The lovely sound of Vanessa Williams

I do not know if nips and tucks now play a part in making Vanessa Williams look as breathtaking as ever. It will not be unusual if they do because looking young seems to be a preoccupation among her contemporaries. Think Madonna, Janet Jackson or Mariah Carey who are all fantastic beauties who seem to be not a day older than 25. I am sure that you will agree that although they were born some years earlier, they still have what it takes to make young chicks like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and their ilk look like cheap tarts.

Back to Vanessa. What is actually strange is that it looks like Vanessa has not had anything done. I remember watching her in Kiss of the Spider Woman on Broadway some years ago and wondering how anybody could be so beautiful. She had incredible cheekbones, skin the color of golden honey and limbs look like they had been molded against perfect models.

No wonder she was named Miss America in 1983. No wonder too that she had no qualms about posing nude. That decision resulted in the loss of the title but also opened the door to her singing career. The Right Stuff, He’s Got the Look, The Sweetest Days, Betcha Never and that monster seller Save the Best for Last are some of her biggest hits.

Unlike her peers though Vanessa is not on any crusade to also sound young. In fact her latest release is an oldies collection. And the songs are not the currently hip classic standards that the likes of Bette Midler, Harry Connick Jr., Cyndi Lauper and other established artists have chosen to cover. Vanessa’s Everlasting Love is made up of songs from the ’70s, the time when she was growing up and making the discovery that she wants to be a singer.

These are not easy choices. The songs are too recent and the original versions remain popular. Anybody who decides to record them will have to contend with the performances of great artists who are still active. Would anybody dare another The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face after Roberta Flack? Aside from this, Vanessa chose to record them with a live band and lushly powerful arrangements. That means singing with no programmed accompaniment and having the voice to stand up against those instruments. That is the way it should be but it is also a difficult process. For lesser artists, that is. Vanessa is not one of those though and her sweet, smooth vocals are at their best.

Vanessa’s Everlasting Love is a CD for those on a nostalgia kick. Lots of memories here. It is also for those who want to find out new ways to put a new spin to old songs. Best of all it is for those who just want to listen to a lovely voice singing beautiful songs without the curlicues, melismas, big overstressed notes that are now so prevalent among singers.

Among the songs are Gloria Gaynor’s Never Can Say Goodbye featuring George Benson on guitar, Melissa Manchester’s Midnight Blue, the Ohio Players’ Let’s Love, Rufus and Chaka Khan’s Everlasting Love, Syreeta and Billy Preston’s With You I’m Born Again a duet with Benson, Stevie Wonder’s Send One Your Love, Dionne Warwick’s One Less Bell to Answer, the Isley Brother’s Harvest for the World and as a bonus track and only new original, the wedding song, Today and Everyday.

Engelbert Humperdinck’s CD

If you know Tom Jones then you must also know Engelbert Humperdinck. Both British, they were big hitmakers during the late ’60s and ’70s and have remained active as performers up to the present. Now let’s forget Tom for a while and concentrate on Humperdinck who got his showbiz name from the composer of the opera Hansel and Gretel. Those fans of his who promised to treasure his LPs and 45 RPM singles will be glad to know that his hits have been digitally remastered and are now available in one CD.

This is not the complete Humperdinck collection. Did they not look for After the Lovin’? But a lot of his hits are included and they do bring back lots and lots of amusing memories. Release Me, There Goes My Everything, The Last Waltz, A Man without Love, The Way It Used to Be, Am I a Better Man (For Having Loved You), Winter World of Love, Sweetheart, Another Time, Another Place, Too Beautiful to Last, Quando Quando Quando, Spanish Eyes, Les Bicyclettes de Belsize and others.