Dionne's new album, "She's Back"

I was really excited to get Dionne's new CD, "She's Back" in the mail on Friday, but my excitement waned significantly when I listened to it. I was quite disappointed, not necessarily at or by Dionne, who at 78 years old, still sounds pretty good, but more so by the annoying arrangements of the songs. Sadly, Dionne is not the star on many of the songs. Instead, the "star" - and I use that word quite sarcastically - is the heavy, overly loud percussion and drum programming that dominates the songs. It's as if the downbeat and percussion is mixed way up front at a higher volume than the rest of the instruments and Dionne's voice, and in some instances, it is all you hear. It's actually quite frustrating. Annoying as hell.

I guess the goal was to make Dionne current, but in my humble opinion, it is a big mistake. Dionne is a classic artist with a classic, totally identifiable voice and style. I believe fans wanted a classic Dionne album, rather than this one, which actually had the potential to be quite good if the producers had known what they were doing. Dionne did not need to be made current, if that is what the heavy drum and percussion programming was meant to accomplish.

Also, I find it interesting that they included her "Dionne Sings Dionne" album as a bonus disc. Why??? What's the point of that? That one was a big flop when it originally came out, and it still isn't very good.

Please do not get me wrong. I love Dionne Warwick. I have been a fan for 50+ years and have all of her albums. I was excited that she was putting out a new album and looked forward to hearing Dionne as she is best... mellow, smooth, flowing. That is not what we get with "She's Back." The producers of this one screwed up.

Other thoughts? Opinions?

I have not heard the album, but I can comment on your frustration about the way it was recorded. It seems that today's music has the singer blended into the background instead of upfront. I can't even understand them. And when they perform live on a TV Awards show, they have the mike right up to their lips as if they are about to swallow it and the mikes are turned down so that their voice blends in with the instruments. It is frustrating and unnecessary if someone has talent.

On one of these awards shows, after watching some of the younger singers singing incoherently [[to me) Gladys Knight came out and performed a song. She held the mike at a distance, her voice was up front and I understood every word.

I always thought that the new singers were blending their voices to hide their lack of talent, or maybe it was just me losing my hearing, getting old and not appreciating music anymore. I guess this is just a new contemporary way of recording. People like Bette, Gladys, Barbra, Johnny,Patti, Dionne etc. still have powerful voices. It is a shame that today's young arrangers want to blend their voices into the background.

Today's young singers probably have talent too, but I'll never know. I can't understand them when they are blended into the background with this new contemporary way of recording

I was disappointed as well. I think her last cd FEELS SO GOOD was better. There are a few good songs on this one. But on the whole, much of it sounds rather boring. Some songs seem like they need to be sped up a bit. Others seem to be just getting a groove going and then fade out early. Why she felt the need for yet another version of DEJA VU and IF I WANT TO, particularly the latter since the original 1998 version is much better and is included on the bonus disc I'll never know.

Or maybe cause she's more concerned about the merits of Bey being an "icon." Reminds of that nonsense rapper /"R&B" singer Jacquees started with him being the, "King of R&B!"

Somehow I missed this thread originally. But I agree wholeheartedly with the above assessment. That overly-produced percussion would have been annoying enough on just one track, but to include it on the majority of them was just bizarre. I expected to be disappointed and I was. Let's hope the focus going forward will be to release some in-the-can material. As long as she has been around, there would simply HAVE to be a ton of songs that we have never heard.

Makes no sense that someone like Dionne would accept crappy productions. Bacharach is still active in his 90s, why don't they do it one more time for album #40?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mistercarter2u

I was really excited to get Dionne's new CD, "She's Back" in the mail on Friday, but my excitement waned significantly when I listened to it. I was quite disappointed, not necessarily at or by Dionne, who at 78 years old, still sounds pretty good, but more so by the annoying arrangements of the songs. Sadly, Dionne is not the star on many of the songs. Instead, the "star" - and I use that word quite sarcastically - is the heavy, overly loud percussion and drum programming that dominates the songs. It's as if the downbeat and percussion is mixed way up front at a higher volume than the rest of the instruments and Dionne's voice, and in some instances, it is all you hear. It's actually quite frustrating. Annoying as hell.

I guess the goal was to make Dionne current, but in my humble opinion, it is a big mistake. Dionne is a classic artist with a classic, totally identifiable voice and style. I believe fans wanted a classic Dionne album, rather than this one, which actually had the potential to be quite good if the producers had known what they were doing. Dionne did not need to be made current, if that is what the heavy drum and percussion programming was meant to accomplish.

Also, I find it interesting that they included her "Dionne Sings Dionne" album as a bonus disc. Why??? What's the point of that? That one was a big flop when it originally came out, and it still isn't very good.

Please do not get me wrong. I love Dionne Warwick. I have been a fan for 50+ years and have all of her albums. I was excited that she was putting out a new album and looked forward to hearing Dionne as she is best... mellow, smooth, flowing. That is not what we get with "She's Back." The producers of this one screwed up.

Other thoughts? Opinions?

---

I am a big Dionne fan from way back but i don't think i will be buying this album. i am thoroughly fed up of the tedious rehashes of classic songs with this dreadful modern production style. I hope the album makes her some money but i don't feel able to support it. Thank you for your review.