I Am Mariah...

MariahCarey Maria might have appeared as bat-crazy as any diva at times, but she never lost possession of that almost unique vocal instrument that justifies her success. The melismatic style is dialled down a little but on tracks such as Make It Look

and she sounds like she is having fun. Nas, Explicit and Miguel sound like they have taken time on their contributions rather than the ‘phoned-in’ contributions of too many hip hop artists guesting on other albums. Even for non-fans (like me) this is very agreeable.