Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 18/12/06
Label: Geffen

For nearly 14 years, the USA has worshipped Mary J Blige as the queen of modern R&B, a sort of hip, street-toughened version of a torch singer, Dionne Warwick's soul fused with Missy Elliott's sass. In the UK, however, she hasn't had the same sustained impact. Other than odd exceptions like the Dre-propelled groove of "Family Affair", still her finest solo moment, Blige is as well known here for the promiscuity of her collaborations as for the quality of her back catalogue.

If "Reflections: (A Retrospective)" hoped to change minds, it seems destined to fail. Over 18 tracks, Blige repeatedly proves herself a very talented singer, an expert capable of both honeyed restraint and crystalline power. But unlike younger rivals like Beyonce, she's rarely found songs good enough to match that talent. None of the original songs here seem strong enough to ever become a standard, which is perhaps why Blige relies so much on cover versions and glitzy guest spots.

Indeed, the co-credits here read like the invite list for Elton John's next party: John Legend, Method Man, Wyclef Jean, George Michael and Bono. The results of these couplings are decidedly mixed: she and Legend sound simply gorgeous together on the sensuous new ballad "King And Queen", while her work with George Michael on "As" is cocktail bar muzak, bland as baby food but far less substantial. As for her blustery version of U2's "One", it's no more pompous or meaninglessly vague than the original.

On her strictly solo work, Blige made her name with "man done me wrong" brooders like the bluesily effective "I'm Goin Down" or the downbeat sulkiness of "Not Gon' Cry". But the years of therapy and AA meetings have turned her into a sort of hip hop agony aunt, with likeable but forgettable new songs like "Reflections" and "We Ride" offering girls homely advice about loving yourself, growing spiritually and not wasting time with no-good men (advice she presumably ignored for the peppy duet with 50 Cent).

There is one stunning song, the gloomily beautiful collaboration with Method Man, entitled "I'll Be There For You", where his urgent, grimy, blood and guts rap is exquisitely counter-pointed by her glacial backing vocals. It's a haunting hymn to urban love to match Suede's "Stay Together", a huddling together against the barbarities of the modern city. Neither Blige nor the Wu Tang rapper are ever likely to sound as good again, a fact sadly revealed on this competent but generally unspectacular retrospective.

    by Jaime Gill