Leavin'

by

Natalie Cole

Edit

On LEAVIN', Natalie Cole uses her magnificent voice to interpret an eclectic mix of pop, rock, r&b and country songs. Highlights on this excellent album include the Shelby Lynne written title tune (done in the style of Natalie's 1977 hit "I'm Catching Hell"), a sassy version of Aretha Franklin's "Daydreaming", an inspirational Kate Bush composition "The Man With The Child In His Eyes", and Miss Cole's sexy ladylike performance on the Isley Brothers' ballad "Don't Say Goodnight". Another treat on this album is "The More You Do It", a top 10 r&b hit for Ronnie Dyson co-written by Natalie's first husband, the late Marvin Yancy. On this sexy tune, Miss Cole tastefully throws in vocal riffs from her first hit "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)" and the arrangement is in the style of Aretha Franklin's version of the Sam Cooke classic "You Send Me".

The biggest surprise on LEAVIN' is discovering that Natalie Cole arranged most of these songs by herself (Wow! What can't she do?). Here's hoping that Miss Cole's musical arranging talents will be used more in the future.

I am a great Natalie fan. I found "Ask a woman who know" simply delicious...so this new album is quite surprysing to me as it is boring, dull....she still has a nice voice, but most of the songs don't catch the listener. At least, they didn't attrack my attention...with the exception of "Day dreaming" and "The more you do it"......I hope next album is better than this.

In the meantime, let's hope we get a new album from the greatest voice of all time... our dear Whitney nowadays seems to be ready to give us some hot material. She is in our prayers.