Track Listing

1. Lady Marmalade
2. You Are My Friend
3. Joy to Have Your Love
4. Little Girls
5. Music Is My Way of Life
6. I Don't Go Shopping
7. It's Alright With Me
8. Come What May

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #278860 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

The title says everything about it
When the theme is Patti LaBelle, it's not easy for me to say what I really feel about her. I'm sure that Patti is POTENCIALLY one of the best singers whe had the change to know with one of the best voices a woman could be blessed with. But using a word Patti seems to love, what does she really do with all of her "blessings"? Patti has been recording poor material and a lot of albums where you can only listen to one or two songs without crying desperately for more than a decade! I don't know if her producers are fault (maybe she needs a special guidance on how to use her powerful vocals which sometimes sound really strange) or the problems are the constant tries to be up to date and sound like mariahs and tonis and stuff like that.
The fact is that in this compilation you're gonna find some of the best interpretations Patti made in her entire carreer: ¨You Are My Friend¨, the fan-favourite, was sung from the heart and the vocal arrangement is impressive. ¨Little Girls¨ is a beautiful ballad which features Patti's most ¨calm¨ and deep vocals. ¨It's Alright With Me¨ and ¨Music Is My Way Of Life¨ have incredible disco arrangements and everybody dances listening to them on my parties (and ask me who it was). ¨Joy To Have Your Love¨ is a typical Patti song, exagerated, full of unnecessary instruments but anyway a classic R&B hit - the first single from her 1st solo effort to date. On ¨I Don't Go Shopping¨ with its obvious lyrics Patti tells you that love is something that money can't buy - but in her voice it sounds great! And ¨Come What May¨, the wedding song she sang live for Cyndi Lauper when she was in this situation, closes this compilation with one of the most beautiful vocal arrangements of a Patti LaBelle song. Patti just shows you that life is a connection of emotional breakdowns and phoenix-like reinventions of yourself.
This collection is an incredible item which brings you the best material of Patti's first solo years. History proved that Patti came to the world with the undeniable ability (or need?) to sing and that she did it great since the beginning of her Bluebelles years with its best part on her innicial solo years by Sony. The material which came later also contains good songs, but they are really hard to find.
The cover is terrible, but I think it gives this record a certain charm... something kitschy and done in 3 seconds... but that's worth it. The price is low anyway ;-P

Wrong Title, But Who Cares?
I guess it must be hard actually to assemble the "best" of Patti Labelle, because everything she has done musically is choice. This little package of songs is pathetic in that it has so FEW of her songs. And the best should include certified hits like "Own My Own" (not listed) and her early work like "Down the Aisle" when I estimate she was about 17 to 18 (if her biography gives her real birthdate). But I give it 5 stars for what's here to hear. We're talking PATTI LABELLE after all. Unless you've lived your life in a cave, you know what I mean.

Missing a lot of hits!
This CD is actually a 1981 album collection issued by Epic after her 1st 4 solo albums 1977 - 1980. That's why there are only 8 songs , as it was originally a vinyl and cassette release. Hence, it's missing a lot of Patti's career songs, hits and highlights that made history [ ON MY OWN, NEW ATTITUDE, OVER THE RAINBOW, IF ONLY YOU KNEW, LOVE NEED AND WANT YOU, SOMEBODY LOVES YOU BABY and on and on ]. It does contain the #1 hit by the group Labelle LADY MARMALADE, Patti's first solo hit JOY TO HAVE YOUR LOVE, and her anthem YOU ARE MY FRIEND. But LITTLE GIRLS is hardly an essential song. This is just a sample of Patti's late 70's work. A real best of would be the CD : PATTI LABELLE'S GREATEST HITS to get or the Half Labelle/Half Patti Solo collection: LADY MARMALADE: THE BEST OF PATTI AND LABELLE.