ShareThis"HONEY I'M HOME," Al B. Sure! (Hidden Beach)
At the beginning of his new "Honey I'm Home," Al B. Sure! shrewdly slides in just enough of his 1988 smash single "Nite and Day" to remind listeners of his hypnotic-romantic abilities. He even more shrewdly casts a similar sound with the songs to follow because apparently he thinks once an audience has succumbed to his powers, it must remain spellbound.
Even though he hasn't had a release in more than 15 years, Sure sounds like he never went away with "Honey I'm Home."
His New Jack Swing still has a kick as the singer employs his traditional subtle means -- sensual croons and repetitive refrains stretched out over entrancing R&B grooves. As Sure's sleek coos convey the ache of a man suffering from chronic love and lust attacks, he's swept away by gentle waves of aural seduction.
The singer's tunnel vision is so acute, he sometimes gets blended into the mix entirely, leaving the lyrical burden on backing vocals that often border on cheesiness. Still, the master of the slow jam pushes on, persevering through such contrivances as the lame spoken-word/snapping-finger trappings of "Dedicate My All" to arch through aural aphrodisiacs such as "I'm Glad," "I Love It!" and an elegant cover of Sting's "Fragile."
There isn't much variety and the songs often sound incomplete, but Sure has the swagger to carry it off. And when he gets tired of the foreplay, he goes in for the kill, as he does on the carnal "Whatcha Got?" where he suggests, "We can make love ... change positions all over the room ... Girl, it's all right with me."
Just like in the real world, sweet sometimes gives way to naughty.
Rating (five possible): 3-1/2
"AMONG THE OAK & ASH," Among the Oak & Ash (Verve Forecast)
As Among the Oak & Ash, underachieving singer-songwriters Josh Joplin and Garrison Starr team up to turn in what might be expected: an "Among the Oak & Ash" that falls short of its potential.
At least the shortcomings are more apropos on the collaborative effort as the two sing of hardscrabble characters who rarely get justice in this collection of traditional folk songs and Appalachian murder ballads. That's the kind of project that almost has to sound flawed.
Although they don't exacerbate each other's imperfections, Joplin and Starr don't do much to mask them, either. They both have uneven voices: His is overly nasal and prone to stray too high; hers is better suited for melodic pop intonations than for the edge dictated here. Not surprisingly, the vocals don't blend well, and the sometimes-strident arrangements (often featuring harshly played guitars) only aggravate the abrasion.
Yet just as Joplin and Starr have a skill for songwriting, they have a knack for sniffing out good material. "Among the Oak & Ash" is loaded with grim curiosities, and like they've done with their solo work, the pair manage to dredge up fitful charm to execute a few gems.
For instance, the doubled vocals create an uneasy sense of deja vu as they repeat the lines of "Peggy-O," but ultimately the track shimmers in pop/folk resplendence. Also, Starr makes endearing use of her limitations in the slow, rhythmic construction of the gentle "The Water Is Wide," "All the Pretty Little Horses" takes a somber saunter through dreamy melancholy that combines acoustic and steel guitars, and the wrist-slashing gloom of "That Long & Lonesome Road" reaches the heartbreaking final question, "Why not you and I?"
Several other tracks are little more than earnest folk storytelling delivered in serviceable, albeit mundane, style.
Among the Oak & Ash tags on two original cuts late in the release, the Joplin-penned "Joseph Hillstrom 1879-1915" and the Joplin/Starr-written closer "High, Low & Wide" sound too self-consciously quaint -- a problem that has haunted these performers on their individual work.
Rating: 3
"PRETTY WORLD," Anne Walsh (A To Zink Music)
"Why did they bother?" is a question that nags Anne Walsh's "Pretty World" from beginning to end. Although there's an art to what Walsh and her producer/instrumentalist/arranger husband Thomas Zink did to this collection of covers to make them fit together in what sounds like a compilation of timeless Brazilian jazz/pop, there's never an "aha" moment to justify its existence.
Theoretically, "Pretty World" attempts to stamp Walsh's imprint on songs ranging from Cole Porter's "In the Still of the Night" to Suzanne Vega's "Caramel." Yet although Walsh's voice is lovely and her delivery is not substantially flawed, there's not much personality coming through the mix, either, her one-dimensional performance akin to one of those vapid singers who wear an unwavering smile through an entire concert.
Zink's arrangements upstage his wife, his elevated form of elevator music serving as ideal background noise for a cocktail party as strings, keyboards and percussion conspire for breezy, lush atmosphere. At times Walsh seems incidental, especially when Zink repeatedly veers away from her voice for an instrumental -- be it flute, horn, piano or guitar -- and she has to wedge her way back into the song.
To its credit, "Pretty World" is unapologetically genteel, a fact established with the opening song/title track (penned by Sergio Mendez) when Walsh blissfully sings, "Hang a little sign that just says, 'Paradise, Population 2.' "
The biggest surprise might be her cover of Rogers and Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things," delivered in Portuguese.
It's nicely done, but, again, why did they bother?
Rating: 3
(E-mail Chuck Campbell of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at Campbell(at)knews.com.)
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