Gold [Remaster] (CD - 2007)

Personnel: Brian McKnight (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, keyboards, percussion, drum programming, background vocals); Brian McKnight (various instruments, programming); Kelly Price, Mariah Carey, Maurice White (vocals, background vocals); Earl Klugh (guitar, acoustic guitar); Tyrone Chase, David T. Walker, Vadim Z, Nunzio Signore, Michael Hart Thompson (guitar); McNoche, John D. Willis (acoustic guitar); Michael Landau (electric guitar); Corey Rooney, David Delhomme, Tony Dixon, Bruce Flower (keyboards); Prescott Ellison (drums); Walter Afanasieff (programming, keyboard programming); Brandon Barnes (keyboard programming, drum programming); DJ Clue?, Willie Max, Doc Holiday, Philip Bailey, Conesha Monet (background vocals); Wah Wah Watson (guitar); Kenny G (saxophone); Louis Johnson (bass guitar); Ricky Lawson (drums); Earth, Wind & Fire.

Liner Note Author: Steven Ivory.

Photographers: Andrew McPherson ; James Minchin.

Arrangers: Brian McKnight; Mariah Carey; Clare Fischer; Walter Afanasieff.

Brian McKnight has been turning out smooth, sophisticated adult-contemporary R&B since the early 1990s, and the songwriting and the production on his albums, not to mention the singer's silky croon, have only improved over the years. GOLD, his 2007 two-disc set, is the definitive McKnight best-of, culling from across his discography and including, with a few exceptions, all of the artist's chart hits.

In addition to featuring Knight's stunning string of singles, GOLD also includes three tracks previously unreleased in the U.S., as well as collaborations with Mariah Carey, Kenny G., and Earth, Wind, and Fire. At the time of this release, Knight had been working at a consistently excellent slow boil for 25 years, and this set is the best way to sample the best from that period.

"Goodbye My Love," "What's It Gonna Be," and "Everytime You Go Away" excepted, Gold contains each single Brian McKnight placed on the R&B chart through 2005, and it adds an assortment of album cuts and guest appearances that, for the most part, deserve to be anthologized. Obviously more extensive than 2002's From There to Here, these two discs cover eight albums and make them obsolete for all but the most devoted McKnight fans. Not only will casual fans get just about everything they could possibly want out of this, but there are three previously unavailable (in the U.S.) tracks, all of which are decent, as well as a track from the Men of Honor soundtrack and cuts that appeared on albums by Ill Al Skratch, Mariah Carey, Kenny G, and Earth, Wind & Fire -- so there's something in it for everyone. The remastered sound and detailed liners (true to the Gold series form) don't hurt the cause, either. ~ Andy Kellman minimize