John Legend – Once Again

CD REVIEW

At a time when R&B has gone blandly corporate, most albums in the genre consist of four decent songs and a barrel of fillers. Not so with John Legend, possibly this decade’s most skilled male soul artist.

And a soul singer he is, like the great legends (ahem) who clearly influenced him: Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross at al.

As on his debut, Get Lifted, Legend still draws much inspiration from ’70s soul. But more than on the first album he manages to fuse modern R&B with old style soul, creating a warm vibe, complemented by his reassured, mellow voice and delivery which eschews the ostentatious vocal acrobatics pervading the genre.

Show Me is a conversation with God, and Coming Home a sensitive song from the perspective of a soldier in Iraq who longs to feel love.

Else, however, Legend deals blandly with various stages of “luurve” (the clichés in Where Did My Baby Go is the stuff of parody) and infidelity—and since this is an R&B record, there are several sexual references.

Listen to: Show Me; Heaven; Coming Home; Save Room