• Home /
• Search /
• Charts /
  • Overall
  • Rock
  • Pop
  • Punk
  • Metal
  • Alternative
  • Miscellaneous
• Videos /
• Add Artist / 
• Login / 
• Signup / 
• About / 

E=mc2  >>

E=mc2 (Ltd Ed) (Digi)  >>

Emancipation Of Mimi  >>

Mariah Carey  >>

Daydream  >>

"Fantasy" provides the only real transcendent chapter on this album. Reinterpreting Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love" with a percolating dance beat, the single emphasizes everything that makes Mariah Carey great. Her voice swoops, squeals, and careens over the seductive rhythm, while the words capture just the right amount of vulnerability and determination. Unfortunately, the thrill is short-lived, as the multiplatinum singer soon falls back into typical adult-contemporary schlock and pointless vocal gymnastics, particularly on "Melt Away" and the bombastic cover of Journey's "Open Arms." --Aidin Vaziri

Greatest Hits  >>

These days she's fodder for tabloid writers and late-night comics, but way back in the '90s Mariah Carey ruled the charts. This two-disc collection offers up evidence why, for better or worse, Mariah's five-octave, pop/R&B stylings set the diva standard. Greatest Hits culls its offerings from Carey's five albums on Sony (she is now signed to Virgin), and you get all the facets of her platinum-plus sound. From the soulful smolder of her 1990 debut "Vision of Love" (still one of her best tracks) to the coyer-than-thou duet with Jay Z ("Heartbreaker"), Carey thrills, trills, and hits notes that only canines comprehend. Fans will gobble this collection up, but inclusion of some of Carey's more adventuresome remixes (e.g. the Puffy-produced "Fantasy," featuring ODB) might have made this package more noteworthy. --Amy Linden

Touch My Body  >>

Emotions  >>

Glitter  >>

Even though Mariah took an emotional battering in the run-up to the release of this her eighth studio album, Glitter is surprisingly focused. The disjointed style of "Loverboy" may have turned off some, but after a few plays it's apparent that this is one of Carey's better cuts with hidden longevity. Accompanying the motion picture of the same name (which Mariah also stars in), Glitter plays homage to selected musical styles of the 80s. That said, the music isn't a rehash of early Whitney or Tina Turner, instead it's more Control era Janet Jackson (the album is coproduced by long-term Janet collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis). Following in the style of Cheryl Lynn's "Got to Be Real", "Don't Stop! (Funkin' 4 Jamica)" and "All My Life" are 1980s funk tunes with an occasional rap accompaniment. Her covers of Cherelle's / Robert Palmer's "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" and Indeep's "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life" are decidedly fresh. Tucked in especially for the Mariah traditionalists "Lead the Way" (the love theme to the film Glitter), "Reflections (Care Enough)" and "Never Too Far" are all standard Carey "belter-ballads". The purists will also be pleased by the album (and film) title, which fits in neatly with the schmaltzy and kitschy titles of previous album releases Daydream, Butterfly and Rainbow. --John Galilee

Music Box  >>

Linda Ronstadt was America's sweetheart of the '70s, because she was able to combine a pretty face, a pretty voice and a safe personality. Her songs might be full of big notes and high emotions, but they satisfied every predictable expectation of a love ballad or good-time rocker. Mariah Carey is America's sweetheart of the '90s for the exact same reasons. Music Box topped the Billboard album charts, yielding number-one singles like "Dreamlover" and "Hero." The titles, one a hollow Minnie Riperton knock-off and the other a stiff Barbra Streisand imitation, are tip-offs to Carey's reliance on untethered fantasy (she's the fantasizer in the lyrics and the fantasy object in the videos). These songs, coªwritten and co-produced like most of the album by Walter Anasieff and Carey herself, are constructed to show off her dizzying soprano, not to provide an original approach to a well-worn subject. Even when she gets a strong ballad to sing, like her current singles--Babyface's "Never Forget You" or Badfinger/Nilsson's "Without You"--she overdoes the self-pity bit so much that the song loses its dramatic tension. --Geoffrey Himes