Luther Vandross

I can only speak for the things that I've been through," Luther Vandross declares on
"Promise Me," and his absolute emotional veracity is what elevates this lavish greatest-hits
package to the soul stratosphere. "So when it comes to our love, I'll talk the whole night
through." Talk hell: Vandross cries, whispers, sighs, cajoles, shouts, shimmies and speaks in
unknown tongues. His silken virtuosity is a marvel, all right, but it's that unyieldi... More >

Vandross is without question the decade's premier pop (forget "black" pop) singer, and this figured to be where he beats Marcus Miller's straitjacket beats and drummed not hummed past his own humdrum songwriting. It is, too--by about an inch and a half. I know it may only be me, but what do the ladies hear in his slow ones? The quiet sheen of his timbre is distinctive and luxurious, a cross between power and velvet--like male Dionne Warwick. But I swear his voice isn't as beautiful as El DeBarge's or Al Green's, and beyond his trademark niceness, all caring and credulous, he's emotionally unreadable. As a result, showstopping tours de feeling like "A House Is Not a Home" and "Superstar" are as incomprehensible to the uninitiated as his d.o.a. Gregory Hines duet. But on his catchiest dance songs, including every one here, he embodies the long-forgotten disco synthesis of comfort and energy. And the medium-tempo stuff is anonymous pop at its most personable. (Grade: A-)