You don't often see Raphael Saadiq much around these parts, but I decided to give his new album 'The Way I See It' the time of day. I'm glad I did though because to me, the album is like the male answer to Amy Winehouse's 'Back To Black', which I consider to be a top-notch album, even if the same can't be said for her personal life but anyway, no more talk of Amy. This is strictly Raphael Saadiq, the man who secured himself producer accolades amongst Soul heavies such as Joss Stone, Alicia Keys, Musiq Soulchild and D'Angelo just to name a few. Now the man is back with his own latest project which was released this week.....The album opens up with the bluesy soul number 'Sure Hope You Mean It', which I notice pays homage to The Temptations, and a job only The Temptations can be proud of. Raphael did one hell of a job almost making you forget that you're currently living in a corrupted musical era. Lyrics are sweet as Raphael ponders on whether his love and affection can be returned in the same way and is anchored by impressively emotive vocal work. You can listen to this forever. Songs like '100 Yard Dash' and 'Keep Marching' are pretty fast-paced and adds a bristling fusion of old school doo-wop/soul inflected uprisings as well as a weighty flavor to attract older listeners. This is definetely the music my mom was an avid listener of when she was a young teen in the 70's. Even today, she will wear and tear the hell out of such a colourful oldskool record, which can vibrantly be heard drifting throughout the house on a mellowy Sunday afternoon.
For such a tragic concept (the horrific atrocities of Hurricane Katrina), you wouldn't normally associate such an upbeat-driven track like 'Big Easy' to stress on how a loved one got caught up. The song uses brassy instrumentation giving it a wholesome Big Band energy about it. I can't really say this track gave me any type of orgasmic chills prior to the other songs on the album. I appreciated the story behind it though and it's totally understandable why he'd incorporate New Orleans influences on the track. One of my favourite cuts on the album lies in the Joss-Stone assisted 'Just One Kiss'. The pounding-drum opening of the song is very similar to Alicia Keys 'Teenage Love Affair'. But then the song materialises into a 60's soulful love affair among the two artists. The two were rumoured to be shagging each others brains out at one time (the very suggestive and nude picture art of the two of them in a compromising pose featured in Joss Stone's brilliant last album 'Introducing Joss Stone' and only further fuelled that rumour). Having said that their chemistry is implosive and the two delivered a wonderful performance. My girl Joss is now due for a new album.
'Love That Girl' was released as a single and pleases with that mature-soul sound and epitomises Raphael's heated passion of a soul singer as he interacts with his back-up singers. As for 'Calling', I would say that this is the most inventive offering of the album simply because I have yet to hear a Motown-influenced song combined with Latin/Spanish references. Matter of fact, this is a first time hearing this, lol. Rocio Mendoza is the collaborator and supposedly, Raphael was so mesmerized by her voice when he stumbled across her doing her shift at an Los Angeles eatery, he immedietely whisked her away into the studio. The hurt and frustration in his vocal delivery about being shunned by a lover is very believable. I was totally loving the sexual energy in 'Let's Take A Walk'. Never mind taking a walk, how about a cold shower? I just wished the song was longer because that's my lil groover right there.
The legendary Stevie Wonder accompanies Raphael on the amazing 'Never Give You Up' where Stevie adds vocals as well as his rather cool harmonica towards the track. The album closes with the 'Oh Girl' remix. Before I go into exploring the track, I have to add how much I loved the original. It's one of the stand out tracks which further supports my beliefs that a Jay-Z remix was not needed nor required. Hearing Jay-Z slow pace his verses to keep in tune with the track shows that maybe this type of song is unfitting to be a rap collabo as it is soooo oldskool and soulful. On top of that, the album loses it's oldskool flow with the Jay-Z feature. I mean, why would you feature Jay-Z on a Motown-inspired album/song? The Joss Stone and Stevie Wonder collaborations were completely justified but I wasn't understanding Jay-Z's place on it at all. Look at it like this, you're taken down a trip to the 60's and 70's and then you suddenly get a rude awakening.
Aside from that, my only problem with the album is that the songs are awfully short. Folks who love them some Motown and artists from that era such as Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke and The Temptations will find much delight in the album. It certainly delivers some real oldskool charmers from back in the day. Others may argue that they'd prefer jamming to the real thing and not some carbon copy who re-dug and hatched out the older generation of 60's inspired music. Although Amy Winehouse, Duffy and Solange Knowles have tributed such an era with their latest albums, I think Raphael Saadiq pulls it off the best.
Rating: 4/5
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