Mary J Blige 'Family Affair'

Chart Peak: 8

YouTube

'Family Affair' is the first single to be released from Mary's new LP and arrived in the UK Top 10 this Autumn... Mary is well known for her prestigious collaborations (Eric Clapton, George Michael, Lauryn Hill, Aretha Franklin) and Elton John, one of her former cohorts, is such a big fan that upon meeting her at Madison Square Garden he gave her gifts of perfume and a Versace pocketbook!

Another act who seems to arrive in the Now series surprisingly late in her career, although admittedly this was only her second solo Top 10 single in the UK, and the first that wasn't a cover version - this is unrelated to the Sly & The Family Stone song. I was actually more surprised to learnt that it also became her first US chart-topper. It's not actually the title track of her album No More Drama (that was the next-but-one single), but the phrase features prominently in the lyric, as indeed does the title of the single in between, 'Dance For Me'. Apparently all this represents a period in her life when she had conquered her demons and some of the complications of her personal life; good news for her but, as one reviewer said at the time, "no more drama" isn't necessarily an attractive slogan for a soul singer to come brandishing.

I'd never really been a fan of hers anyway, I'd always found her voice too strained and nasal, but I had to admit after repeated plays on the chart rundown (it spent a long-in-those-days 11 weeks in the Top 40) this track did rather appeal to me, or at least the bouncy but lush backing track produced and partly written by Dr Dre. Even if Blige herself is still a bit too whiny fully to convince in her MC role, linguistic innovations like "don't need no hateration" help keep the mood light-hearted, whether that was the intention or not. The only trouble was, every time I heard her sing the word "percolating" in the chorus it made me want a cup of coffee.

Also appearing on: Now 51, 52, 69
Available on: R&B Classics Collection

Mary J Blige 'Just Fine'

Chart Peak: 16

YouTube

Funny little career Mary J has had, at least in this country. Always a star to fans of the genre, and a long span of hits but a rather patchy set of peaks (just three Top 10s, once you deduct the collaborations with George Michael, U2 etc.) Still, easily a big enough name for people to form a view on her, and I have to say I've never really "got" it.
One big problem with this particular track is that there's more than one way to interpret the phrase "Just Fine": it could be an exultation or a mumble. This is obviously aiming to be the former, but sounds a little too near the other. As much of her career in the last decade or so has proved, it's difficult to express satisfaction in pop without sounding, well, self-satisfied. She makes a decent effort at a vocal performance, I suppose, but there isn't really a lot of song to work with here, despite the fact that four people apparently contributed to writing it (none of them members of Steely Dan) and the limited musical idea greatly overstays its welcome at four minutes. They don't even sound like they're trying on the middle eight.

Also appearing on: Now 50, 51, 52
Available on: Growing Pains