Just like Smokey, Diana could do it all: doo-wop, soul, R&B, pop, disco and yes, even hip-hop (would "Mo' Money Mo' Problems" have been near the smash that it was without the samples from "I'm Coming Out"?). But playing Billie Holiday and working these standards took Diana to a whole new level and Blue is simply and beautifully more proof in the pudding.   Full text...

Blue is an album every bit as bold an artistic statement as her contemporaries Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, who were recording the opuses Where I'm Coming From and What's Going On around the same time, and for Ross fans, Blue is every bit as enjoyable as her sultriest moments as the supreme Supreme.  Full text...

Ross has a famously thin voice; Ella Fitzgerald could have eaten her for breakfast, but her limited instrument is deftly employed on effervescent concoctions like "Let's Do It," "Can't Get Started With You," and the fizzily masochistic "Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do."  Full text...

She modulates her voice within a limited range, but each tweak adds wry humor, allowing the graceful turns of phrase an ideal setting to make their impact. These renditions don't bear much of a personal stamp, but they shimmer with life regardless. That’s what a beautiful voice can do for you.  Full text...

While I’m a little skeptical of a “lost” album, suddenly being found when it can become commercially viable, it’s still nice to hear an artist like Ross singing in her prime.  Full text...

This standards collection was recorded in 1972 to capitalise on Ross's performance in the Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues but shelved when Berry Gordy decided she should return to pop.  Full text...

Blue is an ignorable, placid affair.  Full text...

Ross is deep into supper-club territory with a clutch of well-worn standards, the best of which benefit from strong support from jazzmen Cat Anderson and Harry Sweets Edison.  Full text...

Blue contains Diana Ross material that has lain "in the vaults" since 1972, and its release here merely confirms the old truth that there is usually only one reason for not having heard such music before: it's rubbish.   Full text...