Rating:
Genre:
R&B
Release Date: 03/26/2002
You can't be any hotter than
R&B singer
Johnny Gill was in the early '90s; he participated in five consecutive singles that hit number one or number two on the
Billboard R&B charts between February 1990 and April 1991, while his self-titled label debut on
Motown Records went double-platinum. Subsequent efforts were not as successful, and as of the spring of 2002,
Gill had been MIA since releasing a Christmas single in 1997, but the liner notes to this collection report him to be "reportedly in the studio." Meanwhile,
Hip-O's
Ultimate Collection lives up to its title (as the imprint's other volumes in this series have) by lavishing 79-and-a-half minutes on a straightforward, chronological assemblage of the highlights of
Gill's career, including work done for labels not controlled by
Hip-O parent
Universal, such the
Stacy Lattisaw duet
"Perfect Combination" that first came out on the
Atlantic subsidiary
Cotillion in 1984. An
R&B singer's career these days is a dizzying combination of regular singles, soundtrack excerpts, and featured appearances on other people's records, but this compilation gathers up all of
Gill's most popular recordings, including
"I'm Still Waiting" from the movie
New Jack City,
Shanice's
"Silent Prayer," and
Shabba Ranks'
"Slow and Sexy," the latter two guest appearances by the singer. Also included is the chart-topping
New Edition song
"Can You Stand the Rain," and, of course, all of
Gill's own major hits, most of them written and produced by the likes of
Jimmy Jam and
Terry Lewis and
L.A. & Babyface, are included. (There is also one worthy album-only track,
"Maybe," from 1996's
Let's Get the Mood Right.) The result outdistances a previous
Gill best-of,
Favorites, which focused only on his
Motown solo hits. For the moment, this is
Johnny Gill's best so far; one can only hope there will be more.
~William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
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