2010 has proved to be a great year for music. Bilal's album sits up their with the likes of Maxwell,Raheem Davaughn, Janelle Monae, Alloe Blacc, The Roots and John Legend which have all tried to so things a bit jazzier,traditional and a bit differant?I appreciate this is a contradiction in terms but check out the albums production and instruumentations and you will kind of get it. Probably (and incorrectly) this album will be filed under RnB but this album pushes the boundaries of music and is hard to categorise.I would class this as a grower that needs a few plays to start to get the groove going on. Strangely I picked this up at a bargain price which I thought might be a Bilal marketing/publicity startegy to discourage illegal downloading which was a huge problem with his classy second album which was not even released.Certainly I am not complaining! As mentioned some tracks like Flying,Levels,Little One and Robots, which are the centre of the album, take a while to get into but immediate and brilliant are the tracks 'All Matter','Who Are You' with the semi-dub reggae second half which for me is the killer and also solo commercial track which is a good stab at afro-american reggae (for a change).'Think It Over 'reminds me of the genious and criminally ignored music made by Lewis Taylor a few years ago.And here in lies the probable problem with this album.Limited commercial,pubescent RnB/pop to lure the radio stations means this album might only be heard by people who have given up on radio and seek out cerebral and mature music made by proper and talented musicians.Try before you buy and applaude this effort,this album might get ignored and quickly fade into the bargain section which would be a great shame.Read full review
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best-selling in CDs
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on CDs