Ultimate Toni Braxton

by Toni Braxton

Overview

Most modern-day female pop singers start their careers doing their sexy, stylish dance-oriented material then settle into a career as an adult contemporary crooner. Toni Braxton didn't follow that route. She started the '90s singing elegant, refined quiet storm ballads and ended it singing sleek dance-pop tunes as she slinked around in skimpy outfits. She wasn't the only one of her peers to follow this trajectory -- Mariah Carey pretty much did the same thing, only to the extreme -- but it's a little odd to listen to Braxton evolve from the sophisticated urban contemporary crooner to oversexed R&B thrush, even if it's not a bad thing at all. One thing that elevated Braxton above her peers is that she was a controlled, powerful singer who rarely oversang, and she had a good selection of material, much of it written or co-written by Babyface. That's why her 18-track hits collection Ultimate Toni Braxton works well even through her shifts in style -- she is a confident enough performer to sell both the slow romantic ballads and material that swings harder. That's not to say that there aren't some slow spots here -- the previously unreleased cuts are no great shakes, and sometimes the abundance of slow numbers makes things sound too samey -- but she was one of the top urban soul singers of the '90s, and this is the album that illustrates why. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	11/04/2003
Label:	Laface
UPC:	0828765169929
Rank:	6215

Tracks

1. Give U My Heart
2. Love Shoulda Brought You Home
3. Another Sad Love Song
4. Breathe Again
5. Seven Whole Days
6. You Mean the World to Me
7. How Many Ways
8. You're Makin' Me High
9. Let It Flow
10. Un-Break My Heart
11. I Love Me Some Him
12. I Don't Want To
13. He Wasn't Man Enough
14. Just Be a Man About It
15. Hit the Freeway
16. Whatchu Need
17. The Little Things
18. Un-Break My Heart

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Toni Braxton   Primary Artist
Loon   Guest Artist,Featured Artist
Babyface   Guest Artist,Featured Artist

Technical Credits

Bobby Guy   Group Member
Andrea Martin   Composer
Soulshock   Arranger,Producer
Bo Watson   Composer,Live Mixing
Soul Solution   Group,Producer,Remixing
Babyface   Composer,Producer
Kenisha Pratt   Composer
LaShawn Daniels   Composer
L.A. Reid   Composer,Producer,Live Mixing
Joe-Mama Nitzberg   Creative Director
Allen D. Hong   Assistant
Richard Thomas Jennings   Art Direction
Chauncey Hawkins   Composer
Jon Gass   Live Mixing
Johnta Austin   Composer
Pharrell Williams   Composer
Karlin   Arranger,Producer
R. Kelly   Arranger,Composer,Producer
Jim "Z" Zumpano   Engineer
The Neptunes   Producer
Harvey Mason, Jr.   Composer
Daryl Simmons   Composer,Producer
Diane Warren   Composer
Bryce Wilson   Composer,Producer
Bryan-Michael Cox   Composer,Producer
Soulshock & Karlin   Composer
Ernie Lake   Group Member
Vincent Herbert   Composer,Producer
Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins   Composer,Producer
David Foster   Arranger,Producer
Toni Braxton   Composer,Producer
Herb Powers   Mastering
Ted Bishop   Composer,Producer
Daniela Federici   Photography
Philip Field   Composer
Keith Miller   Composer
Noel Goring   Composer
Gloria Stewart   Composer
Fred Jerkins III   Composer