By the time she released Flame in 1997, Patti LaBelle had settled into a comfortable, reliable groove. Following her mid-'80s comeback, LaBelle gradually moved toward a neo-sophisticated, laid-back, adult contemporary style that only occasionally touched on urban soul. Which means Flame is largely a slick, seductive collection of ballads punctuated by a handful of restrained dance-pop numbers. And in that sense, it's no different than any of her '90s albums, but that isn't a bad thing, since LaBelle works with top-notch, classy professionals. A team of producers -- including David Foster, Gerald LeVert, Arif Mardin and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis -- worked on Flame, but instead of making the album sound diverse and sprawling, their highly skilled craftsmanship keeps the album unified. All that effort makes the record a pleasurable, listenable album, yet there aren't enough killer hooks or great songs to make it a standout in LaBelle's catalog. Instead, Flame is merely a good Patti LaBelle record, and sometimes that's all you need.
Patti LaBelle
Flame
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AllMusic Review by Leo Stanley
Track Listing
Sample | Title/Composer | Performer | Time | Stream | |||
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1 | 05:55 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
2 | 04:38 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
3 | 03:59 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
4 | 04:10 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
5 | 04:17 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
6 | 04:17 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
7 | 04:24 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
8 | 04:12 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
9 | 05:32 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
10 | 05:19 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
11 | 04:39 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
12 | 04:19 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
13 | 04:00 | SpotifyAmazon | |||||
14 | 04:49 | SpotifyAmazon |