My Friends & Me (CD - 2006)

Personnel: Dionne Warwick (vocals); Deborah Cox, Gloria Estefan, Kelis, Angie Stone, Wynonna Judd, Celia Cruz (vocals); Da Brat (rap vocals); Grecco Buratto (guitar); Damon Elliott (keyboards, drums, programming); Teddy Harmon (keyboards, programming).

Audio Mixers: Dave Pensado; Ariel Chobaz.

Liner Note Author: Dionne Warwick.

Recording information: Tha Beach House Studios, Marina Del Rey, CA.

Photographer: David Vance.

Her debut for Concord, MY FRIENDS AND ME, finds legendary pop icon Dionne Warwick revisiting her classic hits from the 1960s and '70s in the company of other reigning divas. Her duet partners--Cyndi Lauper, Reba McEntire, Olivia Newton-John, rapper Da Brat, and salsa icon Celia Cruz, to name a few--cross (and ultimately render meaningless) several genre lines in a delightful expression of musical eclecticism. "Windows of the World" gets a vibrant hip-hop makeover, Lauper gets wonderfully soulful on "Message To Michael," and Cruz points out a new direction to "San Jose." With FRIENDS like these, Warwick looks to both her past and the future.

My Friends & Me, Dionne Warwick's collection of duets that revisit her classic recordings, benefits from her many talented friends in the music industry, but most of all from a family member. Her son Damon Elliott has worked with his mother for close to ten years, when he's not producing for contemporary hitmakers Pink, Destiny's Child, Jessica Simpson, Kelis, and Mya. Elliott's production for this record is engaging and charming, right up to the minute digitally on the rhythm end, but with plenty of space within the tracks to echo the airy productions of Warwick's long-time producer, Burt Bacharach. Also, Elliott kept most of these versions piano-based and added a tight backing chorus that is virtually necessary for anyone familiar with the original "Walk on By" or "Anyone Who Had a Heart." Dionne Warwick's voice, however, hasn't aged as well as her contemporaries, and the record often resembles a tribute album whose subject only stops by occasionally. (More often than not, the guests are featured more than Warwick herself.) The only track with radical changes is "The Windows of the World," which is presented with no less than four vocal guests (Angie Stone, Chanté Moore, Deborah Cox, Da Brat) and in a version that allows Da Brat to rap on the state of the world between the lines of the verses. Elsewhere, highlights come with Cyndi Lauper's quiet, pleading version of "Message to Michael," Kelis' "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," and Wynonna Judd's surprisingly smoky "Anyone Who Had a Heart." ~ John Bush minimize