Al Jarreau - Tomorrow Today
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Free Music Notes for Tomorrow Today
Free Music Review: WHERE HAS THE OLD AL GONE?
Hit: 2 Stars
My husband bought me this CD for a mother's day gift back when it released because he KNOWS that I absolutely LOVE Al Jarreau. Let me start by saying that I've been in love with Al Jarreaus music from the release of "All Fly Home." I had never heard of him, but once I got the album, it was all I wanted to hear. He was fresh, original, engertic, unbound, creative, innovative and well--he could sing as well as he could scat-- perfect! I went on to discover other Al Jarreau treasures, top of the list was "Live In Europe."
Beyond his paramount vocal abilities, his songs drew me in. There was the bittersweet hopeful determination of "We Got By", the raw unfetted joy of "Could You Beleive?" the fast paced in your face of "You Don't See Me", the sweet optimism of "Look To The Rainbow". The painful hurt of "A Rhyme" (This Time), the snatch you up and never let you go of "Never Givin' Up" (This Time), the skillful arrangement and power of "Spain" (This Time) and then the 80's came, "Moonlighting" was on TV and Al was singing the theme song. "Breaking Away" signaling a new direction for Jarreau and it has been hit and miss for me since. It wasn't until he released "T is for Tenderness" was I able to sit back and enjoy a whole cd from start to finish.
When I heard about a new release (Tomorrow Today), I was eager and excited about getting it. Well, I got it, had it and haven't played it more than three times in two years (unheard of for any Al Jarreau album, even for his least bests like High Crime).
Maybe I'm getting old. Maybe I don't have the tolerance for so-so music, I don't know. But I do know that I want the Al that I came to love back in the 70's and with each release, I hope I get it. With this one I didn't...
Free Music Review: "Tomorrow Today" makes you long for yesterday
Hit: 2 Stars
Al Jarreau's one-of-a-kind voice and innate good taste in material have supplied us with some of the greatest pop/jazz/soul music for over twenty years. Unfortunately, a six-year hiatus wasn't enough to come up with another stellar set.Tracks like "Just to Be Loved" and "Flame" are quintessential Jarreau, lush pop affairs steeped in jazz and innovation. Jarreau even turns up the funk quotient on the slick, infectious "In My Music" and the sexy slow-jam "It's How You Say It," easily the album's best cut. But the likes of "Let Me Love You," "Something You Said," and "Through it All" are like any ballad of his career, with lyrics and melodies that fail to leave a lasting impression.
A duet with Vanessa Williams, "God's Gift to the World," starts off promisingly enough, but morphs into the predictable, uninspired territory of a chorus sung by a children's choir. But the album's biggest mistake is the title track; calypso-jazz is one thing, but is a Harry Belafonte accent really necessary? What could have been a tropical treasure ends up sounding like pure camp.
The album's few strengths are especially strong, however, and longtime Jarreau afficionados will no doubt relish the chance to listen to his golden voice take on new material. It's just too bad that a majority of the songs aren't worthy of his voice, making you long for the likes of "After All" or "Tell Me What I Gotta Do." Al Jarreau's present unwittingly makes you appreciate his past all the more.