Music Reviews

Album Review: Various Artists – ‘Ultimate Grammy Collection: Contemporary R&B’

By Jeff Swindoll Dec 19, 2007, 17:17 GMT

The movie industry has the Oscar and the music industry has the Grammys.  The Grammy Awards have been around since 1959 (then called the Gramophone Awards – anybody remember those?) and have been presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. 

If there’s one thing that might be better than a “best of” from a particular is a collection of award-winning songs.  That sounds familiar doesn’t it?  Well, if the Grammy CDs can use the same format for these CDs then I can plagiarize myself right?  Maybe I can sue me and make some cash…oh wait a minute. 

This compilation brings together several Grammy winning artists from 1988 to 2003.  There’s quite a mixture of both the old school and the new school.  So we have legends like Ray Charles (“A Song for You”) being on the same album with Usher (“U Remind Me”) and R. Kelly (“I Believe I Can Fly”). 

Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” and the album ‘Dangerously in Love (2003)’ appears to be the one with the most wins.  In that way the disc can have something for everyone (if you’re an R&B fan that is). 

A nice collection to be sure and features some fine music that persons from any generation can appreciate.  They were surely appreciated by the Grammys since they were awarded for their efforts.