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

[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?