By Odeisel
After a hiatus caused by emergency throat surgery, tax troubles and foreclosure rumors, R.Kelly is back to the musical landscape with his latest work, Write Me Back, an album lost in a disco-driven time warp that simultaneously sparks feelings of nostalgia and weighs down the album with dated sentiment, particularly if you don’t have fond memories of that period.
“Love Is” is strange and dated, complete with opening soliloquy and bongo drums. The follow-up is the sublime “Feeling Single.” While possessed of an earlier sound, the sentiments expressed are timeless and Kelly specializes in touching your inner negro with that kind of connection. His dalliance with the 70s continues with the faux O Jay’s rip-off “Lady Sunday.”
The first taste of contemporary sound comes on “When a Man Lies,” which plays as the opposite of “When A Woman’s fed Up.” Those soft strings and the bongo drums are there still harkening back to earlier eras but the production is not immersed in it as with previous albums. We get fully into this millennium with the piano-paced somber groove of the rich “Clipped Wings.” The background vocals add a depth that runs counter to Kelly’s generally center stage vocal theatrics. The digital bassline takes the bridge someplace special and here is where Kelly’s musicianship and composition talent outstrip his imitators.
That welcome change of pace makes his return to that 70’s sound on “Believe That It’s So” much more palatable. Elevating strings and pulsating drums build on the bridge to crescendo and everything is just crisply arranged. It may not play well to the digital generation but for the analog listeners this bumps.
The first downer comes on “Fool For You,” where Kelly gets caught out there vocally, doing his best Smokey Robinson impression (read wtf) and ventures a little too close to that Motown for comfort. Better that than creepy ass Charlie Wilson trying to take you to his mommas house (again wtf) but while the arrangements and song construction are authentic and faithful to the period, this is too dated unless you playing cruise ships. That too far back shit gets dangerously close to R. Kelly jumping the shark on some Buddy Holly Rock & Roll shit on “All Rounds On Me.” Shuffleboarders get off your asses as this comes complete with the piano chopping a la Jerry Lee Lewis. Somewhere the great Ike Turner is rolling over in his grave.
Kells pumps his breaks on “Believe in Me,” an attempt at one of his classic uplifting ballads. It doesn’t reach the heights of an “I Believe I Can Fly” There’s the obligatory choir, but I just can’t get past the digital distortion in his voice on the hook and the lack of cohesion. The shift from the previous song is jarring and detracts from whatever flow the album established and it sounds like he tried and failed one of those Michael Jackson rock/gospel hybrid songs like the “Earth Song.” “Green Light” finds R.Kelly brown nosing those hoes a la Ron Isley. By now it’s painfully obvious that this album is an R.Kelly love letter to the music of previous generations.
The ghost of Jackie Wilson is exhumed for the call and response throwback “Party Jumpin.” Hearing this style of song with current lyricism makes the song even cornier. He returns to Barry White on the single and closing note, “Share My Love.” The campiness of this song is acceptable when that deep-voiced Barry White is belting. Not so much when its R.Kelly.
Write Me Back is like listening to music with your parents on a long car trip and not being able to turn the station to your generation’s music. It fails because there are only hints of R.Kelly on the album and far too much of R.Kelly trying to duplicate the magic of earlier periods of music. He pales in comparison to the original and it’s no shock that the album is strongest when he steers closer to who he is as a musician. When you’ve sold more records than any male artist for an entire decade, you should probably stick to your own lane. Even if today’s inferior R&B singers keep flooding it with Kelly lite sex tunes.
out of 5
Follow Us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/planetill
Follow Odeisel on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/odeisel
Join Us on the Planet Ill Facebook Group for more discussion
Follow us on Networked Blogs
