Masterpiece Theatre (En Vogue album)

The group took famous classical music ("masterpieces") and put their own R&B flavor on it. The album's title was originally set to be Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Cool.

Singles

The first single release was "Riddle", in a remixed form for radio by Stargate. "Riddle" was set to be followed by a mini-film containing the En Vogue Love Suite ("Love U Crazay", "Sad But True", "Love Won't Take Me Out", "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Será. Será)" but plans fell through.

Plans for the second single "Love U Crazay" were cancelled after the weak commercial performance of the project, Masterpiece Theatre album sales stand at over 300,000 copies sold in the US to date.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[1]
Entertainment Weekly	(C)^[2]
Los Angeles Times	^[3]
NME	(7/10)^[4]
Q	^[5]
Robert Christgau	^[6]
Rolling Stone	^[7]
Spin	(6/10)^[8]

Track listing

All songs written by Denzil Foster, Thomas Elroy, Terry Ellis, Cynthia Herron and Maxine Jones, except where noted.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Riddle"		Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy	5:09
2.	"No, No, No (Can't Come Back)"	Raymond Ransom	Foster & McElroy	3:09
3.	"Falling in Love"		Foster & McElroy	4:08
4.	"Suite (Intro)" (featuring Russell Gatewood)	Russell Gatewood	Foster & McElroy	0:26
5.	"Love U Crazay" (featuring Kamil Marzette)	Michael Mani	Foster & McElroy	4:19
6.	"Sad But True"		Foster & McElroy	4:08
7.	"Love Won't Take Me Out"	Michael Mani	Foster & McElroy	4:59
8.	"Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)"	Jacob Levison Raymond Evans	Foster & McElroy	4:43
9.	"Suite (Outro)" (featuring Russell Gatewood)	Russell Gatewood	Foster & McElroy	0:05
10.	"Beat of Love"		Foster & McElroy	4:13
11.	"Latin Soul"		Foster & McElroy	4:32
12.	"Work It Out"		Foster & McElroy	4:27
13.	"Those Dogs" (featuring Bobby McFerrin & Eklypse)		Foster & McElroy	4:09
14.	"Number One Man"		Foster & McElroy	4:39

Samples

The group added famous classical music ("masterpieces") and put their own R&B flavor on it, the album features several samples. The 'En Vogue Love Suite' ("Love U Crazay", "Sad But True", "Love Won't Take Me Out", "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Será. Será))", presented by Russell Gatewood's most featured classical samples.

"No, No, No (Can't Come Back)" samples Brick's "Living From the Mind"
"Falling in Love" samples Joe Sample's "In All My Wildest Dreams"
"Love U Crazay" samples Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker, Act 2, No. 1 - Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy"
"Sad But True" samples Ludwig van Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata"
"Love Won't Take Me Out" samples Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Prelude in C-sharp minor (Op. 3, No. 2)"
"Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)" samples Doris Day's "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)"
"Those Dogs" samples Georges Bizet's "Habanera"
"I Love You More" samples Nino Rota's "The Godfather"

Excluded tracks

The album was originally set to include a track called "I Love You More", also a remix version, which was released on the initial advance sampler of the album.^[9]^[10] "I Love You More" was intended as the next track following the "Suite (Intro)".^[11] However, due to uncleared sampling of "The Godfather Theme", both versions of the song were replaced by the track "Love U Crazay". Another song, "It's On", was also on the advance album sampler, but was exluded from the final revised album release.^[12]

"It's On" - 3:55
"I Love You More" - 5:39
"I Love You More (Remix)" - 3:54

"It's On" and "I Love You More" written by Denzil Foster, Thomas Elroy, Terry Ellis, Cynthia Herron, Maxine Jones, Nino Rota

Credits and personnel

Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Cindy Herron, Maxine Jones, Terry Ellis
Electric Guitar – Dwayne Wiggins
Bass Guitar – Jaime Brewer
Keyboards – Sundra Manning
Drum Programmer – Sauce
Vocals [Dialogue] – Russell C. Gatewood
Producer [Associate] – Dave Meyer
Engineer – Cookhouse, Jerry Stenstadvold, Steve Genewick
Backing Vocal Rap – Kamil Marzette
Bass Guitar – Jaime Brewer
Piano, Engineer – Michael J. Mani
Drum Programmer – Dave Mezee
Electric Guitar – James Earley
Keyboard – Denzil Foster
Backing Vocals Rap – Eklypse
Backing Vocals – Bobby McFerren
Guitar, Engineer – Marlon McClain

Piano, Keyboard – Thomas McElroy
Electric Bass – Jaime Brewer
Backing Vocals – Denzil Foster
Backing Vocals – Thomas McElroy
Organ – Mo Benjamin
Engineer [Assistant] – Mike Bozzi
Producer [Associate] – Wayne Jackson
Producer – Mark Elliott
Engineer [Recording] – Steve Counter
Mastered – Brian "Big Bass" Gardner
Mixed – Ken Kessie
Keyboards, Drum Programming, Engineer – Mark Lomax
Executive-Producer – Denzil Foster, Thomas McElroy
Drum Programming – Denzil Foster, Thomas McElroy
Producer [Production Assistant] – Russell C. Gatewood
Producer – Denzil Foster & Thomas McElroy

Phonographic Copyright (p) – Elektra Entertainment Group Inc., Phonographic Copyright (p)
WEA International Inc. Copyright (c) – Elektra Entertainment Group Inc., Copyright (c) – WEA International Inc.
2000 Elektra Entertainment Group Inc., United States – WEA International Inc., Worldwide

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2000)	Peak position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop)^[13]	49
French Albums SNEP^[14]	56
Swiss Albums (Schweizer)^[15]	28
Germany Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[16]	22
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)^[17]	56
US Billboard 200^[18]	67
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)^[19]	33

References

↑ En Vogue - Masterpiece Theatre review at AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
↑ Reviewed By Diehl, Matt. En Vogue-Masterpiece Theatre Album. Entertainment Weekly
↑ Reviewed By Johnson, Connie. En Vogue, Masterpiece Theatre. LA Times, May-27-2000
↑ NME. Review: "En Vogue's Masterpiece Theatre" CD Album
↑ Q Magazine. Review: "En Vogue's Masterpiece Theatre" CD Album
↑ Christgau, Robert. Music: "Soul Flower" By En Vogue.
↑ Rolling Stone. Music: "En Vogue's Masterpiece Theatre" CD Album
↑ Spin Magazine. Album Review: "En Vogue's Masterpiece Theatre" CD Album
↑ "En Vogue - Masterpiece Theatre" (CD, Album, Promo) at Discogs
↑ En Vogue - "I Love You More (Remix)" - YouTube
↑ En Vogue - "I Love You More" - YouTube
↑ En Vogue - "It's On" - YouTube
↑ "BEL Charts > En Vogue". Ultratop. Retrieved 2011-08-16.
↑ "FRA Charts > En Vogue". Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
↑ "SWI Charts > En Vogue". Swiss Music Charts. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
↑ "GER Charts > En Vogue". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 2011-08-16.
↑ "NLD Charts > En Vogue". MegaCharts. Retrieved 2016-08-11.
↑ "U.S. Chart history - En Vogue" Billboard Independent Albums
↑ "U.S. Chart history - En Vogue" Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums

External links

En Vogue - "Masterpiece Theatre" (CD, LP) at Discogs

En Vogue

Terry Ellis Cindy Herron Rhona Bennett Maxine Jones Dawn Robinson Amanda Cole

Albums	Born to Sing (1990) Funky Divas (1992) EV3 (1997) Masterpiece Theatre (2000) The Gift of Christmas (2002) Soul Flower (2004)

Other releases	Remix to Sing (1991) Runaway Love (1993)

Compilations	Best of En Vogue (1999) Very Best of En Vogue (2001)

Singles	"Hold On" " Lies" " You Don't Have to Worry" " Don't Go" " Strange" "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" "Yesterday" "Free Your Mind" "Give It Up, Turn It Loose" "Love Don't Love You" "Runaway Love" "What Is Love" "Whatta Man" "Don't Let Go (Love)" " Whatever" "Too Gone, Too Long" "No Fool, No More" "Riddle"

Featured singles	"Freedom (Theme from Panther)" (w/ Various Artists) "Free Your Mind" (w/ Sub7even) "So What the Fuss" (w/ Stevie Wonder & Prince) " Glamorous" (w/ Natalia)

Related articles	Discography Awards and nominations Foster & McElroy

Book:En Vogue

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