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Dionne Warwick's singing is a unique version of urban pop -- not jazz, although it is jazzy, and not R&B, although it has soul and sway, and not rock or blues, although her voice can ache with a weary intensity. Matched from the early '60s through the early '70s with the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, she produced numerous hits, including "Walk on By," "Alfie," "I Say a Little Prayer," "Do You Know the Way to San José," and "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," among others. If she isn't critically regarded as a legendary icon in quite the same league as Aretha Franklin and other contemporaries, it's really more of a style thing, perhaps because Warwick isn't really a fiery gospel shouter. Be that as it may, Warwick has sold over 150 million records through her five-decade career, and placed nearly 60 singles in the Billboard Hot 100 over that time, so she obviously knows what she's doing. This set, her 28th studio album, includes tracks variously produced by Swizz Beatz, Jack Splash, Jesse "Corporal" Wilson, and her son, Damon Elliott, whose new label, Bright Music Records, is home for this project. It's essentially a duets album that takes a look both forward and back; Warwick is paired with a wide array of guests -- Alicia Keys, Ne-Yo, Stevie Wonder, Cyndi Lauper, Gladys Knight, Jamie Foxx, CeeLo Green, Ziggy Marley, Eric Paslay, Billy Ray Cyrus, Mya, and Warwick's granddaughter Cheyenne Elliott among them -- on revisited versions of some of her hits. Led by the lead single, a new version of "A House Is Not a Home" that features Ne-Yo (an extended version of the single is also included here), Feels So Good doesn't break new ground so much as it affirms and reaffirms Warwick's quiet stature as a steady and urbane pop singer who has never really bothered to follow the music industry's trends and fashions. She just sings elegantly, and it appears to have gotten her through the decades just fine. ~ Steve Leggett
