Sun Music Reviews from SoulTracks

Athene Wilson

I won't begin writing a review until I hit upon a theme. Sometimes the theme is obvious, but most of the time, I have to listen to the CD numerous times and in many different settings. I'll play it on my computer at home, and I'll listen to a record on my iPod and in my car. Listening to a CD in my car is a must. By the time I'm ready to write, I figure that I've played the CD about 10 or 15 times, and the themes just emerge. The theme that I was working on as I prepared to write a review of It's About Time, Athene Wilson's new CD, dealt with Wilson as a artist who is comfortable in her skin. She is an adult singer and she embraces that identity for better or worse. I was leaning that way, but not willing to fully commit to that theme - and then I read Chris's recent commentary, and I realized that my instincts were right.

Wilson will find it a struggle to get airplay despite the fact that there are a couple of radio friendly cuts on It's About Time. However, instead of trying to find herself a "hot" producer who could give her a youthful sound, Wilson played to her strengths - mainly a mature, sensual voice featuring precise vocals and phrasing. More...

Sade - "Soldier of Love"

I find it interesting that Maxwell and Sade released albums within a few months of each other.  I can't say that Maxwell and Sade are exactly alike from a stylistic standpoint. Maxwell is the quintessential soul balladeer.  And while Sade can get romantic with the best of them - witness torch songs such as "Is It a Crime," "Love is Stronger than Pride," and jazzy mid-tempo tunes like "You Love is King" and "Paradise" - Sade is also known for her introspective songs and her brooding works of social commentary such as "Immigrant" and "Feel No Pain."

Sade and Maxwell are similar in terms of their status within the music industry. For one thing, both can take long hiatuses and emerge none the worse for wear. Both released well-received albums in the first years of the 21st Century, and then seemed to disappear. In the case of Maxwell, absence made the heart grow fonder as his popularly and critically acclaimed Black Summer's Night earned him Grammy awards. Radio is embracing the title track from Sade's Soldier of Love album, which drops on Feb. 9.  More...

Raheem DeVaughn - The Love and War Masterpeace

He refers to himself as "Radio Raheem" and the "R&B Hippie neo-Soul Rock Star," but the titles don't matter as much as the talents that Raheem DeVaughn can lay claim to. He combines the best of both worlds, constructing lush, ethereal contemporary R&B with a classic musician's touch (thanks to growing up under the influence of his father, jazz cellist Abdul Wadud); wooing the ladies with the sweet while keeping his promotional skills street.  Only the most confident and charismatic of performers can maintain an audience's attention as he evolves from project to project, so those who follow the "Underground King" will be richly rewarded when they get a hold of his third major-label release, The Love and War Masterpeace. It is a sprawling, yet substantial set filled with songs about....well, love and war. There are star-studded cameos and melodies to spare, but the most essential element---Radio Raheem himself---never gets lost in the shuffle.  More...

Mary J. Blige - Stronger With Each Tear

Anger issues, a stolen childhood and unhealthy addictions to drugs, alcohol and the wrong men. It sounds like the makings of a reality show, but it's actually chapters from the Book of Mary....Mary J. Blige that is. The poised and polished performer of today is a far cry from the cagey sister that burst on to the scene with her 1992 debut, What's The 411?. Compared to Aretha Franklin in one breath, yet criticized in the next for her self-destructive ways, her ability to "keep it real" still earned her millions of fans and industry accolades, although many felt her hard-won personal happiness diluted the strength of her catalog.

Stronger Than Each Tear, her ninth studio CD, has a little something for both camps: some songs about working through the pain and others about transcending it on the way up the wedding aisle, out with the girls or onto the dance floor. More...

Alicia Keys - The Element of Freedom

Alicia Keys, I keep on falling out of love with you. Sometimes I love you ("Teenage Love Affair"). Sometimes you make me blue ("Unbreakable"). Sometimes I feel good ("You Don't Know My Name"). At times I feel used (Almost all of the sharply sung As I Am). Loving Liking you darling, makes me so confused. That confusion doesn't end with this underwhelming album, The Element of Freedom, boasting the immensely likable powerhouse single, "Empire State of Mind."

How can such a good songwriter, such a phenomenal arranger, and delightful stage presence, so consistently under-sing, sing out of tune, or sing through her nose eight years after her debut? I know they have vocal coaches in New Yorrrrrrrrrrrrrk. Certainly one is needed on the restrained to a fault, 80s pop calamity that is The Element of Freedom. More....