Teena Marie - Love Songs (2000) (G-Unit)

Love Songs offers a well-picked selection of Teena Marie’s most intoxicating bedroom jams from her days with Epic Records. These tracks — released between 1983 and 1990 — make it clear why Marie was hailed as R&B’s queen of sweet seduction. Songs like “Cassanova Brown,” “Ooo La La La” and the Ronnie McNeir duet “We’ve Got to Stop Meeting Like This” are fervent testimonies of desire, rendered with the singer/songwriter’s impeccable sense of songcraft and timing. Marie’s roots in old-school R&B are evident in the Philly Soul-tinged “Dear Lover” and “Miracles Need Wings to Fly,” while “Shangri-La” finds her adding techno-pop influences to her sound. She’s at her best in smoldering ballads like “Shadow Boxing” and ‘If I Were a Bell,” tunes that give her room to rise to shimmering vocal heights. “My Dear Mr. Gaye” — a fervent tribute to the late, great soul icon — is an unexpected choice for this collection, but still a welcome one. Pour the wine, dim the lights and get ready to enjoy Lady T. at her romantic best.