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Thursday, February 7, 2013

Jodeci's "Forever My Lady" (1991)

I've never really listened to a whole lot of R&B, and I can't say that after listening to Jodeci's 1991 debut album, "Forever My Lady", that I want to listen to more R&B. That's not to say there's anything wrong with the genre, or Jodeci's album - its just that neither really clicks with me.

The album clocks just seven minutes under an hour, and it's not at all an unpleasant hour. The vocals here are pretty sweet, whether Jodeci is in full quartet harmony, or somebody's singing solo. I particularly like the instruments on display here too - hard to describe but very much a staple for the time. Keyboard effects and oscillations that probably sounded cool then, and "cheesy" now. I enjoy them in a very much non-ironic way.

What really keeps me from fully being able to embrace Jodeci is just their lyrical content. It's an almost-hour long musical trip about love, break-ups, make-ups, and making love. All fine lyrical topics if done right and sparsely - but this is a full album of static lyrical topics. It's a shame, because if I were reviewing Jodeci song-by-song I might have lots of really good things to say about each song, but I'm reviewing the album as a whole - and I find it hard to praise one long song above another love song.

Jodeci's "Forver My Lady" is worth listening to, and I'm glad I took the time to listen to them - but lyrics that don't go anywhere hold down great voices and nice beats.

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