10 points. 9.5 and 9 are also very very good CDs and highly recommended. My favorite CDs all get at least 8 points, and 7 points still mean that I wouldn't like to miss these CDs in my collections. Every CD that gets less than 7 points either didn't live up to the expectations, was too expensive and has only few strong songs. But all this is very subjective and only reflects my own taste and preferences.

July 1988

  • Najee - Plays Songs From The Key Of Life (EMI, 1995) USED
    "A Tribute To Stevie Wonder"
  • Mary J. Blige - What's The 411? Remix (MCA, 1993)
  • Jurassic 5 - LP (Rumble/Pan, 1998)
  • Xzibit - At The Speed Of Life (Loud/RCA, 1996) USED
  • OutKast - ATLiens (LaFace, 1996) USED
  • Goodie Mob - Still Standing (LaFace, 1998) USED
  • Show & AG - Goodfellas (ffrr, 1995) USED
  • Common - Can I Borrow A Dollar (Relativity, 1992) USED
  • Born Jamericans - Kids From Foreign (Delicious Vinyl, 1994) USED
  • Born Jamericans - Yardcore (Delicious Vinyl, 1997) USED
  • Gang Starr - Step In The Arena (Chrysalis, 1990) USED
  • Babyface - The Day (Sony, 1996) USED
  • Babyface - Tender Lover (LaFace/CBS, 1989) USED
  • Sounds Of Blackness - Time For Healing (Perspective, 1997) USED
  • Next - Rated Next (Arista, 1997) USED
  • Everette Harp - What's Going On (Blue Note, 1997) USED
  • Bobby Brown - Forever (MCA, 1997)
  • Eagle-Eye Cherry - Desireless (Polydor, 1998)
  • Fred Wesley - Full Circle (NY Records, 1998)
    "From Be Bop To Hip Hop..."
  • Maxwell - Embrya (Columbia, 1998)
  • BeBe Winans (Atlantic, 1997)

June 1988

  • Public Announcement - All Work, No Play (A&M, 1998)
  • Art Porter - For Art's Sake (PolyGram, 1998)
  • Brian McKnight - Anytime (5") (Motown, 1998)
  • Gang Starr - Moment Of Truth (Noo Tribe, 1998) USED
  • The Yellowjackets - Live Wires (GRP, 1992) USED
    This 10 track live album features Michael Franks on "The Dream" as well as Take 6 on "Revelation". One of my favorite Jazz CDs and one of my favorite Take 6 tracks as well ;-) (9 out of 10 because of Take 6)
  • Isaac Hayes - Branded (Virgin, 1995) USED
    I never felt any of Hayes' albums. But after being ill nearly all of May, I was in the mood for some jazzy and funky stuff. I like the overall mood of the album, although I could have done without another cover version of "Summer In The City". "Fragile" is still my favorite track. (7.5 out of 10)
  • Donny Hathaway - Everything Is Everything (Atco, 1970)
    I really really love Donny Hathaway's vocal style and his keyboard play. This CD contains "Voices Inside", "The Ghetto" and "To Be Young, Gifted And Black" (all studio versions). In addition to the nine original tracks, this reissue also includes "A Dream", a previously unissued bonus track. (8 out of 10)

May 1988

  • Harry Connick, Jr. - Star Turtle (Sony, 1996)
    I only like very few of Harry's songs, usually only those where he is accompanied by some brass. I bought the CD because of "Hear Me In The Harmony" and because some of the other tracks feature a full band. (7 out of 10)
  • OMPS - Devil In A Blue Dress (Columbia, 1995)
    Lots of old songs, mostly from the 1940s, on this one. Soundtrack to the movie starring Denzel Washington. (6 out of 10)

April 1998

  • The Meters - Good Old Funky Music (Rounder, 1990) USED
    My first Meters-cd. The only other Meters CD I ever saw in a record store here in Kaiserslautern, Germany, was the anthology (Do-CD), but someone else bought it before I could. "Good Old Funky Music" contains songs recorded between late 1968 and the mid 70's, some really funky stuff. I was astonished that I knew some of the songs ("Jambalaya" and "Voodoo") and really like this one. (8 out of 10, since it's less than 40 minutes long!)
  • Asante - Asante Mode (Columbia, 1995) USED
    A solid debut by this young RnB quartett. Lots of Foster/McElroy production, but the bandmembers also had some impact on the songs, and even wrote some themselves. No commercial success, though. But a nice CD to listen to while I'm working or learning for some exams. The song that forced me to buy this CD probably was their cover-version of the Impressions' "People Get Ready". (7.5 out of 10)
  • Artifacts - Between A Rock And A Hard Place (Big Beat, 1994) USED
    I had planned buying this CD for a long time, but it wasn't available in stores here and I didn't want to pay the full price. A really strong but much overlooked rap CD, produced by T-Ray, Redman, Buckwild and the Artifacts. My favorite track is still "C'mon Wit Da Git Down" but this will probably change after it got some heavier rotation...(8 out of 10)
  • Montell Jordan - More... (Def Jam/RAL, 1996) USED
    Montell's 2nd CD wasn't as well accepted by the public as his debut was. I always liked "What's On Tonight" very much, and this still is my favorite track on the album besides "Falling". But why did he have "I get lifted" twice on the album? It's one of my favorite samples (see also Keith Murray's "I get lifted"), but I would have liked a bit more diversity...(8 out of 10)
  • Kenny Lattimore - dto. (Columbia, 1996) USED
    Kenny got much props in rec.music.funky, and they were right. A tight RnB album. Much underrated and overlooked. Producers include Dave "Jam" Hall, Keith Crouch, Herb Middleton, Barry J. Eastmond, Oji Pierce, Kenny Lattimore and others. (7.5 out of 10)
  • Street Jams - Hip Hop From The Top, Part 1 (Rhino, 1992) USED
    A collection of classic breakdance tunes. Contains the long version of "Rapper's Delight", Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks" and Whodini's "Friends" (which Nas used for his song "If I Ruled The World"). "The Message" is also included, but I have this on several other CDs already. (7.5 out of 10)
  • Montell Jordan - Let's Ride (Def Jam/RAL, 1998)
    Since everybody was talking about Montell's brandnew CD, I decided to get it, although it didn't grep me like his first two releases did. "Let's Ride" is nice, but I don't like Master P very much. "Body Ah" quotes EWF's "Brazilian Rhyme", but Blackstreet and Take 6 also used this song back on their albums back in 1994. "I say yes" and "4 You" are really nice, but did you realize that a version of the "I say yes"-Interlude already appeared on Montell's last album? (7 out of 10, for the lack of originality)
  • Erikah Badu - Live (Universal, 1997) USED
    "Oh Tyrone!". I left out Miss Badu's debut album, since I still prefer male-vocalists (kinda obvious if you look on this list). But I also love live albums, and "Tyrone". What a great song! Of course the rest of the songs is also great and hits like "On and On" and "Appletree" are also included. (8 out of 10)
  • Hieroglyphics - 3rd Eye Vision (Hiero Imperium, 1998)
    I really loved Souls Of Mischief's "93 til infinity" back in 1993. Del also was quite successful (even here in Europe) at that time, but his voice didn't grep me. "3rd Eye Vision" is a Hiero family album. 22 tracks and many different rappers and styles make this the best rap-release in 1998! (8 out of 10)

March 1998

  • Fünf Sterne Deluxe - Sillium (Yo Mama, 1998)
    My first German Rap cd. And probably my first comedy cd, too. The first German Rap cd I really like (except for a few tracks and maybe the majority of the interludes). Has several strong tracks with phat and original rhymes and even features Biz Markie on one track (Biz tries to sing/rap in German on this one, although he probably doesn't understand a word German...). (7.5 out of 10)
  • Jr. Walker & The All Stars - The Ultimate Collection (Motown, 1997)
    "Shotgun" was released on the "Malcolm X" Soundtrack (Warner, 1992), and although I had heard the song, I had never paid more attention to Jr. Walker. Later I got a cheap "Best of"-pressing. "The Ultimate Collection" is digitally remastered and features 25 tracks (the original 45rpm versions). Yes, "I am a Road Runner" and I "Do the Boomerang"! What a great saxophone player! Jr. Walker died on November 23, 1995. (9 out of 10)
  • Aretha Franklin - A Rose Is Still A Rose (Arista, 1998)
    The first Aretha album in my collection. The stuff she released in the 80s and early 90s was nice but didn't grep me very much. Her older albums are very difficult to get here. Her new CD features 11 tracks which were produced by Lauryn Hill, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Jermaine Dupri, Daryl Simmons, Dallas Austin, Narada Michael Walden and Aretha herself. A very impressive list (probably aiming at a commercial success). The most outstanding aspect of this CD definately is Aretha's beautiful voice. After all this years, she still shines, especially on the second half of the album. (8 out of 10)
  • Maxwell - MTV Unplugged (Sony, 1997)
    Like with Erikah Badu, I didn't get Maxwell's debut album but went for the live-CD. It's very short though (less than 40 minutes) and only features 8 songs. "Whenever Whatever Whereever" is my favorite song, but "Ascensions", "Gotta Get: Closer" and "...Til The Cops Come Knockin'" also shine. (8 out of 10)
  • Average White Band - The Best Of (Delta, 1997)
    Since "Pick Up The Pieces" and "School Boy Crush" (and many other songs) have been heavily sampled in HipHop songs, I picked this album up. It's a cheap "Laserlight" compilation which features 16 tracks (1974-1980). (7 out of 10)
  • The Commodores - The Best Of (Motown, 1995; Anthology Series)
    "United"(1986) was the first Commodores album I bought, after that I bought "Nightshift"(1985) and "Rock Solid"(1988), the 70s stuff was impossible to get. This Do-CD features 39 songs from all the Commodores albums from 1974 to 1986, including one previously unreleased song. A great collection (with nice liner notes) that gives a nice overview of the Commodores hits. (8.5 of 10)
  • The Temptations - The Best Of (Motown, 1995; Anthology Series)
    This Do-CD features 48 songs by the Temptations and a beautiful small booklet and liner notes which mention the lead-singers of each song. All the great hits, funky stuff as well as slow jams. My alltime favorite: "Get Ready"(1966) (8.5 out of 10)
  • Michael Jackson - The Best Of (Motown, 1995; Anthology Series)
    Contains 39 songs, which were released on Michael's solo albums on Motown, and also five songs with the Jackson Five, including "Dancing Machine" and "I'll Be There". Although I really like some of the songs on this double-cd, the collection won't get too much rotation at my home, since I prefer more "mature" vocalists...(7 out of 10)
  • De La Soul - Stakes Is High (Tommy Boy, 1996)
    My favorite De La Soul release after "3 Feet High And Rising". Features Common Sense on "The Bizness" and Mos Def on "Big Brother Beat" and many other strong songs like "Stakes Is High". Great album. Why did I miss this back in 1996? (7.5 out of 10)
  • Das EFX - Hold It Down (East West, 1995)
    Their debut is a classic. "Hold It Down" is still quite strong, and features several energy loaden songs. "No Diggedy", "Real Hip-Hop" and "Microphone Master" are probably the strongest tracks on this CD. (7 out of 10)
  • Maze feat. Frankie Beverly - Live In New Orleans (Capitol, 1981)
    My first Maze album. Features six live tracks and four studio recordings. Includes "Joy and Pain" (Live). Solid. (7.5 out of 10)