John Legend: Evolver

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DVDfever.co.uk – John Legend: Evolver CD reviewElly Roberts reviews

John Legend: Evolver
Distributed by
Sony/BMG RecordsCover

  • Released: October 2008
  • Rating: 4/10
  • Vote and comment on this album:View Comments

Grammy-winning Legend name drops with ‘mucho’ sheen, and blandness.

When you’ve got guests like Estelle, Kanye West, Brandy and Andre 3000, you must have serious ambitions of going mainstream, or is it a sign of uncertainty, lack of direction, and, er, desperation ?

The former John Stephens, 29 year-old Legend, is aiming for superstardom with this follow-up to stylish Once Again (2006).

If there’s anyone likely to make soulful R&B popular, much like Alicia Keys, then Legend is the man for the job.

To be honest, he’s got more soul in his soul than the run-of-the-mill bling boys put together, and there’s no doubt in my mind, he’s taken his cues, especially his singing technique, this time, from Stevie Wonder – no surprises there then.

As a musical craftsman, his songwriting is very good, but as the title tries to evoke cocksure progression, it doesn’t actually happen. To ‘evolve’, doesn’t mean you have to sell-out too much anyway.

As always, he incorporates sublime melodies and harmonies, which should take him into ‘radio friendly’ territory, but there’s a downside.

In his efforts to appeal to the hip and cool, he’s sacrificed much on the way. By contrast with previous offerings, this his third, lacks real conviction, as hard as he tries.

It’s a clever move getting your musical buddies on-board. It’s an even cleverer move not allowing them to hog the limelight, so it begs the question –why bother? Their contributions could have been done by others, but the name dropping (and usage) was a strategic move.

Urban/R&B, (some call it neo-Soul) as much as these artists try to ignore, is on the decline, reflected in the poor sales world-wide. Even R Kelly recognised this, and made out-and-out pop ballads to disguise the fact the genre was becoming extinct. Legend, directly, or indirectly, has brought things back sensibly winning legions of fans in the process, though he’s yet to become coffee table status. Of course, Evolver has some very good moments, and in fairness he does push the boundaries in a limited way embracing reggae, balladeering etc, unfortunately they’re few and far between to consolidate his own belief that he’s made any significant progression, which in the eyes (or ears) of some, might seem to be regression.

The best bits are Everybody Knows, a single contender, the gorgeous ballads This Time and I Love, You Love, and the stirring monster If You’re Out There, (which reminds me of Simply Red’s We’re In This Together) and the cool reggae flecked bonus track Can’t Be My Lover, which could be a Bob Marley outtake from Exodus.

The rest is quite forgettable.

File under: Make up your own mind.

Weblink:johnlegend.com

The full list of tracks included are :

1. Good Morning Intro
2. Green Light ft.Andre 3000
3. It’s Over ft.Kanye West
4. Everybody Knows
5. Quickly ft.Brandy
6. Cross The Line
7. No Other Love ft.Estelle
8. This Time
9. Satisfaction
10. Take Me Away
11. Good Morning
12. I Love, You Love
13. If You’re Out There
14. Can’t Be My Lover (Bonus track)
15. It’s Over (Teddy Riley remix) (Bonus track)View the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>

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