My Friends & Me

This CD is a sad lesson in what can result when even a Legend such as Dionne allows nepotism to take a front seat to common sense. Her son may have meant well, but he's done more damage than good to dear ol' mom. No seasoned producer worth his salt would have allowed Dionne to go through with this project, not if they were honest and cared. It was just a rotten idea from the start. Can any of us imagine, for example, Quincy Jones hearing the poor production values on this CD and giving it his blessing? David Foster? Clive Davis?

Dionne had been shopping this project around for more than 2 years to various major record Labels and none of them were interested in her "Trio of duet CDs of my old hits" concept. For a moment, many fans feared the worst--that she'd never get signed to a major label again, that the prevailing sentiment in the industry was that Dionne's once beautiful, raspy voice that could do no wrong had finally lost its power and ability to enthrall music listeners.(Let me state for the record, that was not the case for me, having seen her live as late as November of last year and witnessing Dionne in fine voice as she brought the house to its feet with stirring renditions of her classics).

Finally, Concord decided to take a chance, signing her to a 3 CD deal. Fans were elated and hopeful that the powers that be would at least encourage her to go in a more creative direction, or at best, choose an experienced producer who would breathe new life into the songs she selected, using REAL INSTRUMENTS instead of synthesizers and drum machines. Unfortunately, they gave her carte blanche to do as she pleased, hence, this pitiable result, which will no doubt add another stain to the twilight years of her discography.

Why Dionne insists on re-recording her old hits is beyond anyone's comprehension. There isn't a single fan I've spoken to who is happy about her obcession with this idea. Quite frankly, we all consider it a mystery. She sings these songs over and over every night in concerts around the world. Now, never getting bored of singing them in a live setting,(as she's said in many an interview) may be one thing, but re-recording them for a fanbase that has NO DESIRE WHATSOEVER to hear them in recorded form is another. There are so many NEW songs out there that would better suit her deeper, more reserved alto. Where is the artistic creative musician that was once Dionne Warwick? Is re-recording her past hits many times over the best she can offer to the world at this stage of her life? This is beginning to border on musical psychosis....No, you say? Let's take a look at the history of this musical malaise.

In 1997 there was "Dionne sings Dionne" which covered several of her big hits. Then, at the turn of the century there was the "Dionne sings Dionne 2", consisting of more covers, issued as a Japanese import(and much to her chagrin, as these were basically demos left over from her '97 River North release.Not owning the Masters, she had no control over its release). And then----we have this 3rd installment, which, if Dionne has her way, will actually be the 3rd IN AN INSTALLMENT OF 5 CDs(!!) whereby she's re-recording her hits(don't forget folks, she has 2 more in the can for release after this one!).

Wasn't Dionne the girl singer from New Jersey who defiantly hollered to the world "Don't Make Me Over!" back in 1962? It's high time she took her own words of advice. This latter-day butchering of her near perfect earlier recordings, which she will never be able to top, and which quite honestly, true fans realistically don't expect her to- has got to stop. For the love of God, Dionne, please! We beg of you. Enough is enough! You're breaking our hearts.

The reviews of this CD have been mixed, and deservedly so. I don't think many of Dionne's fans were looking forward to this product in the first place, other than for the prospect of finally getting something new by Ms. Warwick. Her constant re-hashing of her old hits (particularly the Bacharach/David catalog) is getting old, and I wish she'd stop. As far as I can tell, no one is really interested in these re-workings. The originals stand on their own as some of the best music ever recorded, so the remakes inevitably pale in comparison. In addition, the duets concept is definitely stale. I think most of us fans want to hear Dionne sing new songs that suit her reserved alto voice, with mature, subtle, acoustic arrangements that compliment her mature style. Her Christmas album from a couple years ago was a good example of the way that Dionne's voice should be framed these days.

Which brings me to my next point. We have been hard on Dionne for the cheap production values evidenced on this CD. True, this thing sounds like cheap kareoke. But I don't think it's really Dionne's fault. The kind of sophisticated production we yearn for--Quincy Jones, Burt Bacharach, full orchestra, etc.--costs a lot of money. Record companies advance artists money to fund their records, and that money goes against any royalties the artist might receive. If the artist can record the album for less than the advance, then that is money she gets to keep. Conversely, if the artist goes over-budget, then that money counts against her royalties until the company recups the advance. If the album doesn't sell, everybody goes in the hole. The point of this is that Dionne and the record companies are shrewd enough to project what Dionne's likely sales will be for any given product, and they know how much money to allot for a Dionne project. If they or Dionne want to make any money at all, given the realities of Dionne's current fan base, then the product has to be recorded on the cheap. That probably explains why Damon took the lead and why this thing sounds so amateurish. It was a budget project, and Dionne and Concord are probably just hoping to make some modest returns.

The irony of it all is that if Dionne keeps putting out cheap sounding products like this, no one will want to buy any future releases. And, if no one is buying her records, no record company will give her the kind of budget she needs to make the kind of album that I'm sure she and her fans want. It's a vicious cycle. Low sales projections = low budget. Low budget = low sales. So the best thing we can do for Dionne and ourselves now is to buy up these disappointing CD's she's been making lately (with the exception of the Christmas CD, which sounds very nice), with the hopes that sales will be strong enough to give the record companies the confidence to put up more money for her to make a REAL recording that reflects her talent in her twilight years.

With that said, I now turn to what IS Dionne's fault about this project: her poor singing. She simply does not sing well this time out. I know that Dionne is capable of better singing than she pulls off on this CD. I have seen and heard countless examples of Dionne really singing well of late: recent clips on youtube, good concert reviews, the Christmas CD from 2004, the live CD from a year before that, fan accounts, etc. Dionne can still sing her pants off when she wants to. It sounds like she wasn't even trying on this one. Her voice sounds tired, her pitch is everywhere (I can't even listen to "Love Will Find A Way" because she's so flat), and the duets are uninspired. We waited for several years for this project, and I think the least she could do is record the songs on a good day! I know I probably sound harsh, but I resent the fact that she didn't have enough respect for her fans to give her very best for this long-awaited project. It makes me angry to think what some warming up, throat spray, and maybe a few re-takes would have done here. We deserve better.

Despite all of our unenthusiastic reviews, please buy this CD so that maybe we can get Dionne's sales strong enough to justify to the record companies the kind of budget Dionne needs to record a high quality record. And Dionne, if you're listening, PLEASE give your all next time! You are hurting your legacy when you step up to the mic and don't deliver. And, for the love of God, leave the old songs alone, ditch the duets idea, and give us something original and fresh.

As a long time fan of Dionne, I cannot recommed this cd to anyone other than die hard fans. There are much better versions of all the tracks available. If you want to hear how this album might have sounded, try Cliff Richard's 2006 duets cd "Two's Company"...featuring Dionne Warwick on "Anyone Who Had A Heart". Dionne sounds so good and the production is excellent. It gives a taste of what could have been achieved in this album.