Lisa Stansfield
Biography

THE REVIEW

Before officially starting this review, I would like to say that as a person with (a minimum) of brain, I am absolutely against greatest hits. That said, I would also like to add that when it comes to an artist of the caliber of Lisa Stansfield, my little brain goes to fry itself and I accept everything, even a greatest hits: and that's precisely about "Biography", a collection of the greatest hits of our great performer, that I will talk to you.

The album features the most famous and beautiful songs of this splendid British artist: the album opens with the "celebrated" "Change", a song influenced by the pop/dance wave of the 80s; the song presents itself as a very refined piece, in which Lisa's voice sets the rule. The second track, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful songs in the pop realm: "Someday" lets us better know Stansfield's various musical influences: it is precisely here that we hear in the interpretation a strong influence given by her "teacher" Barry White: the voice now becomes rounder and deeper, more SOUL. The excellent musical base divides itself between pop tones and others more soul. More dance sounds appear with the beautiful "This Is The Right Time", a love song that stands out greatly from the usual sugary tunes that are currently rampant on the radio. The joy that pervades this song makes it stand out from the usual clichés of the more classic love songs. We then move on to one of the most well-known songs of our performer: "The Real Thing", a splendid pop song that lays the foundations for 90s pop, although in this case, an excellent voice and a good melody mean it doesn't fall into today's trash. The duet with Coldcut "People Hold On", instead represents one of the lowest points of the album: the hyper-contrived song, finds no reason to exist in an album composed of some of Stansfield's most beautiful songs. The base comes too close to the dance/plastic trash of the '80s. We return to excellent levels with the following "In All The Right Places", a piece as delicate as it is sweet: Lisa's voice here adapts to a soul/pop that reminded me in some ways of the beautiful "No More I Love Yous" by Annie Lennox. "So Natural", represents another "goal" scored by our artist, collecting the best tradition of the already mentioned Barry White, it presents itself as a song balancing between soul and pop.

"Only You In My Dreams.." are the opening words of the true masterpiece of this album (along with "All Woman"): "Time To Make You Mine" is a beautiful song based on whispered singing. It is a true pleasure to be able to listen to such a song today, as it turns out to be so beautiful. I also highly recommend reading the lyrics. "Live Together" and "Little Bit Of Heaven", are two very good dance/pop songs, which serve as a "prelude" to another extreme masterpiece by this artist: "Set Your Loving Free", a fantastic soul/dance track, in which Lisa's voice absolutely sets the rule, transporting us with a truly unique and beautiful refrain. "Let's Just Call It Love" represents the last major success (in chronological order) released by the artist: the song moves in dance pop territories, which, while not particularly shining in originality, is praised for the vocal "virtuosity" of this fantastic singer. The following two songs are covers of songs as beautiful as they are famous: the first is "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up", a great success signed by White, which is not altered thanks to Stansfield's great interpretation; the other is "These Are The Days Of Our Life", a legendary song performed at the commemorative live for Freddy Mercury, in which alongside Stansfield, we also find a great George Michael and the Queen: this perfect musical combination, while not reaching Mercury's perfection (especially vocally), turns out to be quite beautiful and perfectly fulfills its task, which is to remember a great musician. The ending is beautiful with a truly delightful vocalization. "Down It Depths" divides itself between soul sounds and others jazz, with an interpretation very close to those of the greats of times past (I refer to Aretha Franklin or Dionne Warwick). And now we come to another fundamental point of the album: "All Woman", a beautiful love song greatly conducted by Stansfield's voice, which, accompanied by a truly moving musical base, really makes up a masterpiece. The album concludes with another cover, also by Barry White: "Around The World" a song accompanied by an excellent musical base and a beautiful love text.

Well, we have thus finished listening to a truly fantastic greatest hits, one of the few collections that have truly impressed me. I also add that I find the Italian "snobbism" towards this great artist truly scandalous, surely much more gifted compared to the thousands of pseudo-singers that now infest the music market.