Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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The daughter of jazz and pop legend Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole forged a successful career in three phases. She began in the '70s as a soul-rooted artist, had success in the '80s with pop-oriented R&B material, and then followed in the footsteps of her father with traditional pop as her foundation from the '90s through the early 2010s. From 1976 through 2009, she won nine Grammy Awards, including Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female ("This Will Be," 1976), Album of the Year (Unforgettable: With Love, 1992), and Best Traditional Vocal Pop Album (Still Unforgettable, 2009).

Cole made her stage debut at age 11 and sang in college. She met the writing and producing team of Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancey in 1973. The next year they collaborated on some sessions that were recorded at Curtis Mayfield's Curtom studios in Chicago. These helped her land a deal with Capitol, and she teamed with Jackson/Yancey for a string of hit albums and singles from 1975 until 1983. Such LPs as Inseparable, Natalie, Thankful, Unpredictable, and I Love You So yielded five number one R&B hits between 1975 and 1977. These included "This Will Be, "Inseparable," "Our Love," and "I've Got Love on My Mind." She stayed with Capitol until 1983, then switched to Epic for her final album with the Jackson/Yancey tandem. She scored more hits with "Jump Start," "I Live for Your Love," and "Over You" in 1987, and "Pink Cadillac," a cover of a Bruce Springsteen tune, in 1988, as she eased into another stylistic shift of focus.

Cole fully embraced traditional pop with the 1991 LP Unforgettable: With Love, which reached number one on the Billboard album chart, sold over five million copies, and won a handful of Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Performance for the title track – a duet with her father (via his 1961 recording). She continued the trend with Take a Look in 1993, and she toured and did television specials working with a large orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle. Holly & Ivy (1994) and Stardust (1996) both continued Cole's exploration of American pop standards. Snowfall on the Sahara and The Magic of Christmas, the latter of which was recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, were issued at the end of the decade. Ask a Woman Who Knows (2002) and Leavin' (2006) followed for Verve. Cole then moved to Rhino for Still Unforgettable (2008), another collection of pop standards that won the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2010) found Cole teamed up with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for the sake of a Christmas special originally broadcast on PBS.

Like some of her father's late-'50s releases, En Español (2013) was an all-Spanish set. She was joined by the likes of Andrea Bocelli, Juan Luis Guerra, Arturo Sandoval, and, on "Acércate Más" ("Come Closer to Me"), her father via a 1958 version. Cole also experienced serious health problems during the new millennium, including a diagnosis of hepatitis C which she attributed to past drug use (as depicted in her 2000 autobiography, Angel on My Shoulder). In 2009 she underwent a kidney transplant, after which she continued to tour and record, but ongoing health issues forced her to cancel a number of scheduled appearances in December 2015, and on December 31 she died of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles at the age of 65.

Biography by Ron Wynn, Allmusic.com

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Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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Everlasting was one of Natalie Cole's best '80s albums. The title track was written and produced by the hit production duo of Jerry Knight and Aaron Zigman. Produced by Reginald and Vincent Calloway (Midnight Star), the number two R&B hit "Jump Start" is a slab of slammin' squishy funk, with some parts sounding like "No Parking on the Dance Floor." Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager contribute the smooth "Split Decision," and the lightly swinging "In My Reality." Cole gives one of her best performances, covering one of her famous father's classics on the Marcus Miller-produced "When I Fall in Love." She also skillfully covers Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac." Cole co-wrote and co-produced the light, samba-tinged "More Than the Stars," which is in the same vein as "La Costa," from Thankful. Everlasting was issued on CD in June 1991.

Review by Ed Hogan, Allmusic.com

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Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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When Natalie Cole released 1989's Good to Be Back, the follow-up to 1987's Everlasting, her fans had become accustomed to her year-long recording gaps for six years, going back to 1983's I'm Ready. So it's not as if her absence was that much of a surprise, but given the ups and downs of her personal life, the album's title could be alluding to something entirely different. (1989 was the year she married drummer, producer and Rufus founder Andre Fischer). At any rate, Good to Be Back continued her popularity in the mainstream and on the adult contemporary chart. The success of four singles – "As a Matter of Fact," and especially the ballads "Miss You Like Crazy," "Starting Over Again," and "I Do" (a duet with Freddie Jackson) – belied the album's inability to crack the Top 50 of the album chart. The ballads were (and have continued to be) staples on adult contemporary stations. On the other hand, the disposability of "Safe" and "Somebody's Rocking My Dreamboat" made it all the more evident that Cole was outgrowing the lighter and more upbeat material. A deep album cut, "The Rest of the Night" (co-written by Glen Ballard) is a major reason to not settle for an anthology.

Review by Andy Kellman, Allmusic.com

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Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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A major change of direction for Natalie Cole, Unforgettable found the singer abandoning the type of R&B/pop she'd been recording since 1975 in favor of jazz-influenced pre-rock pop along the lines of Nat King Cole's music. It was a surprising risk that paid off handsomely – both commercially and artistically. Naysayers who thought that so radical a change would be commercial suicide were proven wrong when the outstanding Unforgettable sold a shocking five million units. Quite clearly, this was an album Cole was dying to make. Paying tribute to her late father on "Mona Lisa," "Nature Boy," "Route 66," and other gems that had been major hits for him in the 1940s and early '50s, the 41-year-old Cole sounds more inspired than she had in well over a decade. On the title song, overdubbing was used to make it sound as though she were singing a duet with her father – dishonest perhaps, but certainly enjoyable. Thankfully, standards and pre-rock pop turned out to be a primary direction for Cole, who was a baby when the title song became a hit for her father in 1951.

Review by Alex Henderson, Allmusic.com

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Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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Those who questioned whether Natalie Cole had either the will or skill to succeed with another session of pre-rock popular music need wonder no more. There are another 18 jazz-tinged and early pop numbers, with some unexpected pleasures ("Calypso Blues," "It's Sand Man") and spectacular triumphs ("Cry Me a River," "Fiesta in Blue," "I'm Beginning to See the Light"). Cole is now completely comfortable with the pacing, flow, and sensibility of pre-rock material; she has no problems with articulation or delivery, either.

Review by Ron Wynn, Allmusic.com

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Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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As she did with Unforgettable, Natalie Cole again follows her in father's footsteps with a Christmas recording. Although this does not have the same 'classic' quality of her dad's The Christmas Album, it is a fine outing. Performing with either a big band or small group, Ms. Cole performs a combination holiday classics along with some lesser known tunes such as "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" and "No More Blue Christmas."

Review by Robert Taylor, Allmusic.com

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Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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Continuing her successful foray into the American songbook, Natalie Cole served as executive producer on her third album of pop standards. Eighteen selections, including works by Hoagy Carmichael and songs associated with Nat, Ella, Sarah, and Dinah. Big-band orchestration and a trumpet solo by Wynton Marsalis on "He Was Too Good to Me." Guest players include Fourplay, Everette Harp, George Duke, and John Pizzarelli. Cole originally recorded Nat's "When I Fall in Love" ballad on her Everlasting album. Here she does a duet with dad à la "Unforgettable." She also closes the album with a solo version sung in Spanish.

Review by Bil Carpenter, Allmusic.com

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Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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With Unforgettable, Natalie Cole refashioned herself as a modern interpreter of the classic American songbook. Once that album turned into a blockbuster, she saw no reason to return to contemporary pop or R&B. Over the course of the '90s, she released a series of faithful, sophisticated, traditional pop albums, all to diminishing artistic and commercial returns. With Snowfall on the Sahara, she pulls back from her classic pop routine and she does so with style. She doesn't abandon her role as a torch songstress, but this time she updates it, not only through Phil Ramone's production but through her selection of songs. This time around, the classics are contemporary – "A Song for You," "Corrina," "Everyday I Have the Blues," "Gotta Serve Somebody" (complete with a new verse, written by Bob Dylan especially for Cole) – and she also performs some forgotten tunes and newer songs, along with her fine co-written original title track. Ramone pretty much keeps things in a soulful adult contemporary mold, with the occasional unexpected flourish (such as the trip-hop intro to "Corrina") popping up here and there. Even with such clean radio-ready production, Snowfall on the Sahara is hardly a conventional adult contemporary record; it plays like a nightclub revue from a classic pop vocalist, only with modernized arrangements and songs. Such subtle deviations from formula results in a surprisingly satisfying record. By balancing the form of traditional pop with strong material and modernized production, Snowfall on the Sahara illustrates adult pop needs to be neither predictable or devoid of substantive songs.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com

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Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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Natalie Cole collaborates with the London Symphony Orchestra on The Magic Of Christmas, a traditional yet sophisticated collection of holiday favorites, including "O Tannenbaum," "The 12 Days Of Christmas" and "The Christmas Song," which features Cole in a duet with her father, Nat King Cole.

Heather Phares, Allmusic.com

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Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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Natalie Cole is a fascinating vocalist who represents more than 30 years of worldwide critical acclaim, tremendous commercial success, the continuation of a family legacy, and consummate artistry. Her new dreams, ideas, and efforts unfold on Ask a Woman Who Knows, her debut for the Verve recording label and first recording in three years. Ms. Cole's musical choices include songs that depict the various aspects of love – its joy, its sorrow, its loneliness, and its consolation. Included are two of Dinah Washington's gems – "I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do" and the title track, "Ask a Woman Who Knows" – both songs about love gone wrong. Cole changes the tone of the set with great scatting on the up-tempo swinger "My Baby Just Cares for Me"; "It's Crazy," the hit written by her father, Nat King Cole; and the soulful "I'm Glad There Is You," which features Roy Hargrove on flugelhorn. Natalie Cole sings her engaging musical stories with priceless, nuanced phrasing accompanied by a distinguished core quintet of Joe Sample, Russell Malone, Christian McBride, Lewis Nash, and Rob Mounsey. The added dimension of Natalie Cole performing all background vocals and the backing of the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra on two songs makes the recording extra special. Overall, this is an exceptional recording that re-teams her with Tommy LiPuma, the producer of her biggest hit, Unforgettable: With Love. The listener who has followed her career will hear and understand that the consistency of all her exploring has been to arrive at a higher level of musical accomplishment through support from great musicians and a positive musical family.

Review by Paula Edelstein, Allmusic.com

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Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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Natalie Cole's second album for Verve, released four years after Ask a Woman Who Knows, is also based around covers. This time out, she fixes her gaze on more modern material and is joined by producer Dallas Austin. Backed by a band anchored by Austin (who drums throughout), longtime Austin associate Tony Reyes (bass, guitar), and Marvin "Chanz" Parkman (keyboards), Cole breezes through an easygoing set of covers including the likely (Aretha Franklin's "Day Dreaming," Des'ree's "You Gotta Be"), the relatively unlikely (Neil Young's "Old Man," Kate Bush's "The Man with the Child in His Eyes"), and the practically required (the requisite Sting cover, thankfully not "Fragile"). Sounding like it was recorded at a leisurely pace, with all the involved enjoying themselves, the album should be a treat for any Cole fan, even though there is only one original song: the classy, Al Green-inspired "5 Minutes Away."

Review by Andy Kellman, Allmusic.com

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Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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Natalie Cole's liner notes for Still Unforgettable make it sound like the Great American Songbook had been collecting dust on her shelf since 1991, when she recorded Unforgettable, the album that shot her into the mainstream. (She had been releasing Top Ten R&B albums since 1975, but Unforgettable was something else, a cultural phenomenon that inspired a Saturday Night Live skit.) Still Unforgettable features another duet with father, "Walkin' My Baby Back Home," but its make-up isn't that much different from albums like Take a Look (1993), Stardust (1996), or Ask a Woman Who Knows. While she has been reinterpreting classics on and off for nearly two decades now, she can't be faulted for phoning it in; in fact, she seems to be having more fun with the songbook than before. If you're keeping score at home, Nat King Cole was 32 when he recorded "Walkin' My Baby Back Home"; Natalie was in her late 50s when she recorded the duet with her father's vocals – which would, for the sake of the song here, make her old enough to be her father's mother.

Review by Andy Kellman, Allmusic.com

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Natalie Cole - Studio Albums Collection 1987-2013 (12CD)

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By 1958, Nat King Cole’s global popularity had grown so massive that Capitol encouraged him to record an album entirely in Spanish. Despite his painfully awkward, phonetically learned vocals, Cole Español proved an enormous success, so much so that two well-intentioned but equally clunky follow-ups, 1959’s A Mis Amigos and 1962’s More Cole Español, were released.

Now daughter Natalie, who has built a substantial second career trying to recapture the pop-jazz zeitgeist of her late father’s era, takes her own viaje, with far more impressive results. Her appreciation for the language is genuine, allowing for a much deeper emotional connection to the lyrics. And, at 63, she sounds terrific, her rock- and soul-tinged vivacity barely diminished.

Cole draws only three tracks from her father’s Spanish oeuvre-“Quizás, Quizás, Quizás,” “Solamente Una Vez” and “Acércate Más”-the latter extending her tireless affection for from-the-grave bi-generational duets. Other, more vital guests drop by, including Andrea Bocelli for a muted “Bésame Mucho,” Chris Botti for an appropriately dreamy “Yo Lo Amo” (Lennon and McCartney’s “And I Love Him”) and Juan Luis Guerra for a sun-dappled “Bachata Rosa.” Backed by the lush, fiery Miami Symphonic Studio Orchestra on all but three tracks, with the likes of Orlando Hernandez and Ed Calle accenting various selections, Cole delivers winning treatments of such familiar fare as “Frenesi” and “Amapola,” and teams with pianist Arthur Hanlon for a scorching medley anchored by Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va.” Produced and directed by Rudy Perez, it’s all slickly grand-scale, yet it works satisfyingly well.

Review by Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes.com