Music Box [Extra tracks]

1. Dreamlover. 10/10
2. Hero. 10/10
3. Anytime You Need a Friend. 10/10
4. Music Box. 9/10
5. Now That I Know. 10/10
6. Never Forget You. 9/10
7. Without You. 9/10
8. Just To Hold You Once Again. 8/10
9. I've Been Thinking About You. 10/10
10. All I've Ever Wanted. 9/10
11. Everything Fades Away. 10/10

OVERALL GRADEl 10/10
This is a album by Mariah, which shows her focusing more on ballads than uptempo pieces. From the beautifulness of "Dreamlover" and "Hero" to the sweetness of "Music Box", this is an unforgettable album!

Her last two albums contained so much vocal acrobatics, its hard to imagine how she could top them. I guess the key to the success of this album was restraint. It's not that she doesn't use her vocals to their potential, but she holds back until they are really required, and when they come, they come like you've never heard before. I'm not talking about whistle notes, they aren't as overly present here as before, but I mean the intensity and perfection of her melisma, rifts, octave changes, and incredibly beautiful tone. Her voice sounds so smooth and angelic, its unbelieveable. She sounded great before, but in two years, you can notice a slight change in her tone that makes her voice sound so soothing and relaxing. I am more familiar with this than any other album of hers so I may be a bit biased, but here's the details:

1. Dreamlover - One of her most famous songs, very catchy, simple, yet very effective vocally. She manages to make a difficult and complex vocal style sound so simple and easy to sing along to, but if you attempt it, you will not conquer it! 9/10
2. Hero - Probably the first song most people associate with Mariah, her signature song. This is how it was originally sang, not quite the same as now. Her velvety vocals of this era come across perfectly here, every note is silky smooth, the climax is nothing short of goosebump material, and the lyrics simple, yet so uplifting and inspirational. 10/10
3. Anytime You Need A Friend - The theme of self-belief continues here into a gospel inspired anthem, which I feel should've been a bigger hit than it was. It slowly builds into one of the most stunning vocal pieces i've ever heard. 10/10
4. Music Box - Just when you thought vocal heaven was over, Mariah provides one of her most emotional and soothing performances ever. The meaning of the song is deep and can be applied to many people's situations. 10/10
5. Now That I Know - A necessary break from the slow tempo created by the last few tracks, this is a more upbeat, dancy song. This song does exactly what it says on the tin, nothing more. It serves its purpose as a light hearted break from the serious ballads. 7/10
6. Never Forget You - Sounds cheesy at first, but as you get into it, it becomes very addictive. 8/10
7. Without You - Cover of a song originally by Badfinger, but made famous by Harry Nielson. Mariah truly makes it her own by singing it in her own octave shifting way. Her range during this performance is incredible, as is her ability to sustain a note for so long at the end. 9/10
8. Just To Hold You Once Again - She starts of singing softly, but it builds to a big climax involving lots of belting. Sounds like a typical Mariah song, but its actually a well written, meaningful song that many people could relate to. 8/10
9. I've Been Thinking About You - Serves the simple purpose of lightening the tone after all the big ballads. Its not bad, but not that good either. Just a simple poppy tune, to keep the A&Rs happy. Not particularly memorable. 6/10
10. All I've Ever Wanted - Another ballad, but any real Mariah fan sees that as a good thing, as this is where she sounds best. Her voice will guarantee goosebumps here. 9/10
11. Everything Fades Away - Although this is a bonus track for the UK, I will always see this as part of the album. I feel sorry for those in the US who do not have this on their version. This is my favourite track because it is a dark, haunting, but soothing end to a positive but somewhat unrealistic view of life and love throughout the album. This song deserves more recognition, as it is possibly one of the best songs she has ever written. 11/10

This album is her best selling album to date, and I can see why. Not only does it contain her most famous singles including 'Hero' and other big ballads, which although admittedly a bit overblown, she carries them off so naturally, it sounds like that was what she was born to do. The vocal arrangements are so well executed that no matter how schmaltzy or sugary a song may sound, it doesn't matter because you are so focused on Mariah's incredible vocal skills and songwriting talent.

`Music Box' was Mariah Carey's 3rd album, it was the last album of Carey's that did not include a single collaboration or guest, as well as being one of the biggest selling albums in music history, the only reason for this could be the 3 chart toping singles it produced, including the killer record breaking ballad `Hero', what also sold this album was the fact it had universal appeal, meaning you wouldn't have to be a huge Mariah Carey fan to own it, as you could appreciate it for it's more mainstream `pop' sound.

The quality of the material on this album is excellent, but if I had to choose, my personal favourites would have to be the very gospel inspired `Anytime You Need A Friend', a theme or genre that Carey would later use again on songs such as `Fly Like A Bird' from 2005's `The Emancipation Of Mimi`, `Without You', the sultry and soothing `Music Box', `Just To Hold You Once Again' and `All I've Ever Wanted`.

Overall i really could not fault a single song on here, they all have nice melody's and fantastic hooks, the ballads are true ballads with amazing vocals, same goes for the more upbeat songs, in my opinion the whole album could have been made into singles, and you really can't make that statement about many albums, although i think this album has slightly too much of the commercial 'pop' mainstream factor rather than depth, it's still a real pleasure too listen to time and time again.