How Stella Got Her Groove Back Soundtrack: Music From The Motion Picture

CD Details

Amazon.com

Let’s see. The book and film incarnations of How Stella Got Her Groove Back concern an African American woman who reignites her passion during a trip to the Caribbean. So, of course, the movie’s soundtrack album effects a match of U.S. R&B and hip-hop stars and globetrotting reggae crossover royalty. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of merger that works better on paper, as they say, than in the grooves. Rapper Big Punisher and dancehall superstar Beenie Man, toasting and singing over an INXS sample on “Makes Me Sweat,” are amusing; however, the rest of the CD is more often marked by dreary balladry (K-Ci & Jo-Jo’s “Never Say Never Again”) and other irrelevancies. Worst of all is “Mastablasta ’98,” for which Stevie Wonder and Wyclef Jean somehow decided it would be a good idea to dump the original’s deep-dish skank in favor of a generically “up to date” Jeep-beat thump. Hey, guys: come home to Jamaica, already. –Rickey Wright

Product description

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998 UK 14-track soundtrack CD album for the motion picture includes songs by Mary J. Blige Jazzie B Maxi Priest Shaggy featuring Janet and Stevie Wonder & Wyclef Jean picture sleeve MCD11806)

Review

…[T]his R&B/reggae-lite sampler feels like a wind-in-your-hair ride on a road you’ve been down before. — Entertainment Weekly

[How Stella Got Her Groove Back] is bursting at the seams with inspired collaborations and clever juxtapositions. — USA Today