Jamie Foxx able to do better than ‘Unpredictable’
Jamie Foxx
“Unpredictable” (J Records) “ 1/2
What’s that they say about people who talk about sex all the time? The more they talk about it the less they are actually having it?
If that’s so, actor-turned-singer Jamie Foxx could qualify for priesthood, because almost all he does on his new CD is talk about sex. If Marvin Gaye, an obvious influence, was the blueprint with steamy classics like “Sexual Healing” and “Let’s Get It On,” Foxx takes it to the ridiculous extreme on “Unpredictable.”
As seduction, this one-tempo slog is a limp noodle, with forgettable background music barely redeemed by Foxx’s serviceable singing. It cries out for some variety – a club-shaking anthem or another “Gold Digger” would be a godsend – but the closest Foxx gets to picking up the pace is the catchy title track, with guest rapper Ludacris.
Kanye West enlivens the atmospheric “Extravaganza” with an arrangement that calls for a second play, and Foxx finally breaks out of loverman mode on a closing trio of ballads for his pregnant wife, child and late grandmother.
The biggest disappointment is that Foxx, who has displayed enviable range and charisma as an actor, buries most of it on this unambitious grab for a hit album. He can sing. He can play piano. He can do better.
Howard Cohen, Miami Herald
The Strokes
“First Impressions of Earth” (RCA) “““
It just seems all wrong that the Strokes opened the door for the White Stripes and Franz Ferdinand and the rest of the current crop of world-class rock upstarts. It’s somehow backward, as if the Monkees had paved the way for the Beatles.
But it was the Strokes who broke the ice for the return of raw, real rock. So allow them to draw a little vocal texture and freak-out freedom from those bands in return as they reconstitute themselves on their third album, in which they replace their spindly, catchy sound with a thick, messy, catchy sound.
“First Impressions of Earth” would be better at 40 minutes than it is at 50-plus, and the Strokes’ vision still has a definite ceiling. But Julian Casablancas’ songs and ever more congested-sounding voice fight mightily to claim a new creative range.
Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times
Jon Nicholson
“A Lil Sump’m Sump’m” (Warner Bros.) “““
He’s part of the red-hot Nashville collective known as the MuzikMafia, but Jon Nicholson doesn’t sound anything like Gretchen Wilson or (thank goodness) Big & Rich.
Instead, the Wisconsin native’s music is steeped in ‘60s and ‘70s soul. With a big, robust voice powering sturdy songs that are wrapped in keyboards and horns, Nicholson is as convincing a rocking soul man as Wilson is a redneck honky-tonker.
Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer
Goapele
“Change It All” (Columbia) ““ 1/2
She’s neither as raw as Nina Simone nor as smooth as Marvin Gaye when it comes to spouting socially conscious rhetoric. But for Goapele – the sultry Oakland, Calif., crooner raised on radicalism – a spoonful of sugar works best on all ills.
Expanding ever-so-slightly upon the spacey, jazz-soul-hop of her 2002 album, “Even Closer,” Goapele’s vocal palette is, like her music, laced with soft, impressionistic sounds.
If you concentrate on the gorgeous vocal melodies that flitter through “If We Knew” and the title track, the lyrics are too broad-yet-preachy to be of concern. Besides, her take on the politics of love – as on “Crushed Out” and “4 AM” – is far sharper and sweeter, far more of a temptation to get lost in.
A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer