New Compilation ``Aaron Neville: Love Songs'' Collects the Most Romantic Songs Recorded by the Acclaimed Aaron Neville

Business Wire, Oct 31, 2002

Entertainment Editors

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2002

Includes Tracks With Linda Ronstadt and the Neville Brothers

"With an angelic voice capable of reconciling spiritual opposites -- wisdom and innocence, masculinity and femininity, the sacred and the profane -- (Aaron) Neville can pretty much find the soul of any song ... (using) that famous catch in his throat to convey the exuberance of unbridled passion." -- Rolling Stone (1995)

The sweet soulful voice of Aaron Neville -- the most familiar figure of New Orleans' first family of music -- has been brought to bear on love songs since the late `60s. Now 14 of those love songs from his most successful period, the `80s and `90s, have been collected on "Aaron Neville: Love Songs" (A&M/UME), released January 14, 2003.

With the album co-compiled by Neville himself, each digitally remastered track was selected for its power of romance rather than its chart position. As a result, "Aaron Neville: Love Songs" brings most of these songs, spanning the years 1981 to 1997, together for the first time on any compilation. The album is the latest in the artist-driven, genre-crossing yet thematic "Love Songs" series, which has previously included collections from Etta James, Elton John, and Stephanie Mills, and is scheduled to release albums from Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, the Moody Blues, Peggy Lee and more.

Two recordings heard on "Aaron Neville: Love Songs" are actually from The Neville Brothers (Aaron, Art, Charles and Cyril): their Nawlins renditions of the doo-wop classic "The Ten Commandments Of Love" and ballad standard "Mona Lisa," both from the siblings' 1981 Joel Dorn-produced album "Fiyo On The Bayou." Also from that decade is the Dorn-produced "Pledging My Love" from Aaron's 1985 EP "Orchid In The Storm."

From his first solo album for A&M, 1991's platinum "Warm Your Heart," "Love Songs" features Allen Toussaint's "With You In Mind," John Hiatt's "It Feels Like Rain," and "Close Your Eyes," a duet with Linda Ronstadt, who co-produced that album. 1993's platinum "The Grand Tour" contributes his inspired version of "Betcha By Golly Wow." From 1995's gold "Tattooed Heart," "Love Songs" revives the Diane Warren-penned "Can't Stop My Heart From Loving You (The Rain Song)," "Beautiful Night," "My Precious Star" and "Everyday Of My Life."

Warren also co-composed, with soul powerhouse Babyface, "Say What's In My Heart" from 1997's "To Make Me Who I Am." A second offering from that album is "Just To Be With You," a duet with Yakira. The Neville co-written "I Can't Imagine" hails from the soundtrack to 1996's "The Truth About Cats And Dogs."

With his edition of "Love Songs," Aaron Neville sheds candlelight on the subject of passion.