Barry White The Collection

For those of you that remember the music and song-craft of Barry White, you remember a performer that could touch the heart of an emotion, and make it stand out with a unique, often breathy, bass vocal. In the ’70s, almost everything Barry White released became an instant hit. In fact, there’s a collection of singles that achieved gold and platinum status. Of course, his albums did quite well. But most of us remember him primarily by his string of radio hits that still resonate because his voice and delivery was never replicated. Barry White’s first song, “I’m Gonna Love You Just A Little More, Baby” opened the door to his fame. It seemed effortless for his talent to move forward with songs like “Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up”, “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe”, “You’re The First, The Last, My Everything”, and the beautiful “Love’s Theme” instrumental hit. Those are but a few of his classic hits.

For those of you that remember the music and song-craft of Barry White, you remember a performer that could touch the heart of an emotion, and make it stand out with a unique, often breathy, bass vocal. In the ’70s, almost everything Barry White released became an instant hit. In fact, there’s a collection of singles that achieved gold and platinum status. Of course, his albums did quite well. But most of us remember him primarily by his string of radio hits that still resonate because his voice and delivery was never replicated. Barry White’s first song, “I’m Gonna Love You Just A Little More, Baby” opened the door to his fame. It seemed effortless for his talent to move forward with songs like “Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up”, “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe”, “You’re The First, The Last, My Everything”, and the beautiful “Love’s Theme” instrumental hit. Those are but a few of his classic hits.

Universal Music Distribution's Icon series dealt with Barry White's extensive back catalog in two forms. This one, a single-disc compilation (the other was a two-disc set), stays true to the Icon series format with 12 tracks and minimal packaging. It’s a decent sampler, but it’s nowhere near definitive and it doesn’t distill White’s work to its essence (an impossible task when limited to one disc). Several of the man’s most popular singles are here, including “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe,” “It’s Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me,” “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More, Baby,” and “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything.” This merely scratches the surface.

It took quite a while for a definitive Barry White compilation to hit the market, but All-Time Greatest Hits – part of Mercury's Funk Essentials series – finally filled the bill in 1995. Boasting a full 20 tracks from White's heyday of 1973-1978, more than half of which made the R&B Top Ten, All-Time Greatest Hits is easily the most generous single-disc White collection on the market. It includes the edited single versions, not the full-length album tracks, which actually makes for a more digestible introduction to White's achievements.

The soundtrack to the Hughes Brothers' tribute to early-'70s blaxploitation gets the sound of the era right, featuring hits by the O'Jays, the Spinners, Isaac Hayes, Al Green, and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, among others. The inclusion of Danny Elfman's instrumental theme interrupts the flow of the album, but for the most part, Dead Presidents is a first-rate collection of prime soul.