SWV

What a Great Girl Group. Great music and voices from this first album to their last. Cocoa the lead singer is the best. It should be a law against groups like this breaking up.

This is an excellent debut from a female r&b group that successfully stepped out of the huge shadow cast by En Vogue. Having Coko sing lead definitely set the group apart and gave them a distinctive sound.

It's also notable that this album achieved 6 top ten r&b singles in: RIGHT HERE/HUMAN NATURE REMIX, ANYTHING, I'M SO INTO YOU, WEAK, DOWNTOWN & YOU'RE ALWAYS ON MY MIND. Not an easy feat in any era of music. Their videos also showed a different type of energy than their contemporaries at that time which enabled them to break out as the NY "homegirls". I also think that because Brian Morgan produced a majority of the songs, it added more cohesion to the project as a whole.

The other tracks that stood out to me "back in the day" and that I still enjoy hearing today are: GIVE IT TO ME, THAT'S WHAT I NEED & IT'S ABOUT TIME (Coko's lead vocals really shine on this track).

If you're curious about the group or just how r&b sounded in the early '90s, this is a disc that I'd highly recommend giving a listen to.

This is one of my favourite cds of all time, because of the how many good songs there are on here, almost 5 hits on one cd, classic hits like "Weak". Weak is one of those difinitive classic r and b songs that is universal and loved by almost everyone. This whole cd reminds me of the best of times in my life where I was young and life was magical, love was in full bloom. Other tracks I love are "Right Here", "Downtown", "Think your Gonna like it", "coming home", "that what I need" (i've cried over this song many times), "im so into u" just about the whole entire cd, which is rare! About the only song I don't listen to is "Blak Puddin", that song is a waste. There is a good remix of "Anything" on the remix cd of SWV. This cd is just a classic, i've brought on my roads trips to Las Vegas, jamming it in the greyhound bus watchin' the desert go by. My sister actually got to see SWV in Japan about 2 years ago. They played a small club there and my sister doesn't even like SWV, she said they were awful. She said all the Japanese people were singing along to thier hit "Weak". Maybe one day they will put out one more album. Coko is a born again christian now so I doubt it, but SWV's music still lives on.

This is a great start to SWV's career but their second album "New Beginning" was their best album to date. On this album they had a lot of smash hits like "Weak", I'm so Into You, "Downtown",and "Human Nature". They had a few uptempo songs that sounded good, but they exceled on their ballads "It's About Time" and "What I Need". All the SWV fans should have this album and SWV is working on some new material so look out for them.

F.Y.I. Check out Lelee's interview on life after SWV in April 2007 edition of Sister 2 Sister magazine. You will be moved.

This SWV CD was one of the best ones out at the time and you can still groove to the songs on this one.

The CD arrived fast I ordered it 06/16/2008 and got it by next day delivery (06/17/2008)!!

I love the music SWV has put onto this CD.... 'New Beginning' is like listening to a whole new CD, with a bit of different taste of music. This has to be they're best studio album ever... I loved it, I wanted, I couldn't have it till I started making my own money, I found ways to stream and listen to the album online, brings back good memories. The only track I could ever listen to repeatedly was 'New Beginning' (The Interlude itself) Im glad I could have this album to myself, I know its going to be the same good songs i listened to back in the day when i was little, nothing will ever stop me from listening to this album over & over again.

Best album ever!!

The cd arrived fast, and it was in excellent condition along with the case and artwork.

"New Beginning" is a fantastic follow up to SWV's debut album. There are so many standout tracks on this album and the harmonies are amazing. Great effort!! Just makes me miss SWV all that much more. They are sorely missed.

SWV really goes all out on this one. If you listen carefully their New Jack Swing is still there, just modernized for the year of 1996. The beats are great, the lyrics are cool and the singing, as always, sensational. This album features a great song, Use Your Heart, which makes you feel kind of dreamy. Don't take my word for it though, listen for yourself. Great album and I highly recommend it.

SWV defintely showed growth between this and It's About Time. They kinda slowed down on the new jack swing material and showcased more ballads and their vocals. Taj and Lelee get to sing lead and Coko and Taj lend a hand in songwriting which shows their growth as artists. The best tracks are "You're the One", "Love is So Amazin", "When This Feeling", "Fine Time". There were really no low points of the album and this album really showed that these Sisters do have Voices. Good Job!!!

SWV SLAMS OUT another hit cd with this r and b/rap offering, featuring collabos with some of the current hit rap artists of that time. SWV remains my favourite girl group and "Release Some Tension" is another SWV cd with steady hits, genuine good r and b music that is timeless. My favourite tracks are "Can We", "Give It Up", "Come n' Get Some" and "Rain". This is a good sexy cd u can just bump in your car and feel sexy. Just cause it's old skool don't mean it ain't cool, so just funk it up and play SWV like a fool, a fool 4 luv.

SWV is one of my favorite groups but this album wasn't as good as the first two efforts. Some of the features could've been better. The best cuts on the album are "Someone", "Lose My Cool", "Here For You", and of course "Rain". The last track with Snoop Dogg was pointless and the album should've been longer but this group is truly missed and hopefully they're really coming back out and making great music.

The last LP that groups put out is usually sub-par, but not this one. Man, half of the songs are built for having one-on-one time with a special someone, and I'm not mad at that. All the girls lead off, and they hold their own quite well.

I love this album. This album was my favorite back in 5th grade. Every song is good. I don't give a damn what anyone thinks of this album. This album shows them working with the hottest producers (of 1997). This album shows that SWV has sexually released their tension. This album is chock full of the best of today's most slamming grooves, done-SWV style(1997). This album gives what SWV fans want and more. They also continued a steady pattern with this album. This album has been certified Platinum or Gold. Remember, this was 1997.

I thought that Release Some Tension was very well done. It has more of a hip-hop feel and set the tone for the current collaboration trend of R&B singers and rappers. Someone has that jumper-cable type feel and Puffy gave them a good beat and sound for them. Puffy's lyrics are a little silly, but they complement the song (Plush Oriental rugs and platinum plaques/ Come On?!--lame)The ones with Redman, Missy Elliott (Can We), Foxy Brown, Lil' Kim, Snoop Dogg and others are so funky and SWV sound very good all throughout. They remember to include their smooth ballads, especially the reflective Rain and the other few in the second half. Release does move very fast in its pace, but is better than their '96 album where they tried to change too much. This album, they have a lot more fun with the street edge of the songs.

SWV's 1997 Christmas album "A Special Christmas" was the R&B trio's final recording, and while not the climactic finale that many fans may have hoped for, it is a solid offering of holiday music. The Sisters With Voices perform standards as well as some more contemporary tunes true to the 90s urban Christmas format. Performances are solid and their voices sound strong. My favorite songs are the extremely catchy "This Christmas" and "Christmas Ain't Christmas," a pair of upbeat and heartfelt numbers where their soaring voices sound great over the excellent production. While the standards sound good, they suffer from generic and predictable arrangements that keep them from being memorable efforts. Another flaw I find is the corny spoken intros and interludes. While "A Special Christmas" is not among the best of the urban Christmas market, it is a solid album and will appeal to SWV's fans.

This has got to be the best Christmas album ever! Usually I skip Christmas albums but I am SWV's number one fan so I couldn't pass this up! I've been waiting for years to get my hands on a copy of this and I am glad I did. Now I can't wait until Christmas. SWV found the secret formula to making a slamming album...changing old songs into new songs. Other artists sing the same Christmas songs the same way they've always been sung. SWV added their own groove and it couldn't have been better. This album was so good I bought it yesterday and began playing it then. I didn't care how early it was. If you love SWV and miss Coko's golden voice you need to get this album. SWV has never sounded better! Long live Lelee, Coko and Taj!

This is one of the most Souful Christmas Albums of the 1990's. These girls tore it up on My favorite things. Co-Co's mom helps out on O Holy Night.

THIS IS BY FAR ONE OF THE VERY BEST CDs THAT I HAVE PURCHASED!!! WE HAVE LISTENED TO IT FOR YEARS WHILE DECORATING THE TREE, SIPPING HOT CHOCOLATE AND JUST VISITING WITH FAMILY. I WISH THAT THESE LADIES WOULD GET TOGETHER AND MAKE ANOTHER HOLIDAY CD, ALONG WITH COKO's MOM (who sings on one of the tracks of this one) :) THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WE CAN HARDLY WAIT FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON TO ROLL AROUND.LOVE AND JOY TO YOU LADIES.

SWV a special christmas would be the last cd the trio had together before they disbanded shorty after a performance on BET for the soundtrack to HavPlenty called, "I Wanna Be Where You Are" (which is a remake of Michael Jackson in the Jackson 5 days). The tracks are crisp and clear and the harmonies are tighter than Release Some Tension. The background music of the cd is all LIVE and real instruments which adds a more music flavor, depth and soul to the singing. Everyone in SWV gets to sing and even Coko's mother, Tibba Gamble, and even Coko's uncle on "Give Love on XMas Day". I would recommend to anyone to get this out of print cd if they can. It's really a treasure. I have no specific track I like. The entire cd remains on repeat. Merry Christmas, ya'll!

I think that this CD does have the most well-known songs of the group SWV. I guess there was a reason I hadn't heard most of the other songs before. That reason is that they simply are not that memorable. I got the songs I wanted to get on this CD (Weak, I'm So Into You and Right Here). I don't do iTunes, but it might be cheaper if these are the only songs you are looking for.

This CD has the songs that you would want to listen to. Remixes are tight.

I really enjoyed this cd because it was very entertaining.Today we do not have any good female groups. Every song was very well done, this group really put a lot of hard work and it really shows. It is really sad that this group is no longer making music together.

This CD is wonderful. My daughter listens to it all the time and my son's play it for their girlfriends.

SWV!!! Well where do I begin? First of all I must say they are my favorite female group of all time! This album has all of there hits and if you want to here some real music you gotta take it back to the 90's.This is the perfect album to get started with if you're a beginner when it comes to some real R&B soul music. These girls do it perfectly with their own funk!!! And I would definitely recommend this album to anyone! GO BUY IT!!!!!!!!
:)

This was the type of music back in my days of high school. What really made give this album 5 stars, was the fact that for once there are songs where someone other than coko get to sing the lead. Can't cope and Mystery were pleasant surprises when I first heard them plus if you like jams that make your car boom, these 2 song are sure to do it!

Though they produced several strong singles throughout their relatively short career, SWV were ultimately a slightly less thrilling version of THE girl group of the early nineties, En Vogue. Unlike En Vogue, who had four strong vocalists, SWV for the most part was centered around the highly potent vocal work of Cheryl"Coko"Gamble, who managed to overshadow the other members of the group for the entirety of their time together. This compilation offers strong proof that they could carry a tune, but some of the choices represented are a little head-scratching. For one, the version of 'Right Here/Human Nature' presented here includes Michael Jackson's vocals from the original, which only further muddles a song that already relied too heavily on the 'Human Nature'hook in the first place. The mixes of 'I'm So Into You'and 'You're The One' are different as well, not nearly as good as the respective album versions. On the plus side, their two best singles, 'Can We' and 'Anything', are left untouched. Nevertheless, this ultimately fails to compensate for some of the major omissions that occur.

90s R&B...no other female group personified 90s R&B (except maybe TLC) as well as SWV, and this greatest hits collection proves it. Spanning from 1992 (when the post new-jack-swing era really began) all the way to 1999, this album has it all.

We get things started off with a bang in the form of the "Right Here/Human Nature Duet Mix" which features Michael Jackson...this cut never fails to impress me. Next we go into the 1996 out-of-nowhere stunner, "Can We" which features Missy over a Timbaland beat, which sets things off for the summer of '97 jam, "Someone" featuring a newly triumphant Puff Daddy.

Track #4 could be considered SWV's signature song...yes, it's "Weak"; but it's slightly different - when Coko sings (near the end), "something 'bout the way you do, the things you're do, oo, oo, ing..." Coko's voice is solo, where on the original album version, this part is accompanied by backgroud vocals...just a minor difference that I noticed - this was probably a radio/single version.

"You're Always On My Mind" is the version you'll find on their debut, 'It's About Time' - I think the remix version (see 'Remixes' from 1994) is better. "Anything (Old Skool Radio Version)" is a certified classic from 1994, with the Wu-Tang (particularly Method Man) making an unforgettable appearance here. The "I'm So Into You" remix here is okay, but they really should have stuck with the original, which really set things off for SWV back in late 1992, early '93...(my sophomore year in high school - I remember fondly)

Why is "Give It Up" on here? Sure it's decent, but I think "When This Feeling" from 1996's 'It's About Time' was much more deserving, but hey, it works I guess. "Fine Time" was a blatant attempt (1996) to combine "Weak" and "You're Always On My Mind" and call it a new song. It was a minor hit, but eh, it works as well.

"Downtown (Street Radio Mix)" picks things up again in a major way, and the sample of Silk singing "I Wanna Get Freaky With You" was a perfect way to add more heat to this already steamy song. "Rain" (from 1997) is a stunningly beautiful ballad, trust me. "Use Your Heart" - very Michael Jackson-esqe in a "Lady Of My Life" kind of way...loungy and plush is the best way to describe it.

"Surprise Me" is okay, but "Mystery" is the song that really made me go, 'darn, I miss SWV...come back' because they really turn out this ballad. "Mystery" is such a great song - just get this album to peep this one out, that is, if you like SWV in the first place. The final two cuts "Can't Cope" and "You're the One (remix)" are decent. If there are more bonus cuts, than they weren't included on my copy...

Thanks for reading!

C.H.R.

The album as a whole is da bomb! So many great songs in one. The extra tracks really let Taj and Lelee shine! Great songs, great beats! I miss SWV and hopefully more will come in the future!

Swv's greatest hits is the best collection of hit songs ever. The group needs to get back together. Anyone that wants to help me get some petitions going and get the group back together, email me at summerdaddy@yahoo.com! Swv great job!

Im SWV's number one fan. I had to purchase this again for collectors purposes.

When I hear the word "REMIX", I stop what I'm doing and listen to the tune. There were some tight remixes to all of the SWV songs, but most of them aren't on here.

The remix of the remix to "Anything" features the Wu-Tang Clan: okay, only two of the Clan members are on there, so it would have been better to include either the slow remix of that song that includes Coko's verses, or the remix that appears on the "Above the Rim" soundtrack. The "Right Here/Human Nature" remix that appears here is dope, but even better than that one is the UK Back to Black Remix featuring a very young Pharell Williams rapping on it. Or better yet, the pre-"Human Nature" remix produced by Lord Finesse would have made this EP a winner. But most disappointing is the remix of "I'm So Into You". It's mainly an instrumental version of the song. Where's the Teddy Riley remix featuring A-Plus of Wreckx-n-Effect?

I am glad that they put on the thumpin' remix of "Weak" on here; that was the best "street" remix of 1992-93. But as for everything else, I was slightly disappointed.

I admit, I'm more of a fan of "remix" projects, than I am of singles, particularly 'cuz we have a radio station here in town that plays the heck out of songs til you either are brainwashed into liking and obsessing it or you cawn't cotton them at'all. (When Salt'n'Pepa's "Shoop" was out, that's exactly what happened...). This SWV remix album--and I am in no way a big SWV fan--have what I think are better jams than the originals. "Right Here" (the Human Nature Mix) is a bit of clever programming that I've always did like and the remix to "Weak" is just great. "Downtown" is also remixed right...

Taj, Coko & Lelee are truly some Sister With Voices. "The Remixs E.P." is a great remake of their debut album "It's About Time". SWV prove that they can sing.

I ordered and recieved this CD just recently and it arived in a short amount of time in grade A shape! SWV was and still is one of my favorite girl groups of all time!

only true hip hop heads will feel this and that's only for the sample from grandmaster flash and the furious 5.

Even though this single came out in 94' I believe that this is one of the single that put them on the map. Anything gives the audience/fans their full blow, and Coko tears it up, as always... I love these girls, and I hope they get back together!!

1. 4:30 Downtown - Original Radio Edit
2. 4:20 Downtown - Street Radio Mix
3. 4:41 Downtown - Jazzy Radio Mix
4. 5:38 Right Here/Human Nature Extended Mix
5. 4:46 Right Here/Back To Nature Mix