SO CLASSIQUE.
― The Brainwasher, Monday, 13 August 2007 20:17 (sixteen years ago) link
hugely underrated stylist
― J0hn D., Saturday, 12 April 2008 19:23 (sixteen years ago) link
the "new album" referred to upthread, My Everything, is outstanding despite one of the least encouraging album covers ever (a portrait, nominally, but something about it is so Wards-portrait-studio as to make me wonder "who the fuck greenlighted the sleeve?" every time I see it). most of the tracks apparently recorded live by the band, three of them with Anita singing live with them - if you don't go in for quiet-storm-all-smooth jazz stylings, you'd still hate it, but if you do have love for such stuff as I do, it's a hugely slept-on album. At the very least, people who liked her at her most popular should look into a song called "serious" because it is SWEET.
― J0hn D., Saturday, 22 November 2008 04:32 (fifteen years ago) link
I remember reading that Greil Marcus hated her "conservatism" or some such nonsense. "Sweet Love" and "Watch Your Step" are two of the greatest R&B songs of the era.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 22 November 2008 06:08 (fifteen years ago) link
He called her "lifestyle music" or something, right?
As for her more-or-less disappearance, didn't she leave the scene to raise her kids? I saw her opening for Maze in the mid-'90s 'cause she wanted to fly back home after the show.
― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Saturday, 22 November 2008 06:53 (fifteen years ago) link
Good Enough, Priceless, and You Belong to Me are all beyond fantastic.
― The New Herb Stempel (PappaWheelie V), Saturday, 22 November 2008 07:38 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, her version of "You Belong to Me" is cool. Really smart choice for her.
― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Saturday, 22 November 2008 07:56 (fifteen years ago) link
The "Rapture" album was ace. Did she ever release anything else at all?
― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 22 November 2008 11:39 (fifteen years ago) link
The follow-up, Giving You the Best that I Got, was at least as good as Rapture; Compositions is great; My Everything, as I said above, is fantastic if you like what she does. I haven't heard Rhythm of Love, her '94 album, or The Songstress, her solo debut (she came from a group called Chapter 8), but I expect I'll have them eventually; I love the four albums I do have - the word "underrated" is overused but her records really do have a singular vibe, a considerably more lively & invested take on "quiet storm"/"lifestyle music"/whatever you want to call jazz-inflected mid-tempo pop.
― J0hn D., Saturday, 22 November 2008 12:41 (fifteen years ago) link
<3 Anita Baker; will check out the new one.
― Manchego Bay (G00blar), Saturday, 22 November 2008 12:43 (fifteen years ago) link
(btw if you get curious about Chapter 8, the LP changes hands for big money but its single is on youtube - - pretty great!)
― J0hn D., Saturday, 22 November 2008 12:56 (fifteen years ago) link
Rapture has enormous personal significance, but The Songstress remains her finest album IMO. Couldn't get enthused about the new one, when a friend played it to me on a late night car journey. I think I might just have been struggling with the genre... it's been a long time, and I couldn't altogether acclimatise.
― mike t-diva, Saturday, 22 November 2008 13:37 (fifteen years ago) link
It's not the sort of sound I can listen to all the time, but I still think she's great.
― _Rockist__Scientist_, Saturday, 22 November 2008 18:28 (fifteen years ago) link
"Everybody's got opinions about the way our story's gonna END."
― cool and remote like dancing girls (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 8 May 2010 01:24 (fourteen years ago) link
"mid 80's poxy synth sounds, rotten shoulder pad/jazzbar/filofax production"
in other words, my favoite music ever?
CLASSIC. definitely search the RAPTURE album ASAP.
― akaky akakievich, Saturday, 4 December 2010 03:25 (thirteen years ago) link
fAvoRiTe
― akaky akakievich, Saturday, 4 December 2010 03:26 (thirteen years ago) link
"Watch Your Step," y'all.
― look at it, pwn3d, made u look at my peen/vadge (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 4 December 2010 03:30 (thirteen years ago) link
"You Bring Me Joy," y'all.
― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 June 2012 00:00 (eleven years ago) link
christ Been So Long is fantastic.
― piscesx, Monday, 4 June 2012 01:21 (eleven years ago) link
also the cover of Rapture.. (fans self)
― piscesx, Monday, 4 June 2012 01:22 (eleven years ago) link
yep -- "Been So Long" sunk its claws into me tonight.
― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 June 2012 01:42 (eleven years ago) link
"Same Ole Love (365 Days)" is so fantastic
― kel ler/pharmacists (some dude), Monday, 4 June 2012 02:08 (eleven years ago) link
I should poll this thing, only because it's impossible to choose one perf.
― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 June 2012 02:32 (eleven years ago) link
she has a new single, she's in great voice, album coming out, she is the fucking best
― steven fucking tyler (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 15 August 2012 13:44 (eleven years ago) link
I repeat, she is the fucking best
http://www.bet.com/video/celebrationofgospel/2013/performances/donnie-mcclurkin-and-anita-baker.html
― not feeling those lighters (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Friday, 12 April 2013 20:00 (eleven years ago) link
fuck it -- I'll poll Rapture. Hoping every song places.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 12 April 2013 20:06 (eleven years ago) link
that album is kind of unfuckwitable
― sandra dayo connor (The Reverend), Friday, 12 April 2013 21:26 (eleven years ago) link
Nooooooo.
― Eric H., Friday, 21 March 2014 12:30 (ten years ago) link
(Not an RIP.)
― Eric H., Friday, 21 March 2014 12:31 (ten years ago) link
Is she still on the run from the cops and the contractor who says she didn't pay for her house work...?
― curmudgeon, Friday, 21 March 2014 13:37 (ten years ago) link
So y'all know
http://www.thefader.com/2018/01/02/anita-baker-final-concert-retirement
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 2 January 2018 19:35 (six years ago) link
i love compositions so much
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 29 March 2018 02:04 (six years ago) link
That's the one I heard most on car trips and remember, "Lonely" in particular.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 29 March 2018 02:17 (six years ago) link
i just saw her at jazzfest and it was one of the most joyous and powerful experiences i’ve ever had. she kept talking about how exhausted she was, which was fitting, bc she was pouring p much all of her energy into every song. also, what a beautifully preserved voice. the setlist was so perfect i wrote it down:
lady marmalademysterysweet lovebeen so longcaught up in the raptureno one in the worldsame ol lovejust becausegiving you the best that i gotfairy tales
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, 6 May 2018 00:49 (six years ago) link
"Been So Long"!
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 6 May 2018 01:09 (six years ago) link
gonna go see her next month and I am soooo amped. I'm really hoping she does "serious" from a few years back, that song is a JAM.
― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Sunday, 6 May 2018 02:05 (six years ago) link
joan you are going to have a BLAST
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, 6 May 2018 02:41 (six years ago) link
There isn't a week I don't listen to quiet storm that I don't hear "Same Ole Love."
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 6 May 2018 02:45 (six years ago) link
off topic but: maura was watching aerosmith at the same time i was watching anita baker and they played “last child” and “adam’s apple”. wish i could’ve split myself in two
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, 6 May 2018 02:46 (six years ago) link
I want underrated aerosmith bootlegs' concert report!
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 11 July 2019 21:32 (four years ago) link
custos put so much work into being the stupidest man alive
― mark s, Friday, 12 July 2019 16:17 (four years ago) link
Dud. She should be shot out of a cannon into a burning lake of lava. Blecchhh!!!!
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, August 25, 2004 10:40 PM (fourteen years ago
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 12 July 2019 16:28 (four years ago) link
bless
― mark s, Friday, 12 July 2019 16:31 (four years ago) link
That was uncalled for. I take that one back.
― Alex in NYC, Monday, 22 July 2019 18:32 (four years ago) link
I mean, this is not to say I genuinely care for Anita Baker's music, but I don't believe she should be launchedlike a guided missile into a burning hot pool of roiling magma. She seems like a lovely lady.
― Alex in NYC, Monday, 22 July 2019 18:35 (four years ago) link
Been So Long has surely got one of the all time great vocal performances on record.
― piscesx, Monday, 22 July 2019 19:14 (four years ago) link
Some odd opinions early on here, though to be fair, sixteen years ago i probably couldn't have properly isolated this album from the associations of this as a glovebox cassette in my mum's Honda Civic alongside The Soul Cages, A New Flame and Billy Zane lookalike John James' Big Fat Soul
Same Ole Love <3<3<3
― ergonomic cher (P. Flick), Monday, 6 July 2020 20:35 (three years ago) link
Caught up in this rapture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiH3fiEM7Ac
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 April 2021 14:48 (three years ago) link
Happy birthday!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soZl5t30Lhc
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 27 January 2022 03:06 (two years ago) link