01 Lionel Richie - Do it to me
02 Lionel Richie - My destiny
03 Lionel Richie - Love oh love
04 Lionel Richie - All night long
05 Lionel Richie - Easy
06 Lionel Richie - Still
07 Lionel Richie - Endless love
08 Lionel Richie - Running with the night
09 Lionel Richie - Dancin' on the ceilling
10 Lionel Richie - Sail on
11 Lionel Richie - Hello
12 Lionel Richie - Truly
13 Lionel Richie - Penny lover
14 Lionel Richie - Stuck on you
15 Lionel Richie - Say you, say me
16 Lionel Richie - Tree times a lady

On his own and as part of the Commodores, by 1992 Lionel Richie amassed more than enough singles for a greatest-hits collection. Unfortunately, this is one of those compilations that, good intentions aside, falls so flat there's not much point in buying it. By trying to cover his solo material, while touching base with his Commodores fans, and adding some new cuts, no part of his career is well represented. For the record, Back to Front lacks "Oh No," "Lady You Bring Me Up," "Ballerina Girl," "You Are," "My Love," "Stuck on You," "Love Will Conquer All," "Se La," and "Dancing on the Ceiling," all Top 40 hits. If Motown had concentrated solely on solo Richie, with another collection of Commodores hits, this could have been a solid, career-topping CD. As it is, it's strong, but hearing such gems as "Still," "Truly," "Say You, Say Me," and "Running With the Night" makes you long to hear the cuts that aren't here. Of the three new songs, "Do It to Me" and "My Destiny" are classic, smooth Richie, but "Love, Oh Love" is very schmaltzy. If you're a casual Lionel Richie fan, this might suffice, but for anyone who truly enjoys pop music, this collection is not worth your money. ---Bryan Buss, AllMusic Review

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CD1 Just Go
1. Forever (3:19) 
2. Just Go (With Akon) (4:16) 
3. Nothing Left to Give (With Akon) (3:32) 
4. Forever and a Day (4:04) 
5. I'm Not Okay (3:28) 
6. Good Morning (4:06) 
7. Through My Eyes (4:06) 
8. I'm in Love (4:05) 
9. Think of You (4:12) 
10. Into You Deep (5:19) 
11. Pastime (3:52) 
12. Face in the Crowd (duet with Trijntje Oosterhuis) (4:21) 
13. Somewhere in London (5:05) 
14. Eternity (4:37)

CD2 Symphonica in Rosso
1. Easy
2. Say You Say Me
3. Stuck On
4. All Night Long

2006's Coming Home was Lionel Richie's most commercially successful release since 1986's Dancing on the Ceiling. It was the first time since then that one of the singer's albums peaked within the Top Ten of the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Much of its success could be attributed to "I Call It Love," a collaboration with StarGate. So, on Just Go, Richie's fourth studio set of the 2000s, he continues to work with StarGate and adds some of their hitmaking contemporaries, namely Akon and the duo of Terius "The-Dream" Nash and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart (Rihanna's "Umbrella," Beyoncé's "Single Ladies," the-Dream's own hits). The two Akon collaborations are dominated by Akon, who co-writes, co-produces, and gets co-performance credits on both. Even on "Nothing Left to Give," the album's festive, anthemic, percussion-stuffed song à la "All Night Long" -- there has been one on nearly every Richie album since Can't Slow Down on -- Akon unsurprisingly writes a lead that could have been voiced by him, from its cadence to the melodically restricted hook. Nash and Stewart are less heavy-handed on their four songs, tending to meet Richie half way with a soothing, modern frame work. In these songs, as well as the five featuring StarGate's input, Richie is much more at home. Introducing a 60-year-old artist to a younger audience with new material is asking for a lot, but Richie's devoted fanbase will find plenty to like. Just Go, slightly more so than Coming Home, tends to be a happy (and comforting) medium between Richie's familiar approach and contemporary R&B. ---Andy Kellman, AllMusic Review

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CD 1:
01. You Are (with Blake Shelton)
02. Say You, Say Me (with Jason Aldean)
03. Stuck on You (with Darius Rucker)		play
04. Deep River Woman (with Little Big Town)
05. My Love (with Kenny Chesney)
06. Dancing on the Celing (with Rascal Flatts)
07. Hello (with Jennifer Nettles)
08. Sail On (with Tim McGraw)
09. Endless Love (with Shania Twain)
10. Just For You (with Billy Currington)
11. Lady (with Kenny Rogers)
12. Easy (with Willie Nelson)
13. All Night Long (with Jimmy Buffet & Coral Reefer Band)

CD 2:
01. You Are (Live at Wembley Arena)
02. Say You, Say Me (Original version)		play
03. My Love (Original version)
04. Dancing On The Ceiling (Original version)
05. Stuck On You (Original version)

Lionel Richie's birthplace is Tuskegee, Alabama so for his 2012 country duets album, Tuskegee, he is trumpeted as the country boy returning to his roots. And there's something to that: as a songwriter, Richie has had success on the country charts, scoring big with Kenny Rogers of "Lady," one of many Lionel covers Kenny sang over the years. Rogers' enthusiastic embrace of Richie is an indication that the former Commodore's definition of country isn’t quite down-home, and Tuskegee proves that assumption true, with each of Lionel's partners coming from the pop side of Nashville. A few perennials crop up -- Kenny comes in for a revival of "Lady," Willie Nelson stops by to lay some guitar and vocals on "Easy" -- but the point of the album is as much to have current stars pay tribute to Richie as it is to ease him onto country-pop airwaves. Tuskegee winds up being fairly successful in this regard. No matter how many fiddles and steel guitars are added -- and there are never too many -- the songs are never so altered as to be unrecognizable, the melodies are always proudly prominent, and there isn't a speck of dirt to be found anywhere, so it's suited for any clean crossover occasion. Apart from Pixie Lott -- a singer who has absolutely nothing to do with country -- popping up on the international version of the album and maybe the revival of the recent "Just for You," there are no surprises on Tuskegee; even the partners match up correctly, with Jimmy Buffett adding good times to "All Night Long," Shania Twain playing the Diana Ross role on "Endless Love," Rascal Flatts forcefully pumping out the good cheer on "Dancing on the Ceiling," Blake Shelton smiling along on "You Are." Even if the production has changed -- it’s not as glossy as the '80s, there are fewer keyboards and more guitars-the sensibility remains the same, so Tuskegee generates a bit of déjà vu: the surroundings are new, yet everything feels familiar. Whether that’s a comfortable bit of nostalgia or just a shade too predictable depends entirely on the tastes of the listener. ---Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic Review

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1. Piece of Love
2. Still in Love
3. I Wanna Take You Down
4. Can’t Get Over You
5. Change
6. Nothing Else Matters
7. Ordinary Girl
8. Say I Do
9. Paradise
10. Don’t Wanna Lose You
11. Now You’re Gone
12. Lovers At First Sight
13. Climbing

After the greatest-hits collection Back to Front disappeared without a trace in 1992, Lionel Richie spent four years making Louder Than Words, his first album for Mercury Records. Although there are some slight attempts to incorporate new jack and hip-hop influences into Richie's sound, Louder Than Words relies on his trademark balladeering, which remains his forte. All of the weak moments on Louder Than Words are ill-advised forays into rap -- to put it bluntly, he can rap about as well as Snoop Dogg can sing. Although the ballads aren't as strong as his late-'70s and early-'80s standards, they are nevertheless pleasant, which makes the record a worthwhile purchase for fans. ---Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic Review

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01. Angel (Metro Mix Album Version)
02. Cinderella
03. Tender Heart
04. Dance The Night Away
05. Tonight
06. How Long
07. Don’t You Ever Go Away
08. Wasted Time
09. Piece Of My Heart
10. It May Be The Water
11. Here Ss My Heart
12. Don’t Stop The Music
13. Angel

Lionel Richie, barring his success in the '80s with such hits as "Hello," "Running With the Night," and "All Night Long," has struggled to find his place in music after life with the Commodores. Renaissance, Richie's 2001 release, is another post-Commodores album that misses the mark. Most of the songs don't particularly fit any radio format, with the exception of adult contemporary, but that's not the problem. Lacking a radio home doesn't make for a bad recording. It's the material on Renaissance, which is uninteresting, and Richie's voice is often out of place with the music, as illustrated on "Angel." This song features a mild dance beat but Richie's voice is sorely incompatible with it. Elsewhere, there are nice Latin-flavored arrangements, such as on "Cinderella" and "Dance the Night Away." But, again, Richie's vocal delivery doesn't work with such musical styling. This clash between music and voice is a running theme on Renaissance. Lyrically, the album fails as well, and is rife with juvenile wordplay: "I held you close to me/Girl, you are my ecstasy/Your lips, and your hair/The way you touch me, girl I swear/Only you could take me there" -- from "Dance the Night Away." There are, however, some redeeming performances on Renaissance. "It May Be the Water" is the album's first of two winning moments where music, lyrics, and vocal delivery all meet to create successful synergy. The song is similar to a Boyz II Men track and should work on the radio. Richie should have applied whatever techniques he used on this track to the rest of this album, because all the pieces fit perfectly here. "Don't Stop the Music" is the other exception on Renaissance, and recalls the "All Night Long" party vibe. This song, similar to a Luther Vandross R&B jam, successfully captures a modern R&B/dance groove, unlike other tracks on this album that attempt to do the same. It really is sad because Lionel Richie has exhibited such talent in the past. It's painful to hear such floundering work by a performer who listeners know can do better. ---Liana Jonas, AllMusic Review

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1 	–Lionel Richie 	My Destiny 	4:50
2 	–Lionel Richie With Diana Ross 	Endless Love (Soundtrack Version) 	4:26
3 	–The Commodores 	Three Times A Lady (Single Version) 	3:36
4 	–Lionel Richie 	Don't Wanna Lose You 	5:01
5 	–Lionel Richie 	Hello 	4:08
6 	–The Commodores 	Sail On 	3:58
7 	–The Commodores 	Easy 	4:14
8 	–Lionel Richie 	Say You Say Me 	4:05
9 	–Lionel Richie 	Do It To Me 	6:02
10 	–Lionel Richie 	Penny Lover (Single Version) 	3:50
11 	–Lionel Richie 	Truly 	3:16
12 	–The Commodores 	Still 	3:46
13 	–Lionel Richie 	Love Will Conquer All 	4:20
14 	–The Commodores 	Sweet Love 	3:22
15 	–Lionel Richie 	Ballerina Girl 	3:40
16 	–Lionel Richie 	Still In Love 	4:33
17 	–The Commodores 	Oh No 	3:00
18 	–The Commodores 	Just Be Close To You (Edit Version) 	3:30
19 	–Lionel Richie 	Stuck On You 	3:17

As the title indicates, Truly: The Love Songs whittles down Lionel Richie's hits -- both solo and with the Commodores -- to just the romantic tunes. As many of his best-known songs are indeed love songs, it's easy to listen to this 1997 compilation and think there's nothing missing, but there are some big hits MIA: "All Night Long (All Night)," "Dancing on the Ceiling," "Running with the Night," and "You Are," to name a few. What this does offer are his biggest ballads and slow jams -- "Hello," "Penny Lover," "Three Times a Lady," "Sail On," "Easy," "Endless Love," "Truly," "Stuck on You," "Say You, Say Me" -- and that makes for nice romantic mood music. --- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic Review

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