Though it features some songs by relatively contemporary artists --
Paula Cole's "I Don't Want to Wait" and
Edwin McCain's "I'll Be" chief among them -- New Millennium Love Songs features too many selections from the '80s to truly live up to its title. While
Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack's "Tonight I Celebrate My Love," Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville's "Don't Know Much," and
Simply Red's "Holding Back the Years" are unquestionably some of the best love songs that '80s mainstream pop has to offer, they're also decidedly 20th century. A case could be made for
INXS' "Never Tear Us Apart,"
the Cars' "Drive," and
Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" as being somewhat fresher than most of the
pop and AOR ballads here, but most of the tracks, like
Chicago's "Hard Habit to Break" and
Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is," are too old and too familiar to be associated with the phrase "new millennium." Though the album's selections, which range from Patti Austin & James Ingram's "Baby, Come to Me" to
Duncan Sheik's "Barely Breathing," are more than decent, New Millennium Love Songs may be too unfocused and dated for listeners wanting to hear love songs from the '90s and early '00s. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
