Stone Hits: The Very Best of Angie Stone is a greatest hits album by American singer Angie Stone, released on June 21, 2005, by J Records. Stone's highest-charting UK single, "Life Story", appears as a bonus track.
In June 2004, Stone released Stone Love, her second studio album with J Records. While it debuted at number 14 on the US Billboard 200 and entered the top twenty in Belgium, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands,[2] the album was commercially less successful than its predecessors Black Diamond (1999) and Mahogany Soul (2001) both of whom had become gold-sellers in the United Kingdom and the United States.[3] The following year, Stone began recording what as expected to become her fifth regular album, but to save costs J Records asked her to transfer her new material, including the previously unreleased single "I Wasn't Kidding,"[3] to a compilation album halfway through the recording process. Speaking volumes to her what her future with the company would be, Stone subsequently asked Clive Davis for and received an unconditional release from the label,[4] with Stone Hits: The Very Best of Angie Stone becoming her final release with the record company.[4]
Promotion
J Records decided to include two previously unreleased songs on Stone Hits: The Very Best of Angie Stone, including "Little Boy" and "I Wasn't Kidding," the latter of which was released as the album's first and only single on October 10, 2005.[1] Co-written and produced by Andrea Martin, who had produced on Stone's 2002 hit single "Wish I Didn't Miss You," it peaked at number 17 on the US Dance Club Songs chart. Music Week ranked it 26th on its UK Urban 2005 year-end chart.[5]
AllMusic editor Rob Theakston found that "it seems premature in a five-year career to have a best-of compilation out, but these 15 selections add up to a most satisfying listening experience. With her vocal delivery, Stone belts tunes out better than most, and covers some of soul music's more obscure classics, making them her own with reverence and ease. And it seems that with each new release she becomes more focused and distinct from her contemporaries, and as a result turns out one of the better greatest-hits compilations from this era."[6] Rebecca Barry from The New Zealand Herald wrote: "With just three albums to her name, neo-soul's most underrated artist can hardly claim this as a greatest hits. But with classic cuts [...], plus a dance mix, a collaboration with Alicia Keys and Eve and a live version of "What U Dyin' For," this is just as effective an introduction."[7]Jet magazine found that "Stone's fearless delivery of heart-on-sleeve messages of love and heartbreak are just the right recipe."[8]
Commercial performance
Stone Hits: The Very Best of Angie Stone debuted and peaked at number 50 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in the week of November 12, 2005.[9]
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