FEATURE:
A Buyer’s Guide
Part Six: Mary J. Blige
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FOR this edition…
of A Buyer’s Guide, I am focusing on the tremendous Mary J. Blige. Still producing music nearly three decades since her debut, there is nobody like her in music! Not only does Blige have one of the most distinct and powerful voices around; she is an artist who has inspired so many others, and she is seen as the ‘Queen of Hip-Hop Soul’. Not only has she made the marriage of Hip-Hop and Soul mainstream and accessible, but she has also broken down the male-dominated sphere of Hip-Hop with her viewpoint on black womanhood and femininity. I am saluting one of the greatest artists of our time, and recommending the albums you need to own – in addition to a very good and comprehensive book. Take a look at some of the finest work from…
THE inimitable Mary J. Blige.
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The Four Essential Albums
What’s the 411?
Release Date: 28th July, 1992
Labels: Uptown/MCA
Producers: Sean "Puffy" Combs (exec/.)DeVante Swing/Tony Dofat/Dave "Jam" Hall/Mark Morales/Cory Rooney
Standout Tracks: Reminisce/You Remind Me/Sweet Thing
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Mary-J-Blige-Whats-The-411/master/78837
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5Q3xLiKnY4ShDuQda7qfg2
Review:
“With this cutting-edge debut, Mary J. Blige became the reigning queen of her own hybrid category: hip-hop soul. The eloquence and evocativeness that comes through in her voice, could be neither borrowed nor fabricated, making What's the 411? one of the decade's most explosive, coming-out displays of pure singing prowess. "Real Love" and the gospel-thrusted "Sweet Thing" (the primary reason for all her Chaka Kahn comparisons) are and will remain timeless slices of soul even after their trendiness has worn off, and "You Remind Me" and the duet with Jodeci's K-Ci ("I Don't Want to Do Anything") are nearly as affecting in their own right. It's nevertheless unclear how much of the hip-hop swagger in her soul was a genuine expression of Blige's own vision or that of her admittedly fine collaborators (Svengali Sean "Puffy" Combs, R&B producers Dave Hall and DeVante Swing, rap beatsmith Tony Dofat, rapper Grand Puba). Certainly the singer comes across as street-savvy and tough -- "real," in the lingo of the day -- and even tries her hand at rhyming on the title track, but never again would her records lean this heavily on the sonic tricks of the rap trade. In retrospect, it is easier to place the album into the context of her career and, as such, to pinpoint the occasions when it runs wide of the rails. For instance, the synthesizer-heavy backdrops ("Reminisce," "Love No Limit") are sometimes flatter or more plastic than either the songs or Blige's passionate performances deserve, while the answering-machine skits, much-copied in the wake of What's the 411?, haven't worn well as either stand-alone tracks or conceptual segues. In fact, those who prefer their soul more stirring, heart-on-sleeve, or close to the bone would likely find her fluid, powerfully vulnerable next recording (My Life) or one of the consistently strong subsequent efforts that followed it more to their liking. For broad appeal and historical importance, though, What's the 411? is an inarguably paramount and trailblazing achievement” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Real Love
My Life
Release Date: 29th November, 1994
Label: Uptown
Producers: Sean "Puffy" Combs (exec.)/Chucky Thompson/Nashiem Myrick/Dalvin DeGrate/Herb Middleton/Prince Charles Alexander/Poke
Standout Tracks: You Bring Me Joy/I’m Goin’ Down/Mary’s Joint
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Mary-J-Blige-My-Life/master/78734
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4jovLVRCu6H0Ce6NHR4eTZ
Review:
“The enduring power of My Life lies in the fact that despite the heartache that pervades the expanse of the album, Blige frames many of its songs—fourteen of which she co-wrote—in universal, empathetic and inspiring terms, which resonated profoundly with listeners grappling with similar hardships and looking for reasons to maintain hope. “When I reached out and said I was hurting so bad, [My Life] was the only place I could say that,” Blige confided during a 2011 Daily Mail interview. “I didn't have a way to express myself, period, in life. I didn't have anyone to talk to. So I reached out and I gained a fan base that was hurting just like me….About four million [people] responded to that and it turned out we were all suffering at the same time and didn't want to be here.”
Blige’s more sanguine (and spiritual) disposition is best evidenced on the title track, which samples Roy Ayers’ classic “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” by no small coincidence and finds her offering a gospel-tinged clarion call to those confronted with adversity: “Don't you know I know we all are struggling / I know it is hard, but we will get by / And if you don't believe in me, just believe in He, yeah / 'Cause He'll give you peace of mind (Yes, He would) / And you'll see the sunshine (For real, yes, you would) / And you'll get to free your mind / And things will turn out fine / Oh, I know that things will turn out fine” – Albumism
Choice Cut: Mary Jane (All Night Long)
Mary
Release Date: 17th August, 1999
Label: MCA
Producers: Mary J. Blige/Babyface/Rich Harrison/Gerald Isaac/Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis/Lauryn Hill/Malik Pendleton/Soulshock & Karlin/Chucky Thompson
Standout Tracks: All I Can Say/Deep Inside/Your Child
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Mary-J-Blige-Mary/release/1188848
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6L4mjZ7Wx0oSQU08alvHbq
Review:
“At first it seems a bit strange: There’s only one MC on Mary J. Blige’s new album, Mary. On her first and third studio albums — the genre-creating What’s the 411? and the merely stellar Share My World — she tapped a host of rhymers: Busta Rhymes, Grand Puba, Lil’ Kim, Nas. On her second album, the emotional autobiography My Life, there was a Keith Murray cameo and a slew of Puffy-produced interpolations. This latest record is her most superstar-packed — she welcomes aboard Lauryn Hill (producing and singing backup, not rhyming), Sir Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Babyface, Eric Clapton and ex-boyfriend K-Ci Hailey of K-Ci and JoJo — but with the late excision of the stunning “Sincerity,” featuring DMX and Nas, there’s a conspicuous void.
Blige seems to have moved away from the Terry McMillan once-again-he’s-breaking-my-heart mantra to, perhaps, an Oprah love-your-spirit ethos. She begins Mary with the lush Lauryn-produced “All That I Can Say,” singing, “Loving you is wonderful / Something like a miracle.” Two songs later, on “Beautiful Ones,” she sings, “With your love, maybe in my life / You know, we can stop the rain,” a direct answer to her classic theme song, “Everyday It Rains.” Of course, there are songs about sadness, like the brilliant strength-in-pain anthem “The Love I Never Had” — where she blares, “I gotta wake up!” while a Jimmy Jam-and-Terry Lewis-produced live band funks behind her — as well as the deep ballad “Your Child” and the spectacular “Memories.” But “Memories,” with its hot Timbaland-inspired track and junglish drum line, doesn’t match the sadness of which Mary speaks. The woman who concluded My Life singing, “All I really want is to be happy” seems to have found strength and happiness on the album’s closer, a remake of the classic disco invocation “Let No Man Put Asunder.” (You may remember the counterhook: “It’s not over between you and me.”)” – Rolling Stone
Choice Cut: As (International Track Listing)
The Breakthrough
Release Date: 20th December, 2005
Label: Geffen
Producers: 9th Wonder/Bobby Ross Avila/Issiah "Iz" Avila/Mary J. Blige (also exec.)/Vidal Davis/Cool & Dre/Bryan-Michael Cox/D'MileRon Fair/Andre Harris/Rich Harrison/Tal Herzberg/Infinity/J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League/Jake and the Phatman/Rodney Jerkins/Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis/Davel "Bo" McKenzie/Raphael Saadiq/Chucky Thompson/will.i.am/Young Smoke
Standout Tracks: Enough Cryin’/Take Me as I Am/Can’t Get Enough
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Mary-J-Blige-The-Breakthrough/master/78820
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5cnNuunPepqlcT0VoFdLOh
Review:
“"I'm the soul hip-hop queen, and I ain't goin' nowhere," sings Mary J Blige on The Breakthrough, and she's not wrong. Free of the spoken interludes that spoilt 2003's Love & Life, this eighth album may be her best, the most vivid realisation of her gripping, confessional style. Unlike with most R&B divas, you get the impression that Blige's songs here are rooted in reality, not formula.
That's due in large part to her compelling delivery, the tone and timbre of which recalls Aretha Franklin on tracks such as "Can't Hide from Luv" and the symphonic slow-burner "I Found My Everything". She's the only singer of her era who can seamlessly combine classic gospel-soul's rawness with more clinical modern R&B - as illustrated by the ease with which her voice assimilates the bruised hope lent by the Nina Simone sample in "About You".
Other voices would be intimidated by the association, but Blige's operates on equal terms. Her lyrics draw on her assertive attitude, reclaiming mistakes from shame in "Take Me as I Am", dumping a lover in "Ain't Really Love", and tracing need for male affection to lack of a father in "Father in You", before a duet with Bono on a version of U2's "One" – The Independent
Choice Cut: Be Without You
The Underrated Gem
Love & Life
Release Date: 26th August, 2003
Label: Geffen
Producers: Mary J. Blige (exec.)/Sean "Diddy" Combs (also exec.)/Andy C./Malik Crosby/D-Dot/D-Nat/Dr. Dre/Sean Foote/Majid Hasan/Mechalie Jamison/Stevie J/Kay GeeK/ipper/Cecil Sanchez/Sting/Mario Winans
Standout Tracks: Don’t Go/Ooh!/It’s a Wrap
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Mary-J-Blige-Love-Life/master/46486
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/14E2CvlcAY07HT9Y9TryxA
Review:
“Mary J. Blige has made it clear in virtually all of her TV appearances and interviews surrounding her sixth studio album that she's happy with the way things have been going for her, both personally and professionally. That's more than apparent -- albeit detrimentally apparent -- throughout Love & Life, an album that sees her linking back up with production from P. Diddy and company. The down side is that you can tell that her heart isn't as into the songs that deal with the nastier aspects of relationships. It's that distance that holds the album back from being one of her best; neither she nor her partners should've felt obligated to cover so much emotional territory, especially when an album's worth of material here (at least 40 of the 70 minutes) beams with joy (and/or desire) and goes along with where she's at right now. Even on the somewhat clunky lead single, "Love @ 1st Sight," Blige's uplifted spirit is as contagious as it has ever been, and just the sound of her voice is enough to get by on. Though her re-pairing with P. Diddy doesn't return her to the glory of What's the 411?, at least half a dozen cuts will vie for slots on a future best-of. For 11 years running, Blige remains a durable and consistent artist, and no one is on the verge of dethroning her” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Not Today
The Latest/Final Album
Strength of a Woman
Release Date: 28th April, 2017
Label: Capitol
Producers: Mary J. Blige (exec.)/BadBadNotGood/Bigg D/DJ Camper/Hit-Boy/Brandon "B.A.M." Hodge/Kaytranada/Lamb/Neff-U/Teddy Riley/William Tyler
Standout Tracks: Love Yourself/Set Me Free/Find the Love
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Mary-J-Blige-Strength-Of-A-Woman/master/1172926
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4NbiqWISvtpKiWFwpmtzTF
Review:
“The album isn’t just made up of tracks to satisfy old fans, though; numbers like ‘It’s Me’ and ‘U+Me (Love Lesson)’ are refreshing in their use of trap-influenced sub-bass and heavier drum programming, rather than the orchestral swells of a typical Blige production. As evinced by her work with Disclosure and the many remixes of earlier tracks like ‘Real Love’ and ‘You Remind Me’, Blige is equally capable of making songs for the dance floor, as well as for the bedroom and post-breakup come-down. The Missy Elliot-featuring ‘Glow Up’ is a highlight of the record - despite DJ Khaled indiscriminately shouting over the track - as Blige embodies Frank Ocean and Dawn Richard in her rhythmic vocal.
Yet, running at 16 full-length tracks, ‘Strength of A Woman’ can seem overindulgent. Songs that are enjoyable in isolation, or as a smaller subset, become either repetitive or forgettable in the context of the whole. For instance, ballads like ‘Thank You’, ‘Set Me Free’ and ‘Indestructible’ become draining to listen to in one sitting, whilst atypical tracks like the funk-influenced ‘Find The Love’ and the electro-pop ‘Love In The Middle’ become incongruous and even jarring in the midst of so much other material.
Ultimately, Blige’s prolific songwriting is her downfall. The best tracks on ‘Strength Of A Woman’ seem destined to be poached for streaming service playlists and radio play, while the album as a whole potentially goes unnoticed, dragged down by its own weight and fated to settle comfortably only in the back catalogue” – CLASH
Choice Cut: Thick of It
The Mary J. Blige Book
Real Love, No Drama (American Music Series): The Music of Mary J. Blige
Author: Danny Alexander
Publication Date: 29th March, 2016
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Synopsis:
“Mary J. Blige is an icon who represents the political consciousness of hip hop and the historical promise of soul. She is an everywoman, celebrated by Oprah Winfrey and beloved by pop music fans of all ages and races. Blige has sold over fifty million albums, won numerous Grammys, and even played at multiple White House events, as well as the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Displaying astonishing range and versatility, she has recorded everything from Broadway standards to Led Zeppelin anthems and worked with some of popular music's greatest artists-Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Whitney Houston, Sting, U2, and Beyonce, among them. Real Love, No Drama: The Music of Mary J. Blige tells the story of one of the most important artists in pop music history. Danny Alexander follows the whole arc of Blige's career, from her first album, which heralded the birth of "hip hop soul," to her critically praised 2014 album, The London Sessions. He highlights the fact that Blige was part of the historically unprecedented movement of black women onto pop radio and explores how she and other women took control of their careers and used their music to give voice to women's (and men's) everyday struggles and dreams. This book adds immensely to the story of both black women artists and artists rooted in hip hop and pays tribute to a musician who, by expanding her reach and asking tough questions about how music can and should evolve, has proven herself an artistic visionary” – Abe Books
Buy: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780292759435/Real-Love-Drama-American-Music-0292759436/plp