Diana's Duets

Marvin Gaye's Love Songs: Greatest Duets gathers most of his best-known duets, organizing them by singing partner. After getting off to a poor, but well-meaning start with a 1994 version of "Distant Lover" that pairs Gaye's original vocals with re-recorded vocals by Betty Wright and tinny-sounding production, the album does a 180 by offering up some of the best work Gaye did with his ultimate duet partner, Tammi Terrell. Along with definitive songs like "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By," the collection also includes lesser-known gems such as the lovely "If This World Were Mine."

For her 34th studio album, Anne Murray recorded a set of duets with many of her favorite female singers, from Nelly Furtado to Sarah Brightman. There are a number of country duet partners here, such as Shania Twain, Emmylou Harris, and Martina McBride, but there are even more pop-oriented women singing with Murray, encompassing the likes of Celtic Woman and Celine Dion. This makes perfect sense, as Murray's always straddled the pop-country fence effortlessly. Her singing on Duets: Friends and Legends is just as effortless. Now in her fifth decade as an active recording artist, her voice hasn't lost a beat, sounding just as pure and clear as it did on 1970s "Snowbird" (done here with a surprisingly relaxed, easy vocal from Brightman, sounding for all the world like a young Olivia Newton-John). The majority of these songs are ones which have been sizeable hits for Murray in the past, most of which work nicely recast as duets, or at least showcases for harmony singing.