Yeah so like most naive people i thought "Control" was Janet's first album. But she had 2 before that. One was self titled when she was 16 apparently, then she has one called "Dream Street"

Has anyone heard these albums? Are they any good? Are they worth buying?

jayaredee said:

Yes I have both on vinyl and the CD's...My favorites on

Janet Jackson are:



Young Love

Say You Do

Come Give Your Love To Me

(she performed two of these songs on American Bandstand back in the day)

Dream Street:



Don't Stand Anther Chance

Dream Street

...all of these songs were played on the radio in the 80's when I was a kid....I own ever product Janet has released because I am a huge fan, even the remix albums and greatest hits....long time janet fans should know about the two albums she released in 82 and 84.
[This message was edited Sat Aug 28 4:48:15 2004 by aikam]

Yes, they're great. I love Janet Jackson a lot more than Dream Street, though. My favorite tracks from her debut album are "Say You Do" (which sounds like it could be from Off the Wall), "Come Give Your Love to Me", "You'll Never Find (A Love Like Mine)", and "Don't Mess Up This Good Thing". My favorites from Dream Street are "Don't Stand Another Chance" and "Fast Girls".

aikam said:

OMG why did Janet leave those songs off her Design of a Decade compilation if they were on the radio and stuff? It's still part of her evolution.

I love both of these albums and it pissed me off when she did her greatest hits, "Design of a Decade: 1986 - 1996", and refused to acknowledge these two. Just because they didn't cross over, is no reason to disown them.

jayaredee said:

'Cause they weren't part of the decade '86-'96?

vainandy said:

I think that was more a decision on A&M's part. She had left the label by then.

vainandy said:

Design of a Decade: 1986 - 1996 - the two albums prior were released in 1982 and 1984 - that could be one reason...the record company is in control (not Janet)...it's all politics....Design of a Decade was just an album of her career high accomplishments for those 10 years...I would'nt consider it a greatest hits, Janet has way more hits and is definitely in need of a double CD for a greatest hits...example: Mariah Carey released an album entitled #1's which was a full album of her songs that hit #1 on the Billboard charts...there were alot of songs that were hits that were not included on that particular album because they did not hit #1....another example, you will encounter certain artists who have more than one greatest hits CD's and although alot of the CD's have the same songs, each compilation is different because they add on other hits to the CD etc. Another example: Anita Baker recorded her debut album on one record label, contract ended, she signed with a new label, released hits and was informed by her previous record company if she ever sang her hit songs from the first album in concert/tv shows/award shows etc. she would be fined/sued....so what her "new" record company had to do was buy the rights to the first album on her "former" label, re-release it and she is now legally able to perform songs off of that album. There are tons of politics/contractual issues involved when it comes to things such as Greatest Hits CD's etc.

Shout out to all the REAL Janet fans....who been down since day one.....

VoicesCarry said:

Some of the songs on Design of a Decade are songs she released while on her new label Virgin records as well as her A&M releases. A&M and Virgin probably had contracts written up - any monies A&M receives from Design of a Decade Virgin will profit as Janet recorded some of the tracks on that compilation while on her new label Virgin.

aikam said:

Yeah, A&M cut a deal with Virgin so they could put That's The Way Love Goes on there, plus 2 new cuts for which A&M would get copyright (Runaway & Twenty Foreplay).

VoicesCarry said:

correct

aikam said:

Ironically, A&M promoted that set and its singles way better than Virgin has done any Janet album since. She shouldn't have left that label just for $.

VoicesCarry said:

She's certainly been paying for it.

theVelvetRoper said:

True enough.

Unless she leaves Virgin for a supportive label that knows how to market, she'll never have another RN or Control, that's for sure.

VoicesCarry said:

I agree with you to a certain extent...A&M didn't promote Janet on her first two releases like they should have...I guess they figured her time would come and it did with a bang when Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis worked with her (the rest is history)...all the albums after that (Control and so on) they promoted big time and she sold well...Virgin's first two releases were promoted well IMO and are her best album releases on Virign to date (Janet and Velvet Rope)...I could'nt turn on a radio without hearing them playing Janet all day on those two albums...the last two releases they have really slacked and I would think signing someone to a huge contract and not promoting properly defeats the purpose...who would have ever thought that Mariah Carey would have been bought out of her contract, that woman had hit after hit and that's how they treated her??? I don't care what anyone says, I didn't think Glitter was an awful movie, I didn't think the album was bad, she had alot of pretty ballads on that album etc...people jumped on the bandwagon when she had her breakdown and just dogged her....did everyone forget the album/movie was released right when Sept 11, 2001 happened, weeks prior Aaliyah died in a plane crash etc....the world was going crazy and the last thing on anyone's mind was to buy an album or see a movie...they needed to give her the benefit of the doubt....I blame the record company for releasing it at the absolute wrong time (I know I got off topic but it just came to mind while typing lol).
[This message was edited Sat Aug 28 12:45:54 2004 by aikam]
[This message was edited Sat Aug 28 12:47:08 2004 by aikam]

aikam said:

My views on the matter:

1. A&M did, I think, the best they could with Janet's first two records. Admittedly they were not blockbusters of quality (and she was only 16 in an age when teen stars weren't marketable the way they are today). But they stuck with her. I doubt that would happen today.

2. Virgin bites the big one when it comes to promotion. They did a good job with janet., but really dropped the ball with TVR (after the huge success of TA and IGL, they dumped Go Deep, Every Time and You on international markets and let the album flounder domestically, with a few lackluster promos released). Why wasn't the gorgeous title track released as a single? They even produced a radio edit for it. Or how about My Need? A huge lost opportunity.

AFY was even worse. You have the TA/IGL pattern with AFY and STCML (the singles hitting #1 and #3, respectively), so they release Son Of A Gun (AWFUL choice), and it peters out at #28, which is a lot better than I thought it would do. Then.....nada! Too bad, because Come On Get Up (they even made a radio edit...you sensing a pattern here?), Feels So Right, Trust A Try (remixed), When We Oooo (remixed) would have made great singles.

Maverick even gave Madonna's American Life more singles than that.
[This message was edited Sat Aug 28 13:06:20 2004 by VoicesCarry]

VoicesCarry said:

Well considering Maverick was Madonna's label may explain

VoicesCarry said:

I agree completely. And what the hell is up with the singles they chose to release for Damita Jo? Virgin is to blame for this album tanking.

VoicesCarry said:[quote]

aikam said:

American Life actually released more than one single? Was this in the U.S. or out of the country? Were any of the singles hits for Madonna? I was under the impression that American Life flopped big time. As far as promoting artists in general, I could go on and on...

aikam said:[quote]

VoicesCarry said:

"Hollywood" was also a single.

theVelvetRoper said:

Maybe when she goes on tour her record sales will increase.

jayaredee said:

Actually, some of these songs do appear on the international (import) version of Design of a Decade. This collection has an extra CD which contains "Young Love", "Say You Do", and "Don't Stand Another Chance". Other noteworthy inclusions are "French Blue", a song produced by Jesse Johnson during the Dream Street sessions, and a remix of "Diamonds" that is far superior to the original.

todd305 said:

I thought I owned all of the imports...can you upload a photo or post a link so I can find out where to purchase it? Are you talking about Diamonds by Herb Alpert featuring Lisa Keith and Janet Jackson on background vocals??? Does the version on the import only include Janet?

aikam said:

Well, the cover looks like this:
http://www.towerrecords.c...id=1545523

If you pull up all of the versions of Janet's Design album on the Tower website, you'll see the one I have listed (it appears to be a special order). The first disc has eighteen tracks (the sixteen released elsewhere plus "The Best Things in Life Are Free" and "Whoops Now").

As for "Diamonds", the vocal tracks appear to have been left intact. The music has received a complete overhaul, though -- and it's definitely a change for the better. If it helps, the liner notes call the song "Diamonds (Cool Summer Mix Edit)".

aikam said:[quote]

VoicesCarry said:

Die Another Day
American Life
Hollywood
Love Profusion
Nobody Knows Me
Nothing Fails

were all singles.

Only American Life charted. Nobody Knows Me was a club-only release, but still got its own 12'' releases so I'm counting it as a single. Some of the mixes were B-sides on the Nothing Fails CD single.
[This message was edited Sat Aug 28 19:03:54 2004 by VoicesCarry]

todd305 said:

Disc 1:
1. Runaway (3:34)
2. What Have You Done For Me Lately (3:33) [= Edit Version]
3. Nasty (3:45) [= 7'' Edit]
4. When I Think Of You (3:55)
5. Escapade (4:45)
6. Miss You Much (3:51) [= 7'' Edit Without Intro]
7. Whoops Now (4:07) [= Album Edit]
8. Love Will Never Do (Without You) (4:35) [= Single Version]
9. Alright (4:39) [= 7'' Remix w/o rap] 10. The Best Things In Life Are Free (4:06) [= CJ's UK 7'' w/o Rap - Design Of A Decade Edit]
11. Control (3:28) [= 7'' Edit]
12. The Pleasure Principle (4:13) [= Design Of A Decade Mix]
13. Black Cat (4:48) [= Video Mix/Long Solo]
14. Rhythm Nation (4:27) [= 7'' Edit]
15. That's The Way Love Goes (4:26)
16. Come Back To Me (5:38) [= Design Of A Decade Mix]
17. Let's Wait Awhile (4:38)
18. Twenty Foreplay (5:19) [= Album Version (International)]

Disc 2:
1. Young Love (12'' Dance Mix) (5:08)
2. Diamonds (Cool Summer Mix Edit) (4:02)
3. The Knowledge (Q Sound Mix) (4:01)
4. Say You Do (LP Version) (6:48)
5. Don't Stand Another Chance (LP Version) (4:17)
6. French Blue (6:23)
7. When I Think Of You (David Morales Jazzy Mix) (10:19)

This set got Euro and Australian releases. It was a limited edition, and was deleted in 1996. They still sell the regular 18-track album without the bonus disc, though.

IMHO the Cool Summer Mix of Diamonds is about on par with the original. The Cool Summer Mix loses the funky edge of the original, but replaces it with a breezy, luxurious instrumental. Nice work. There are actually a bunch of Cool Summer mixes of Diamonds - this one is about 10 seconds longer than the orginal 7'' Edit.
[This message was edited Sat Aug 28 18:04:55 2004 by VoicesCarry]

SHE SUX

todd305 said:

I found this version at a used record store for 10 bucks about 4 years ago!

VoicesCarry said:

Virgin and Warner are both screwed up. Warner released chunky maxi singles (with remixes that left a lot to be desired) and no radio support while Virgin keeps released the latest batch of Janet singles (including SOAG) to radio without sell through singles and sell through singles is were Janet's bread and butter has always been. No sell through single for "All Nite" is a joke! That should have been the song of the summer. Suck.