ANITA BAKER-COMPOSITIONS.

dereksmusicblog ♦ November 8, 2011 ♦ 3 Comments

ANITA BAKER-COMPOSITIONS.

Some time ago, I wrote an article of Anita Baker’s seminal 1986 album Rapture, one of my favorite soul albums of the eighties. I’ve long been a fan of Anita’s music, and have for some time, been meaning to write another article on Anita’s music. Today, while I was listening to a number of albums, I came across my copy of Anita’s fourth album Compositions. After listening to what is another of my favorite Anita Baker albums, I decided that this was a good album to write about, because it sees a slight change in Anita’s music, when a jazz influence was introduced to her music. This didn’t affect her popularity though.

Like Rapture and Giving You the Best That I Got, it was produced by Michael J. Powell, who formed the Detroit based soul group Chapter 8, which Anita was the lead vocalist for. He had produced Anita’s two previous platinum certified album. Compositions was released back in June 1990, and featured four songs that Anita either wrote or co-wrote. The album reached number five in the US Billboard 200, was certified platinum and won Anita a Grammy Award for the Best Female R&B Performance at the 1991 Grammy Awards. Unlike the album, the singles released from the album weren’t as successful.Talk To Me was the first single released from the album in 1990. Although it reached number four in the US R&B Charts, it only reached number forty-four in the US Billboard 100. Soul Inspiration, the second single of 1990, only reached sixteen in the US R&B Charts and seventy-two in the US Billboard 100. When Fairy Tales was released as the third single in 1991, it reached number eight in the US R&B Charts. Although the singles failed to match the success of Compositions, Anita Baker’s career was going from strength to strength. After just four solo albums, Anita was one of the biggest soul singers of the time. On Compositions, Anita demonstrated not only her talents as a vocalist, but as a songwriter, writing four of the songs. It’s that album that I’ll now tell you about.

Compositions opens with Talk To Me which Anita cowrote with Michael Powell and Vernon Falls. It’s a piano led track, with the rhythm section, percussion and guitars combining with keyboards before Anita’s thoughtful vocal enters. Her vocal is slow, as she accentuates notes while she asks her partner to talk to her, share his problems and worries. As the track progresses, her alto vocal grows in power and emotion, while a lovely piano led arrangement unfolds. Greg Phillinganes on piano and the rest of this tight band take a welcome diversion into jazz territory, while Anita give’s an outstanding, emotive vocal. If the rest of the album is as good as Talk To Me then this is going to be a magical musical journey.

Perfect Love Affair sees the piano add atmosphere and brief, bursts of drama to the introduction while the rhythm section, percussion and guitars accompany Anita on this slow track. Immediately, this proves to be a fitting predecessor to Talk To Me, with Anita turning back the clock, remembering when she met her partner, and they embarked on their perfect love affair. Meanwhile, keyboards have joined the track, which has the piano at the heart of sound, ably assisted by percussion and the rhythm section. There’s a lushness to this slow, quite beautiful track. Anita’s voice is laden with emotion and passion, with backing vocalists accompanying her later in the track. Like the opening track, both Anita and her band combine brilliantly on a track she cowrote with Joel Davis. Although quite different from Rapture, it still features the trademark vocals of Anita Baker.

Whatever It Takes To Make You Happy is a track that slowly, reveals wave after wave of beautiful music, which as the track unfolds, just gets so much better. During this track, Anita demonstrates her vocal range, delivering the lyrics with a combination of power and emotion. Behind her, the arrangement features a combination slow rhythm section, chiming guitars, piano and keyboards. Together, the play slowly and thoughtfully, with the piano, keyboards and chiming guitars at the heart of arrangement’s success. Guitars and keyboards melodically combine, their sounds reverberating behind Anita’s powerful vocal. When Michael J. Powell’s arrangement is combined with Anita’s vocal, this is a potent combination, resulting in yet another great track from Anita.

Soul Inspiration was written by Grammy Award winning songwriter Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, of Gallagher and Lyle. Chiming guitars, keyboards, piano and rhythm section combine before Anita’s quieter, much more subtle vocal enters. Against a sweeping backdrop of piano, rhythm section, keyboards and guitars, Anita’s voice grows in power and strength. She accentuates notes, while the arrangement grows, becoming grand and dramatic, quite similar to certain songs on Rapture, albeit Anita’s style has a slight jazz influence. Adding the finishing touches to one of the album’s highlights are female backing vocalists. Their much more restrained voices provide a contrast to Anita’s powerful vocal, while bursts of horns cut in, accompanying the piano as the track reaches its impressive crescendo.

There’s quite a pronounced jazz influence on Lonely. This is apparent pretty much from the start of the track. Compositions was an album that saw Anita’s music become jazz tinged. However, this didn’t impact upon sales, with the album being certified platinum in the US for sales over one million copies. Piano and rhythm section combine with Anita’s jazz tinged vocal. Keyboards and percussion join with piano and rhythm section as Anita’s voice grows in power, before the piano leads the track into a swinging slice of jazz. This very different style of vocal and arrangement works well, although it’s quite a departure from her usual style. Along with Anita, pianist Greg Phillinganes steals the show. His piano playing is exquisite and both he and Anita demonstrate both their talent of versatility on Lonely.

When No One To Blame opens, the introduction reminds my of the introduction to No One In the World, one of the best tracks on Rapture. After that, it’s a quite different track, lacking dynamism of No One In the World. Having said that, it isn’t a bad track. Far from it. It’s just the introduction means comparisons will be made. This is a much slower and thoughtful track, with just a hint of jazz shining through. A piano and rhythm section combine before Anita’s subtle vocal enters. Percussion, keyboards and guitars join the mix, while Anita’s vocal is quite different from previous tracks, much more restrained. It grows in power slightly, but is still considered as she sings about being in love and trying to resist the feeling. This isn’t possible, as she’s almost infatuated and is translated into her vocal. It grows in power as she gets across the hopelessness she’s experiencing, trying to fight the feeling. The best way to describe this track is a slow burner, one of these tracks that takes a while to unfold and reveal itself. When it does, it becomes a good song, laden with emotion and feeling, albeit not as good as the previous five tracks.

A combination of percussion, piano, rhythm section, keyboards and guitars accompany Anita on the floaty More Than You Know. It’s a much better track than the previous track, one with a bigger, fuller sound and much more dynamic vocal from Anita. Space is left in the track however, which combines elements of Rapture era Anita Baker with shades of jazz. This isn’t surprising considering Earl Klugh guests on guitar, playing a lovely, tender solo during the track. Meanwhile, Anita’s voice is loud and powerful, making good use of her wide range. More Than You Know is an excellent track, one that reminds me of the brilliance of Anita’s best ever albumRapture.

Love You To the Letter is another track where the jazz influence is immediately noticeable. This is the case when a piano plays a jazz influenced introduction, accompanied by drums played with brushes in a jazz style. The tempo is slow, the arrangement spacious, while Anita’s vocal has a tenderness. Keyboards and a bass join the arrangement which is a lovely laid back slice of jazzy music, which is hugely sympathetic to some beautiful lyrics about the joy and beauty of being in love. It’s an epic jazz workout lasting nearly seven and a half tender minutes, which just fly by as you’re in raptures listening to Anita’s tender and beautiful vocal.

Compositions closes with Fairy Tales co-written by Anita with Michael J. Powell and Vernon Falls. After the tender, beauty of the previous track, Fairy Tales has a lot to live up to. The question is, can it manage to do so? When the rhythm section, keyboards, guitars, percussion and piano combine with Anita’s vocal things sound promising. Quickly, Anita’s vocal grows in power as the tempo quickens, and a melodic, sometimes dramatic jazz tinged arrangement unfolds. Anita turns back the clock remembering the fairy tales her mother told her, how her future would be bright, whereas reality was far from that. Her dream never came true, it was a case of paradise lost. Anita’s voice sounds disappointed and full of sadness, bitterness and regret. During the track the piano takes the track into a length jazz drenched musical journey which is very different from the rest of the album. It’s a catchy, virtuoso performance from Greg Phillinganes, with Anita seemingly confident that he won’t steal the show. With playing like that he very nearly does, but in the end, Anita is very definitely the star of this excellent track which matches the expectations of the previous track nicely.

Although Compositions was quite different from Rapture, it’s still an excellent album, one of my favorite Anita Baker albums. Nothing will ever surpass the seminal Rapture, but Compositions comes a worthy second. On this album, there was a jazz influence in Anita’s music, both in her vocals and in the arrangements. This wasn’t overdone, and is best described as jazz tinged. There’s still the usual soulful side of Anita’s music, plus the energy and dynamism that I’ve come to expect in her voice. During this album, she delivers the nine songs with a combination of emotion, power, passion and tenderness. Of the nine songs on the album, I’d say that eight are of the highest standard, with When No One To Blame a slow burner, not quite as good as the rest. The albums features some really talented musicians with pianist Greg Phillinganes one of the stars of the album. With Michael J. Powell producing this album like he had each of her solo albums, this was a recipe for another hugely successful album. This was the case, with the album being certified platinum after selling over one million copies. If you’ve never heard this album, this is one of Anita Baker’s best albums. Although twenty-one years old, the album has a timeless quality like all good music has. It’s well worth buying and together with Rapture, are the perfect introduction to Anita Baker’s brilliant music. Standout Tracks: Talk To Me, Whatever It Takes To Make You Happy, Soul Inspiration and Love You To the Letter.

ANITA BAKER-COMPOSITIONS.