Mariah Carey – MARIAH THE BALLADS (a J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)

January 25, 2009 by Dennis Amith 

“Mariah Carey’s music, may you dig her music from the 90′s or or her more recent releases, one thing is constant…her ballads have always been enchantingly beautiful and well-sung.  From “Hero”, “One Sweet Day”, “I Still Believe”, “Endless Love” to name a few, to even a few upbeat tracks such as “Dreamlover” and “Always Be My Baby”, this album has a lot of hits that for fans who do not own any of these hit tracks, now’s the time to get a lot of them in one major compilation album.  A very awesome collection if you don’t own her ‘Greatest Hits’ album.”

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ARTIST: Mariah Carey

ALBUM: MARIAH THE BALLADS (Digital Version)

LABEL: Columbia/Legacy

DURATION: 75:23

RELEASE DATE: January 20, 2009

1. Hero
2. One Sweet Day (duet with Boyz II Men)
3. Vision of Love
4. Without You
5. Can’t Let Go
6. Love Takes Time
7. I’ll Be There
8. Thank God I Found You (Make It Last Remix) (feat. Joe, Nas)
9. Endless Love (duet with Luther Vandross)
10. I Still Believe
11. My All
12. The Roof
13. When You Believe (with Whitney Houston)
14. Anytime You Need a Friend
15. Always Be My Baby
16. Dreamlover
17. How Much (feat. Usher, Jumain Dupri)
18. Reflections
19. The Roof (Mobb Deep Extended Version) – (iTunes Bonus Track)
20. You’re Always Be My Baby (Mr. Dupri Mix featuring Da Brat and Xscape) – (iTunes Bonus Track)

During the 1990′s, I was a big fan of Mariah Carey’s music.  I absolute loved her music, her voice and I just felt that she was just a beautiful person gifted with an amazing voice.

And with her domination throughout the years when she was part of the Columbia label, there were so many ballads released during that time period which I have listened to so many times.  I tend to feel that these older classics really showcased her vocals.  Songs such as the elegant track “Hero”, to the sad but wonderful duet with Boyz II Men for “One Sweet Day”, her remake of Nilsson’s 1972 hit “Without You” which she brought such an amazing emotional depth to and just to think that she decided to cover the song after hearing it at a restaurant.  Then there’s “Endless Love” which features a duet with Luther Vandross, her cover of Brenda K. Starr’s “I Still Believe”, the beautiful acoustic and slow beat “I Give My All” and the remarkable duet with Whitney Houston for “When You Believe”.

The compilation also features live tracks and upbeat tracks.  The live performance of Mariah Carey’s “I’ll Be There” is included especially memorable upbeat tracks such as “Dreamlover”, “Always Be My Baby”, “Thank God I Found You” featuring Joe and Nas which takes the music and “Make it Last” words from the old school jam by  Keith Sweat but with new lyrics and the upbeat “How Much” with Usher and many more.

So, there are a lot of hit songs on this album!

“MARIAH THE BALLADS” is a fantastic compilation.  If there is one thing that is missing for the digital release, which would have been awesome but is only featured on the standard and Japanese version of “MARIAH THE BALLADS” is the addition of “All I Want For Christmas is You” which I truly love.

But is it worth it if you own her other albums?  First, there are some ballads that are missing such as “I Want to Cry”, her cover of the Journey song “Open Arms”, her cover of the Phil Collins hit “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” which she did a duet with Westlife and truthfully, a lot of these songs on this album and songs that are not on this album can be found on her 2001 “Greatest Hits” album which has more songs, on two discs and because it’s an older album, you can find it much cheaper these days.

So, unless you are a hardcore Mariah Carey fan and must own everything, you’re probably going to buy it anyway.   It’s a very good album but in the long run, you can probably save more money by purchasing her 2001 “Greatest Hits” album online.  But nevertheless, this album contains a lot of her fantastic, chart-topping hits.  Despite it being called a ballad album, some of her faster, upbeat tracks are on this album.  But on its own, it’s a pretty awesome compilation.

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