Lionel Richie: The Definitive Collection

iTunes Review

The Definitive Collection is the most concise single-disc summarization of Lionel Richie’s career, spanning from his earliest days with the Commodores to his 2003 collaboration with Enrique Iglesias, “To Love a Woman.” Of course, the peak of Richie’s career was the ‘80s, and this compilation emphasizes that period’s astounding string of R&B/pop singles: “All Night Long,” “Running With the Night,” “Hello,” “Dancing On the Ceiling,” and “Say You, Say Me.” Rather than bluntly organizing his output according to chronology, The Definitive Collection places Commodores ballads next to ‘80s pop hits and the sequencing emphasizes the thread that ties all of Richie’s work together. At heart he has always been a songwriter, and even though these songs feature a range of musical backdrops, each one would retain its power if rendered alone on a piano, the way Richie first wrote them. His commitment to craft is why Richie has endured, and why the majority of these songs are still broadcast daily all over the world.