On his first solo album in nearly a decade, Babyface revisits his trademark sound with a new-found positive attitude towards love.
Babyface/ Return of the Tender Lover
Last we’ve heard from Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds was early 2014 when he released a brutally honest duet record with Toni Braxton called Love, Marriage & Divorce. Now, the grandmaster of smooth R&B/adept songwriter is back with Return of the Tender Lover, a new solo output since 2007’s Playlist.
As some of you (read: Babyface’s longtime fans) could probably guess from its title, the record is meant as a tribute to his triple-platinum sophomore album, 1989’s The Tender Lover, a body of work that essentially launched his long, enduring career. From then, he went on to pen and produce some of the most memorable hits of the late ’80s and early ’90s for artists ranging from Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Eric Clapton to Toni Braxton, Madonna and Boyz II Men.
With his latest offering, the 56-year-old crooner still sticks to his musical guns, which, in a way, feels almost like an act of rebellion against all these new breeds of R&B (alternative R&B, avant-garde R&B, hipster R&B — yes, that is indeed a thing — indie R&B, the list goes on …) propagated by artists like The Weeknd, Miguel and Frank Ocean. By bringing back impeccably-produced old-school R&B, Babyface shows those young’uns how it should be done. Made up of nine songs (four of which have the word love in them), Return of the Tender Lover is an album wholly and hopelessly dedicated to romance.
Album opener and lead single We’ve Got Love, sounds delightfully ’90s with hooky saxophone and backing bouncy piano. “We done pain and sorrow/We done been through change/We done had way better days,” he begins in the honeyed tone that’s so readily recognisable. “But I seen tomorrow/I ain’t see no rain/’Cause our sun’s gonna shine again.” Fight For Love and I Want You continues in this uplifting trajectory; the former equipped with a glorious guitar solo, whereas the latter arrives with the help from After 7, a ’90s R&B trio made up of two of Babyface’s brothers (Melvin and Kevon Edmonds).
Elsewhere there’s Exceptional, a smooth jazz-inspired ode to being head over heels in love (“Your love is exceptional, worn of a heart of gold/ It fills me up to my soul, then my cup it overflows”) and a couple of lavishly-produced ballads (Love and Devotion, Our Love) that reiterate the core message of the record.
If the Toni Braxton-featured Love, Marriage & Divorce depicts the darker side of relationships, Return of the Tender Lover is an unabashed exultation and declaration of something akin to unconditional love. And to that end, there’s no better man for the job than the 11-time Grammy Award winner himself — the man behind more than 20 No 1 singles; the man whose influence on contemporary mainstream music simply cannot be overstated.
THE PLAYLIST
Inspirative/ U-Mong Wayla
U-Mong Wayla [The Time Tunnel] is the latest single by the country’s finest post-rock quintet, Inspirative. Unlike most of the group’s previous instrumental offerings like Kae A Deed [Just the Past] and Why, the song features some singing about — as much as can be gleaned from the somewhat succinct lyrics — meeting someone from the future and time travelling. It’s another one of the band’s meandering cuts that should strike a massive emotional chord with fans of shoegaze and ambient rock.
Asanee Chotikul/ Pood Ma Leuy
After a three-year hiatus, veteran Thai rocker Asanee Chotikul returns to the music scene with a new cut, Pood Ma Leuy [Out With It]. Released on recently launched label Brew Music, the song follows his one-off 2012 solo single Pood Loy Loy and proves that Asanee is still the unrivalled king of manly rock ballads. “Out with it/Tell me you don’t love me and I’ll leave,” he implores before continuing, “If you fail to see how good I am for you/That’s alright/Go on, out with it.” If there’s anyone out there who could actually do mawkish without coming across as entirely schmaltzy, it’s this guy.
Travis/ Everything At Once
With Coldplay having cornered the post-Britpop, stadium rock market, it’s a bit of a surprise to see Travis still going at it after all these years. Their latest offering, Everything At Once, arrives two years after their seventh studio album, Where You Stand, and finds the Scottish foursome rocking out to a hard-edged pop-rock production. Rattling off breathless verses reminiscent of Everything Everything’s Jonathan Higgs, frontman Fran Healy dispenses TED Talk-like advice: “You can’t do everything at once but you can do anything you want/Your autonomy can’t be brought into question by anything ’til you turn around and say that every year is like a day.”
Equals/ No Ordinary Love
Known collectively as Equals, London-based vocalist and producer Ade Omotayo and James Low tackle Sade’s beloved 1992 classic No Ordinary Love, giving it a contemporary update that results in a rather stunning rework. Keeping the sensuality of the original intact, the duo takes their rendition to a contemporary new height where elements of bass-driven electronic music and R&B soul seamlessly converge. While Low provides the foreboding sparseness that recalls James Blake, Omotayo lives up to his reputation as a former backing singer for Amy Winehouse and Kelela.
Jack Johnson/ Seasick Dream
If you’re looking for a song to soundtrack your lounging by the beach, look no further than Seasick Dream by certified chill dude Jack Johnson. Released to accompany pro surfer John Florence’s surf film View From a Blue Moon, the track is a classic Jack Johnson number with its laid-back ukulele strumming and the lyrics wholly devoted to the beach lifestyle. “When I woke I was not awake/The life from the sun felt so far away,” he casually croons in the opening verse, just as the rooster’s finished crowing.
