I think people viewing this album simply as ZZ Top "selling out" are missing the point. While there are questions of authenticity posed by the album (most notably in how the band presents the personnel of the record), the album was moreso an attempt to innovate the sound of the band by Billy Gibbons. There are points where that ambition becomes a bit of a hindrance, its mindset set upon a labored perfect sheen rather than a punkish intuition, but I always got the sense that the labor ... read more
What a crushing album. Not often enough is the topic of cheating brought up from the cheater's perspective. It's easy to say that cheating is bad (it is), but the album is able to explain what keeps pulling that connection back, despite the taboo.
If you're a fan of Isaac Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul, I think you'd really take a liking to this one. While it doesn't quite reach the progressive highs of the Hayes album—I could have done with a bit more ... read more
Imagine the heart-pounding sincerity of "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" transferred into a single man. That's Luther Vandross.
What a Teddy Bear. Luther Vandross excellently navigates post-disco R&B with refreshing sincerity across seven tracks. Vandross captures the absurd highs of love, and the absurd proclamations that follow such love.
Lines like
She's got that super love
She's much, too much for my heart
would fall flat from the mouth of a lesser ... read more