Complete selected discography of JANET JACKSON

All for You [Extra Track] [EXPLICIT LYRICS] or All for You [Bonus DVD]

Unlike those other members of her family, Janet Jackson's albums are still worth waiting for. The best parts of All for You, her first disc since 1997's The Velvet Rope, continue to display the first-class pop-R&B talent who broke through decisively in the mid-'80s with "What Have You Done for Me Lately" and "Nasty." Jackson's longtime cohorts Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are of course on board, and the production-writing trio demonstrates its mastery of everything from dirty funk ("You Ain't Right") to peppy, radio-perfect ("Come on Get Up" and 2000's No. 1 "Doesn't Really Matter") and hypnotically undulating sounds ("When We Oooo"). While much of All for You is irresistible, its handful of failures are poorly conceived and executed. Most glaring among these is "Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)," an unlistenable sequel to Rope's "Got 'Til It's Gone" that substitutes one self-regarding singer-songwriter diva (Carly Simon) for another (Joni Mitchell), thereby wrecking Simon's one golden moment, "You're So Vain." "Son of a Gun" and "Truth" apparently target estranged husband Rene Elizondo, but Jackson is hardly as convincing a revenge artist as she is a sex kitten. In fact, the likes of "Love Scene (Ooh Baby)" and "Would You Mind" out-spice even the carnally obsessed Velvet Rope and Janet.

The Velvet Rope

Teaming with her most accomplished collaborators, producer-songwriters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Janet Jackson delivers what is easily her finest record since Rhythm Nation--and arguably her best ever. Highlights include jams like "You" and "Got 'Til It's Gone," which recontextualizes samples from War and Joni Mitchell, respectively; the funky memorial to a dear departed, "Together Again"; and a slinky cover of Rod Stewart's "Tonight's the Night." Best of all, though, is "What About." An accusatory throwdown for a lover who beats and cheats even as he professes his love, it swings angrily between tender quiet and raging bitter funk.

Control

"Free at last / Out here on my own," Janet Jackson sings on the title track of her 1986 blockbuster, Control, an album about personal liberation, romantic longing, and, of all things, sexual responsibility. After two albums of middling dance-pop that were comfortably in the Jackson family mold, Janet dropped in on the burgeoning Minneapolis funk factory of producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and came up with five top 10 hits, including the opening triad of "Control," "Nasty," and "What Have You Done for Me Lately," as well as the yearning "When I Think of You" and "Let's Wait Awhile," that rare song (considering some of Janet's hits to come) about not having sex. In its own way, Control is the most convincing declaration of artistic independence since Stevie Wonder's "Music of My Mind."

Rhythm Nation 1814

Picking up where the breakthrough funk-pop of Control left off, Janet Jackson and her production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis laced Rhythm Nation with high-minded references to societal ills--seldom the favored province of dance music, but a daring attempt nonetheless. Songs like "State of the World" and "The Knowledge" follow in the tradition of "free your mind and your ass will follow." Still, aside from the title track, it was the pure pop fare and dance music that stormed the charts: "Escapade," "Love Will Never Do (Without You)," "Alright," and "Come Back to Me" concentrate on the politics of personal relationships, not public policy, while "Black Cat" burns the place down with a fierce burst of hard rock. Rhythm Nation 1814 doesn't necessarily hang together thematically, but it's so chock full of hits, you scarcely notice.

Janet

Why is Janet Jackson's Janet the best Michael Jackson album since Thriller and the best Madonna album since..., well, since ever? Perhaps it's because Michael's kid sister is the only one of these three aerobic video stars with enough smarts to realize that sex, hooks, and beats are all that matter in this field of lightweight dance pop. Or perhaps it's because the sexuality Janet radiates through her sweet melodies and hip-tugging grooves is so much more credible than Michael's arrested prepubescence or Madonna's nothing-personal-just-business comeons. After her embarrassing posture as a sociocultural analyst on 1989's Rhythm Nation 1814, Janet has returned to her strength--using her odd mix of girlishness and maturity to make dance numbers about personal relationships ring exceptionally true. Even so, the 75-minute, 27-track Janet doesn't really work as an album; there's too much filler and the between-song transitions quickly grow tiresome. The album is full of killer singles, though, starting with such proven cuts as the extremely slinky "That's the Way Love Goes" and rock-guitar-driven "If," and featuring such future hits as the Prince-like "This Time," the Motown-like "Because of Love," the breathy ballad "Where Are You Now" and the inspired Stax cover, "What'll I Do.

Design of a Decade 1986/1996

This decade-spanning compilation charts the singer-dancer-actress's transformation from rebellious teenager to sexy diva, along the way check-listing major hits like "Nasty," "Miss You Much," "What Have You Done for Me Lately?" and "Rhythm Nation." Two new tracks bookend the set, but even the older material--most of it helmed by writer-producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis--holds up remarkably well.