Having sold over 13 million albums, Lisa Stansfield can lay claim to being the UK's top female vocalist of the last 15 years. Biography, this 17-track compilation, would certainly back up her argument. Including her breakthrough as featured vocalist on Coldcut's "People Hold On", it also contains her debut proper ("This is the Right Time") and a string of absurdly memorable hits, such as "Change", "All Woman", "Never", "Never Gonna Give You Up" and her first Number One, "All Around the World". Each of these slick and soulful efforts highlights both Stansfield's extraordinary voice and a songwriting ability that's rare amongst soul divas. Aside from Queen's "These Are the Days of Our Lives", Cole Porter's "Down in the Depths" and the aforementioned Barry White hit "Never Gonna Give You Up", she cowrote all of these pieces with Ian Devaney and Andy Morris, her former partners in the soul-funk outfit Blue Zone. That cute kiss-curl and array of flamboyant hats may be long gone, but her talent endures. -Dominic Wills.

Known for a terrifying rendition of Otis Redding's hit "(Sittin' On The) Dock of the Bay" (among others), Michael Bolton tears up every classic soul tune he can get his hands on. Ray Charles' "Georgia on My Mind" and Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman" take on completely new meanings in the hands of this former hard rock singer. This two-CD, 17-cut retrospective of the Greatest Hits 1985-1995 includes all the songs that catapulted him to mega-stardom and plenty of others that show him as just another sincere fool for love ("I Promise You" and "I Found Someone"). Just as Meatloaf turned up the juice on the histrionics of Bruce Springsteen, Bolton takes the soul singer out of the smoky night club and into the hockey arena for the whole world to hear. -Rob O'Connor.

Following on from 1997's My Way, 8701 crowns Usher's position as R&B man of the moment. Never mind the hype about Michael Jackson, Wacko is going to have some serious competition in years to come. Usher is a rap singer and dance man with a twist. Rather than being R&B record designed by committee, every track on 8701 pulsates with the sense of a life lived, a strongly personal point of view-from the street slang of "Pop Ya Collar", to the nostalgic groove "U-Turn" ("I had a hot flat top/. the sound was Bobby Brown"), to the song "If U Want To", where Usher sings: "I can take you from your man", with vulnerability rather than braggadocio. Though cowritten and produced with a variety of names, including She'kspere and The Neptunes, the solid hip-hop undertow comes courtesy of Jermaine Dupri. Mixing slow jams with edgy beats and sweet melody, Usher has pulled off a triumph. -Lucy O'Brien.

The scene was set before Born to Do It's release: Craig David, garage pin-up superstar and king of the two-step scene. Er, not quite. Apart from the two chart hits he'd enjoyed with the Artful Dodger and as a solo artist ("Rewind", "Fill Me In" respectively), this is an R&B album aimed firmly at-and inspired by-America. The slang, the beats and the sentiments all echo Eric Benet, R Kelly and the rest. At times it's almost comical: Craig's trouble is that better artists have already been there and done that-and they've done it, well, better. When Craig does break from slavishly following American influences, he becomes the promising artist that those first two singles hinted at: "Walking Away", with its electric guitar and slight folk feel, stands out a mile from the rest. There's no doubt that the boy can sing, and at 18 years of age maybe it's too much to ask of him to project a strong identity. The photography, the lyrics and the sideburns all hint at maturity that isn't there yet. Three albums down the line we could be hearing a good Craig David album, rather than this mediocre debut. -Jake Barnes.

Mariah Carey's #1's is as much a time capsule of 1990s pop and R&B as a record of one woman's chart toppers: the disc chronicles a shift from the sweet, nearly '50s-style "Vision of Love" to more recent hip-hop-lite grooves featuring heavy input from Puffy Combs ("Honey"), Jermaine Dupri ("Sweetheart"), and O. D. B. ("Fantasy"). Some hit, some miss, but all feature the fluttery swoops that Carey substitutes for expression of feeling. Depth is beside the point, but few of these tracks are even fun. Still, after eight years, there seems to be no stopping her, and this album will hardly break her streak of successes. -Rickey Wright.

In light of the un-harmonious five years Melanie, Shaznay, Nicole and Natalie spent together as All Saints, perhaps this anthology should have been titled "All Fights" instead of the more agreeable All Hits. Despite having two massive hit singles in 2000 (with "Pure Shores" and "Black Coffee"), and the release of their second album (Saints and Sinners), the girls' rows were viewed more newsworthy than their continued chart success. From early tunes such as "I Know Where It's At", right through to their appropriately titled final release "All Hooked Up" the quartet produced some of the catchiest hooks in pop. For both their studio albums, they recruited the hippest producers of the time, including Nellee Hooper, Cameron McVey and William Orbit. These "top bods" merged the girls' soulful vocals with the trendiest beats, producing classics such as "War of Nerves" and "Bootie Call". The best of these albums and more are included on All Hits. Also included is Mel's solo collaboration with Artful Dodger ("Twentyfourseven") and two powerful new tracks penned and performed by Shaznay, which are sneakily hidden at the end of a bonus remix of "Pure Shores". "I Feel You" is an epic five minuter, sounding similar to Saints's classic "Never Ever" but with the other three's harmonies being replaced by a gospel choir. The second Shaz track "Dreams" is an Orbit style pop-trip composition that strangely (or perhaps predictably) echoes "Pure Shores". The group may have split but their sound lives on-in more ways than one. [+]

The Very Best of Marvin Gaye pulls together the usual hits from "I'll Be Doggone" to "Grapevine", "What's Going On" to "Let's Get It On" to "Sexual Healing"-all musts for any R&B or pop fan-but this two-CD set also offers treats for the Marvin connoisseur. Foremost are the previously unreleased "Where Are We Going?" which marries Nixon-era (and beyond) social concerns to a lilting groove that brings to mind Spinners records of the period, and an alternate mix of Gaye's rare version of "His Eye Is on the Sparrow". Very Best also pays proper tribute to Gaye's final years at Motown with the full 11-plus minutes of the intense, casually funky "Got to Give It Up", Here, My Dear's smoldering "Anger" and several tracks from the under-heard Love Man / In Our Lifetime sessions. More than just a profit-generating package from the parent company, it's a loving, rounded selection that's sure to widen newcomers' perceptions of a great artist's creativity and spirit. -Rickey Wright.

Defiant, sexy, playful, nervy, womanly, and wise, 1988's Raw Like Sushi was the opening salvo in Neneh Cherry's brilliant, if woefully underappreciated, career. The hit "Buffalo Stance," with its reworking of Malcolm McLaren's Buffalo Gals vibe, found Cherry erroneously labeled as a rap artist. True enough, there are hip-hop elements on Raw Like Sushi, as well as pop, electronic, R&B, and dance, all gleefully mixed up in a progressive melange of beats, cultures, emotions, and grooves. Besides being fierce, funky, and one of the best debuts in memory, Raw Like Sushi helped redefine what women could do in the rigid realm of late-'80s African American music, and it sounds as good today as it did the day it was released. -Amy Linden.

Stevie Wonder was in the middle of a multi-album roll when he put out this funk and soul collection, clunky title and all, in 1974. As usual, he adds depth and unexpected touches to even the most straightforward love song-the moving piano ballad "Too Shy to Say" has a spooky feeling, as if "I want to fly away with you, until there's nothing more to do" is the saddest line he ever sang. The harder songs, such as the fuzzy funk of "Boogie On Reggae Woman" and the angry "doo-de-wop" attack on then-US President Richard Nixon in "You Haven't Done Nothin'", add urgency without sacrificing the album's cohesiveness. -Steve Knopper.

I'd never want to visit Destiny's Child's homes for the holidays, if their nonsensically named holiday album 8 Days of Christmas is any indication of what they've got under the tree. Chilly, forced and overdone, this mixed bag of modern classics, tarted-up traditional carols and a trio of tunes penned by Beyoncé Knowles doesn't conjure up a single warm-and-fuzzy image of chestnuts roasting on an open fire or Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Rather, it's just another forum to showcase the band's Gucci bag of vocal gymnastics and crass materialism. The Texas trio takes seasonal classics such as Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", "Silent Night" and "Little Drummer Boy" and embellishes them with its own trills and off-kilter harmonies, overwhelming the songs so that their simple beauty is totally obscured. "On the eighth day of Christmas, my baby gave to me, a pair of Chloe shades and a diamond belly ring," brags Knowles in the title song-which is a take-off on the "12 Days of Christmas"-without ever explaining why they loped off four days. In addition, the band are shamelessly self-indulgent throughout the dozen songs found here, taking untold liberties, such as renaming the "Carol of the Bells", "Opera Bells" and recasting "Silver Bells" into "Platinum Bells", to reflect their multi-platinum status. But the low point of the record is when Destiny's Child hawk their own Hasbro Toy manufactured dolls in the intro of "Platinum Bells": "Ladies remember long ago we asked Santa to give us Christmas Dolls? But this year the dolls are you and me under the tree". Humbug. -Jaan Uhelszki.

Since it contains six tunes that Richie wrote and performed as lead singer of the Commodores, the title for this collection may be technically a little misleading. That said, those who appreciate Richie's instantly recognizable vocal style are unlikely to complain about the inclusion of such pop standards as "Three Times a Lady," "Still," and "Easy. " Maybe it's the passage of time, but Richie's solo work sounds more emotionally satisfying than the hits he had with the group: "Hello" is still eminently soulful and "Penny Lover" has a warm and cozy feel. "Endless Love," Richie's memorable duet with Diana Ross, shows that both singers can truly deliver powerhouse vocal performances, while the oft-overlooked Commodores hit "Sweet Love" is a welcome addition to this collection. Richie may not have been in favor chart-wise for a while, but this package is a reminder of the contribution he's made as a contemporary writer of classic love songs. -David Nathan.

Michael Jackson was still going for pop hits with 1991's Dangerous, but he also front-loaded the album with six straight Teddy Riley-assisted cuts. This half-hour swoop of tense, aggressive, often angular funk was Jackson's most interesting music since Thriller, and still sounds, well, invincible on this remastered edition. After that, the record's uneven, but there's nothing embarrassing about it, either. "Gone Too Soon", a non-Jackson composition about teen AIDS casualty Ryan White, is a quiet statement (particularly played next to the choir-laden "Heal the World", "Keep the Faith", and "Will You Be There") showing that the star doesn't always have to get showy. The sprightly "Black or White" is explicitly pro-interracial romance, an angle its video didn't go near, and the urgent "Give In to Me" is almost scary. Scary good, that is. -Rickey Wright.

By the time Hotter Than July was released, in 1980, Stevie Wonder's most fertile period was already over. The smash run that began 1972 (Music of My Mind and Talking Book) and ran through Innervisions (1973), Fulfullingness' First Finale (1974) and 1976's Songs in the Key of Life was winding down. There was still enough magic left in Wonder for one last hurrah, however-and while July isn't its forerunner's equal in the heights it scales or consistency, it's still bears the marks of Wonder's best work: there's the regretful "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It", the reggae-crossover "Master Blaster (Jammin')", an oft-imitated classic (see Elvis Costello's "Watching the Detectives", for one); and the enormously successful paean to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , "Happy Birthday". -Randy Silver.