Randy Crawford's
Warner Bros. recordings have been distilled by several anthologies of varying makeup, reissued in multiple series of two-for-one album sets, and bundled cheaply and incompletely.
SoulMusic's
You Might Need Somebody isn't as comprehensive as the label's work for the likes of
Deniece Williams and
Phyllis Hyman, but it finds a fulfilling middle ground between introductory and completist that does justice to
Crawford's rich
Warner years. Instead of sequencing these 57 tracks as a chronological overview, compiler and liner notes writer
A. Scott Galloway arranges them as three themed discs. They play out like discerning mixtapes made for a friend who asked him about the beaming and masterly voice of the antiheroine theme to
Jackie Brown. "Street Life,"
Crawford's 1979 breakthrough crossover collaboration with
the Crusaders, is indeed here (as a previously released edit that differs from the versions on the soundtracks of
Jackie Brown and
Sharky's Machine). It's placed neatly between two of
Crawford's subsequent songs written by
Will Jennings and
Crusader Joe Sample, the slippery and smoldering album cut "Blue Flame" and the wistful if effervescing charting single "Last Night at Danceland."
Crawford's quietly powerful version of "At Last" precedes the transportive original "Almaz," a number four pop hit in the U.K., providing subtle affirmation of
Crawford's ability to write songs that measure up to pop standards. Even a choice that might seem ill-advised on the surface -- three successive songs with "rain" in the title, starting with
Crawford's lilting 1981 update of "Rainy Night in Georgia" -- is more than just clever, laying out the ingredients of a medley. A few surprising omissions aside (the Top 20 R&B hit "I Don't Feel Much Like Crying" perhaps missed most of all), this is a judicious selection spotlighting the rare natural versatility of a singer who could personalize anything she chose or was handed. It finds room for almost all of
Now We May Begin (1980) and
Nightline (1983), four or five cuts each from
Everything Must Change (1976),
Miss Randy Crawford (1977),
Raw Silk (1979),
Secret Combination (1981), and
Windsong (1982), and one to a few songs from each of
Crawford's four other
Warner albums. Among the few nonalbum inclusions (all of which were previously released), there are Montreux performances of
Ashford & Simpson's "Your Precious Love" (a duet with
Al Jarreau) and
John Lennon's "Imagine" (with
the Yellowjackets), and a version of
Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (featuring
Eric Clapton and
David Sanborn, recorded for
Lethal Weapon 2). ~ Andy Kellman
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