Mariah Carey ‘The Rarities’: album review

Mariah Carey has always been about control: on her career, of course, but also on her extraordinary voice, which is her greatest asset as a performer. And this voice is in full bloom on “The Rarities”, his new compilation of unseen and discreet B-sides.

While releasing a rarities and releases album might be like sharing baby photos with the world, based on the evidence presented here, Mariah never really had a hard time. Even though this is a collection of tracks that for some reason didn’t make the final cut on her studio albums, she never lets us see her sweat and she’s not about to start now, so don’t expect to find any spots here.

We can hear her say that “the end was uncertain” when the opening, “Here We Go Again” was released, an unreleased track recorded for “Mariah Carey” which would have seemed comfortable sitting next to “Someday”. For the most part, however, these rarities would have been recognized by any longtime Mariah player as, at worst, harmless filler and, at best, above average album tracks. Likewise, her vocal delivery has always been impeccable, and although her lyricism has improved dramatically over time, none of the feelings on songs like “Can You Hear Me” and “Do You Ever Think of Me” – a sample from her 1991 second album “Emotions” and the B-side of her single “Dreamlover”, respectively – would have been moved to a Celine Dion album from the same era.

But while Carey’s early singles were carefully constructed for maximum pop appeal, “rarities” like “Do You Ever Think of Me” and most importantly “Everything Fades Away,” the B-side of his 1993 single “Hero” , offer the kind of calm – stormy soul she tended to leave with early ’90s Toni Braxtons and Chante Moores. While a sultry slowburner like “Everything Fades Away” might have given Moore the elusive hit which she needed to bring her closer to the big leagues, by Carey’s standards, there are no lost classics here, no diva shots that could have been – just high quality planes.

As on her albums, she has been involved in writing and producing most of the songs here, and although she has been plucked through three decades, “Rarities” is a testament to her consistency as an artist. Unlike a lot of pop queens who have followed her to the charts, she can create a hit without a cast of millions – most of the songs here are attributed to her and just one other collaborator – and even if she changes her accent. cross pop. from hip hop to adult soul, there is a common thread of Mariah-ness that runs through everything.

There are, of course, a few clunkers, like his messy live version of the jazz classic “Lullaby of Birdland”. Here’s the thing with jazz: it’s based on improvisation, but there should be a method to madness. Unfortunately, Mariah’s take on the jazz singer is more madness than method; suffice to say that she is not Sarah Vaughan. Then there’s “Save the Day,” an old abandoned song that Mariah completed this year using a snippet from Fugees’ cover of “Killing Me Softly with His Song”. Lauryn Hill’s voice has been cleverly interpolated, but Jejune heals the lyricism of the world (“Isn’t it time we started to rebuild / All the things that fundamentally fell apart”) sinks her apparent aspirations to be a hip -hop “Imagine.” A rare lyrical faux pas, it contains an opportune sentiment, but what the world needs now is something more penetrating and specific than any other series of peace homilies.

The world could probably also do without “Loverboy (Firecracker – Original Mix)”. He clears the 1986 Cameo hit sample “Candy” from the single “Glitter” in favor of a less cheekily-seeking musical background, but it still looks crowded and blurry. At least it offers a glimpse into Mariah’s creative process – and she could have included more alternate mixes, including David Morales’ hard to find. “Def Classic Radio Mix” from “Always be my baby”. More than anything else in her pre-“Butterfly” canon, this reimagining of her 1996 peak led her to polish the lyrics and revise the melody of the original song to turn it from sweet to biting. This kind of reinvention is absent from “The Rarities”; that would have given the musical album an essential element of surprise.

The concert portion of disc two, taken from a 1996 concert in Tokyo, is a showcase of Carey’s early career that reminds us that she can be a formidable live performer when the sound is right there and when there is no technical snafus to trip her up. . Honestly, though, right after “Close My Eyes,” an acoustic version of an album track from “Butterfly” that Mariah recently performed live on “Good Morning America” from her home, was a reminder of how long the concert lasted. seems unnecessary. Her voice on the “Rarities” rendition of “Close My Eyes” is charming and understated, even when she hits her legendary whistle notes. She’s now 23 years out of “Butterfly,” and she turned the introspective anthem of regret and hope into her “Landslide,” and like Stevie Nicks in her rendition of that song, 22 years later, on ” The Dance ”by Fleetwood Mac in 1997, Mariah lets her experience transform it into a beautiful, melancholy shade of moody blue.

“Part of me / I will never quite be able / To feel stable / This woman-child who fails inside,” she sings at Daniel Moore’s piano. It’s the sound of Mariah relinquishing control, if only for three minutes and 18 seconds.