Last time we checked in to see where country music had got to in the last twenty years or so, now it’s the turn of R&B. And where it’s got to, is pretty much the same ”quiet storm” soul as the Sade album.
The name Anita Baker seemed vaguely familiar but I couldn’t say why, until the first track, Sweet Love, started up, and this is one that’s still on the radio from time to time. And is pretty much exemplary of the rest of the album – Baker's soulful vocals over backing music that is so laid back as to be horizontal.
Looking at how many credits there are for the musicians and backing vocalists (including some credits for “finger pops”) made me think of this kind of music like a Michelin-Star style dish where a piece of meat – a bit of beef, duck breast, rack of lamb or whatever – is the main part. You can add loads of fancied up trimmings – fondant celeriac, a single heritage carrot, pea shoots and pearls of pea purée, truffle-infused foam, whatever, but if the meat is the key part – without that done simply and well, the dish is nothing. And if the meat is good, then all the fancy extras should just serve to enhance it, not hide it or take away from it.
Which is to say, it’s the prime steak of Baker’s voice that’s the start here – all of the bazillion session musicians exist only to provide a backdrop for her, and in a way are not meant to be noticed. That said ... eight portions of the same meal, no matter how well made, gets a bit repetitive and that, to really push the metaphor, is what’s on the menu. Mystery is a pretty good variation that caught my interest, but as I’ve said before this kind of super-cool R&B soul just tend to roll over me like I’m a rock in a stream. Or, to flog the haute cuisine metaphor to death, an under-cooked new potato in a flood of port and bilberry jus.
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