Deniece Williams - Gonna Take A Miracle: The Best Of Deniece Williams (1996)

This 16-track, 72-and-a-half-minute compilation contains Deniece Williams' two number one pop/R&B hits, "Let's Hear It for the Boy" and "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" (a duet with Johnny Mathis), as well as her remake of "It's Gonna Take a Miracle," an R&B number one and Top Ten pop hit, and "Free," which just missed the top of the R&B chart and made the pop Top 40. Otherwise, the collection is somewhat idiosyncratic, compilation producer Leo Sacks' idea of Williams' best, rather than her greatest hits. Her success on the R&B singles chart, where she scored 18 Top 40 hits, is shortchanged, as the set fails to contain such major R&B hits as "Never Say Never" and "You're All I Need to Get By." At the same time, Sacks finds room for the eight-minute album track "If You Don't Believe" and Williams' early gospel composition "God Is Amazing." Such tracks serve to emphasize the diversity in Williams' catalog, but R&B fans may find the set wanting.