381 - Mary J. Blige - My Life

In the 1990's, I was very fixated on "alternative" music. The first half of the decade, I was in college working at the radio station and was feeding on the wealth of new music. The second half of the decade, I was in Nashville and found the new music there on Lightning 100 and its sister stations (Thunder and Phoenix) that introduced me to alt-country and modern singer/songwriters. My interest in R&B kind of slid to the backburner during that time.

That's a shame. Released in 1994, My Life by Mary J. Blige is a timeless album of beautiful soul. Yes, it was produced by Sean "Puffy" Combs, but it doesn't have all of the excesses that he would go overboard with later in the decade. While it does include, er, "heavy inspiration" from songs by other artists, this is probably one of the lightest touches Sean has ever had as a producer.

The material is intimate, personal, and emotionally wrenching. It is very obvious that Mary was going through a lot of turmoil. As can frequently be the case, great struggle and anguish produced beautiful art.

This is smooth soul that works played next to electronica chillout music by Massive Attack and 70's soul by Al Green. There are a lot of classic elements with small bits of modern hip-hop infused in the sound. But the key to my love for this album has been Mary's voice and delivery. The vocals avoid roller coaster bombast that the more pop-oriented R&B/hip-hop artists at the time were starting to emphasize. While I'm not a lyrics guy, the emotion she puts into the songs convey what I ignore in the words.

While the album could benefit from trimming the interludes and some of the tracks in the latter half, the 60 minute playing time doesn't drag. This album is going on my "BUY" list.

Songs I knew I liked: None

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Mary Jane (All Night Long)," "You Bring Me Joy," "I'm the Only Woman," "My Life," "I Never Wanna Live Without You," "I'm Goin' Down," "I Love You" and " Be Happy"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: The interludes being cut wouldn't be missed by me.