the 'new' Aaliyah album

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i'm not sure what to make of it...if it was just a straight Greatest Hits package i'd snap it up no questions asked, but i suspect that with the inclusion of a handful of new ones (and the lack of a 'best of' type title) make me fear a spotty and incomplete selection. is it missing any notable singles or essential tracks?

how's the new stuff? "I Miss You" is pretty but the bird sounds are really distracting, what the hell is that about?

― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 15:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Track Listings
1. Back and Forth
2. Are You That Somebody
3. One In A Million
4. I Care 4 U
5. More Than A Woman
6. Don't Know What To Tell Ya (previously unreleased)
7. Try Again
8. All I Need (previously unreleased)
9. Miss You (previously unreleased)
10. Don't Worry (previously unreleased)
11. Come Over (previously unreleased)
12. Erica Kane (previously unreleased)
13. At Your Best
14. Got To Give It Up (new remix)

it does look a little ropey as a best of (no "4 page letter" or "we need a resolution" for starters) and it's pricey. don't know the unreleased tracks but, like Al, i'd be interested to hear any of y'all talk about 'em.

― michael wells (michael w.), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 15:19 (twenty-two years ago)

"Erica Kane" isn't the Urge Overkill song, I hope hope hope hope hope.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't heard the UO song, so I have no idea, but Aaliyah's "Erica Kane" is beyond bizarre. Lyrics that make Erica sound like the modern day Stagger Lee (and it really fucked with my head when I found out Kane is Susan Lucci's character on All My Children (me = not a soap watcher) -- there's something to be said about that, but I haven't been able to word it the way I would like quite yet). The other previously unreleased cuts are pretty great. I dig it.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 16:07 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, i'm on the fence just because i've always put off buying the albums and since she died was kind of hoping for a one-stop-shopping hits collection. but i guess eventually i'll cop this (for the soundtrack singles and exclusive trax) after i get the proper albums.

― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 19:51 (twenty-two years ago)

everytime i go to cd plus i ask them if they have it yet but they keep saying ''not yet.''

there is a greatest hits cd, though. the ultimate collection. it's got all the right stuff and the best soundtrack things. i'm not sure if it was released in north america.

1. Back And Forth
2. At Your Best (Remix)
3. Age Aint Nothing But A Number
4. Are You Ready
5. If Your Girl Only Knew
6. One In A Million
7. 4 Page Letter
8. Hot Like Fire (Remix)
9. The One I Gave My Heart To
10. Death Of A Playa
11. Are You That Somebody
12. I Dont Wanna
13. Try Again
14. Come Back In One Piece (Ft DMX)
15. Are You Feelin' Me
16. We Need A Resolution
17. Rock The Boat
18. More Than A Woman
19. If Your Girl Only Knew (Remix Ft Missy)
20. One In A Million (Darkchild Remix)

― d k (d k), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 20:04 (twenty-two years ago)

did that come out in the u.k.?

― michael wells (michael w.), Wednesday, 18 December 2002 09:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I have never seen this compilation in any record shops in London, not even on import.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 18 December 2002 09:50 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, that's what i thought. :(

― michael wells (michael w.), Wednesday, 18 December 2002 09:52 (twenty-two years ago)

What's the DVD of? Just the vids?

― Leee (Leee), Thursday, 19 December 2002 03:52 (twenty-two years ago)

dk is the 'if yr girl only knew' remix ft. missy the one over that portishead beat?

― minna (minna), Thursday, 19 December 2002 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

OMG Yanc3y is soooo OTM about Erica Kane. This is splendiferous "and she goes by this name/she's erica kane". This is like a song where the lyrics were supposed to be replaced later but weren't so it gets the full production workout and it feels so bright and sunny and disturbing.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 19 December 2002 19:32 (twenty-two years ago)

How'd you know about the lyrics being replaced later with the Erica Kane thing, Sterling? That would make my piece much better...

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Thursday, 19 December 2002 19:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Nevermind: "Like a song," gotcha.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Thursday, 19 December 2002 19:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I didn't mean that I knew they were replaced. I said "this is like" because that's how it feels -- like yesterday with "Scrambled eggs" or something -- there's a strange disunity to the song which is nearly totally absent from any of aaliyah's other material.

(where's yr. piece for?)

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 19 December 2002 19:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I get what you're saying. I just misread before. It's clearly an outtake that was never meant to be released... But I really can't imagine what would possess her to record it even as that. I like the song alright, but those words are very odd. I was talking with my girlfriend about this and she thought I was completely overreacting -- that Susan Lucci is that ingrained into pop culture that this should not seem odd. I know nothing of soaps, so maybe she's right. But still... When I first heard it I thought, "Jesus, whoever this Erica Kane is did Aaliyah wrong big time." Then a friend told me who it was -- I was floored...

Anyway: I don't have anyone in mind yet for the piece. I've just been fiddling around with an essay about that Aaliyah cut, and I've been debating whether to do an entire piece on that song, write on the entire release or combine an essay on "Erica Kane" with a piece on Nivea's "Don't Mess With Me Man," which I've been tooling with for a while now (there's a minute but interesting point that could be connected between them). We'll see.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Thursday, 19 December 2002 20:02 (twenty-two years ago)

"Don't Mess With Me Man" = "Don't Mess With My Man"

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Thursday, 19 December 2002 20:03 (twenty-two years ago)

yes, minna. some song from dummy. it's not as neat as it sounds, really. it sounds like a fugees song.

i'm not sure what's so crazy about 'erica kane.' other than the lyrics. they're a little zany and it's about a soap opera character. but i think it would fit in perfectly in the middle of aaliyah. it sounds similar to 'rock the boat' and 'i care 4 u.' it's a pretty standard aaliyah song!

― d k (d k), Thursday, 19 December 2002 21:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Just the lyrics, dk.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Thursday, 19 December 2002 21:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I read that "Erica Kane" was about drug use (eg. Eri-Cocaine) but I'm not sure if this is true or just the assumption of the critic.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 20 December 2002 02:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Her voice actually feels much more open and jam-ish as opposed to the tight mysterious control she normally keeps. I mean compared to Aaliyah this sounds practically janis joplin -- also the harmonies are much brighter.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 20 December 2002 06:11 (twenty-two years ago)

ten months pass...

I Care 4 U has hardly left my CD player since I bought it (kudos to my bootlegger peepz for putting 'Rock The Boat' on there). i don't know why, but her ballads seem to *move* in a way that most R&B falls ludicrously short of. i'll even take Aaliyah & Tim over Missy & Tim, especially on 'Resolution', 'Come Over' plus the hits.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Monday, 10 November 2003 09:38 (twenty-one years ago)

twelve years pass...

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/17899-timbaland-shakin-ft-aaliyah-and-strado/

this is cool but i dont much care to hear the back and forth between timbo and aaliyah which makes it sound like theyre singing sexual come-ons to each other. timbo getting necrophiliac.

― StillAdvance, Tuesday, 12 January 2016 12:09 (nine years ago)

yeah, it's a pretty cool track. the mixtape was surpringly good after all these years (I have no idea what timbo has been doing since the mid00's).

― AlXTC from Paris, Tuesday, 12 January 2016 12:56 (nine years ago)

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