Whenever a lyric suggests anything resembling vulnerability, Gill avoids it by resorting to the deep, gruff growl that has become the ultimate cliche in soul singing. Rejection is never a possibility in these songs Gill makes seduction seem as simple as shopping for an expensive car. Suspense is conspicuously absent from Johnny Gill's new album, "Provocative" (Motown).
UPTEMPO LUTHER VANDROSS SONGS FREE
For anyone interested in hearing a great voice explore the subtleties of adult romance, however, you won't find anything better than Vandross's "Never Let Me Go." (To hear a free Sound Bite from this album, call 20 and press 8141.) In this pop-music era of overbearing arrogance and unending self-pity, Vandross's balance of yearning and doubt may be mistaken for slickness by some glib observers. As on every album, he includes a tribute to his musical roots, and this time it's a medley of the Bee Gees' 1977 disco double-entendre "How Deep Is Your Love," an instrumental version of the Spinners' '74 hit "Love Don't Love Nobody" and the '54 Johnny Ace hit "Never Let Me Go."
Advising a friend that even when romance hurts the heart, one should be careful not to sink too low, Vandross pleads with a big-voiced desperation that could only come from experience. "Too Far Down" is a bravura ballad that borrows some of its melody from "Superstar" and one of its key metaphors from Smokey Robinson, but Vandross's tour de force vocal makes the song indisputably his own. "Love Is on the Way," another catchy song anchored by a funky Miller bass line, squirms with similar excitement as Vandross anticipates a romance even as he confesses his nervousness - "I'm about to lose my mind, I'm so excited." On the chorus, Vandross's full-chested tenor perfectly synchronizes his booming, percussive syllables to the bass line, but the lyrics devote themselves to persuading a reluctant lover to share the singer's enthusiasm.
The music radiates optimism, as a catchy pop-rock hook is married to co-producer Marcus Miller's out-front R&B bass riff. The song finally trails off in an improvised scat coda that captures both the thrill and misery of intense desire.Įven on the happy, up-tempo "Heaven Knows," there's a hint of uncertainty. He has such an extraordinary vocal instrument that even his whispered confessions on the third verse sound powerful when his voice rises on the bridge to express surprise that love ever appears at all, his astonishment proves contagious.
UPTEMPO LUTHER VANDROSS SONGS FULL
As the rhythm section and harmony singers join in on the chorus, Vandross cries out, "It might be today, anything can change," in an anguished voice full of competing hopes and doubts. In the opening verse of "Little Miracles (Happen Every Day)," for example, the lonely singer longs for someone to talk to, and the gospel-like voice-and-piano arrangement is heavily echoed to make it sound even lonelier. And no singer today creates more suspense in his songs than Luther Vandross, whose first album in two years, "Never Let Me Go" (Epic/LV), is one of his best. The great soul singers, from Sam Cooke and Smokey Robinson to Al Green and Prince, have always allowed for the possibility that their romantic pleadings might be rejected, an uncertainty that lends real-life drama to their scenarios - and keeps us listening.