"The Finest" is a song by American band the S.O.S. Band. It is the fifth track on their sixth studio album, '' Sands of Time'', and is one of the group's last songs to feature the vocals of original lead singer Mary Davis. Labelmate and fellow R&B singer

Alexander O'Neal Alexander O'Neal (born November 15, 1953) is an American R&B singer, songwriter and arranger from Natchez, Mississippi. O'Neal came to prominence in the mid-1980s as a solo artist, with eleven Top 40 singles on the US R&B chart, three of whic ...

shares vocals with Mary Davis during the bridge. "The Finest" was released as a single in 1986.

Chart performance

"The Finest" was a success on the US

Hot Black Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

chart, reaching number two and was their last entry on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, where it peaked at number 44. On the US dance chart, "The Finest" peaked at number eight, and was also their second top-20 hit on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, reaching number 17.

Track listings

7-inch single # "The Finest" – 4:35 # "I Don't Want Nobody Else" – 4:19 12-inch single # "The Finest" (extended version) – 6:38 # "The Finest" (instrumental) – 6:17 # "The Finest" (a cappella) – 2:05

Charts

"Finest Dreams"

In 2003, English mashup producer

Richard X Richard Philips, better known by his stage name Richard X, is a British songwriter and music producer. Gaining attention as a pioneer of the bootleg craze, Richard X has earned success as a producer and remixer. He has helmed hit singles for arti ...

covered "The Finest" as "Finest Dreams", featuring vocals from American R&B singer-songwriter

Kelis Kelis Rogers-Mora (; born August 21, 1979), known mononymously as Kelis, is an American singer, songwriter and a professionally trained chef. At age 14, she was admitted to New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Perform ...

. This version is a mash-up with backing based upon an instrumental remix of

the Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

track "

The Things That Dreams Are Made Of "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of" is a song by the English synthpop group The Human League. It was originally recorded for the band's 1981 album '' Dare'', but was remixed, remastered and released as a dance EP single in 2008. It reached nu ...

". The song was released on August 11, 2003, in the United Kingdom as the third single from Richard X's debut album, ''

Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1 ''Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1'' is the debut compilation album by British pop producer Richard X. The album features 15 tracks all produced by Richard X, most of which feature guest vocals. Track listing # "Start" (Richard X) # "Be ...

''. The single peaked at number 8 on the

the week ending August 23, 2003, and also reached number 35 in Ireland. The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was directed by

Oli Goldsmith Oli Goldsmith (born in Toronto) is a Canadian artist whose best known work is for rock-band Our Lady Peace's 2000 album ''Spiritual Machines''. Goldsmith currently lives and works with his wife Caroline Bacher, who works as an artist, sculpto ...

Track listings

UK CD and 12-inch single, Australian CD single # "Finest Dreams" (featuring

) – 4:14 # "Finest Dreams" (Part Two featuring Kelis) – 5:15 # "Music for an Imaginary Mobile Phone Commercial" – 3:05 European CD single # "Finest Dreams" (featuring Kelis) – 4:14 # "Finest Dreams" (Part Two featuring Kelis) – 5:15

Charts

Release history

References

External links

''The Finest''
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finest, The 1986 singles 1986 songs 2003 singles 2003 songs Kelis songs Mashup songs The S.O.S. Band songs Song recordings produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis Song recordings produced by Richard X Songs written by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis Tabu Records singles Virgin Records singles