A very good collection of duets!
Music Lover | Annapolis, MD | 04/29/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I finally got around to buying this CD a few years ago. Even though it was probably recorded (according to Motown lore) in separate sessions, the final product is indeed wonderful. My favorites on this album are "Love Twins" and "Pledging My Love". "Twins" is a mildly funky song that has some great vocal interchanges between Gaye & Ross. It always kills me to hear Gaye go "I love you baby" & then have Ross say, "I love you too, Marvin". "Pledging My Love" is a marvelous re-working of the old Johnny Ace tune that outdoes the original.
The 2 big hits were "My Mistake" & "Special Part of Me". "My Mistake" is a wonderful, haunting tune with that mournful harmonica weaving in and out. "Special Part" is a gospel-ish ballad that is quite beautiful.
The 3 other cover versions include Wilson Pickett's "Don't Knock My Love" which is fine but probably the weakest song here. The duo does very nice jobs on 2 Stylistics' songs "You Are Everything" & "Stop Look & Listen". It makes you wonder what might have happened if Diana Ross and/or Marvin Gaye had recorded in Philly.
The remainder of the songs are nice, low key love ballads.
Really, Diana Ross' singing here is, in my opinion, some of the best of her entire solo career. At the same time this album came out, I really didn't care for some of her campy/Helen Reddy sounding hits like "Last Time I Saw Him" or even "Them from Mahogany". The only other time she has sounded this good to me was on her "Baby It's Me" album from 1977.
I don't think I'm going too far in saying that, besides Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" album (I'm the only person on earth who didn't really care for his "Let's Get It On" period) & Ross' "Baby It's Me" album, this may be both singers' best work of the 1970's.
Fans of Quiet Storm & Smooth Jazz should enjoy this one."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1