The Return of Gregory Porter! New CD Take Me to the Alley!
With the heart-on-the-sleeve tunes, the easy like Sunday morning voice. Gregory Porter lis back to WOO us with his Soulful Jazz sounds!
The California singer-songwriter has honed his own soulful, gospel-tinged sound over four excellent albums (his last, Liquid Spirit, sold a million and won a Grammy).
And it’s only getting better with Take Me to the Alley It feels more reflective, if not lovelorn. “Don’t Lose Your Steam” and “Day Dream” are coming-of-age tales meant for Porter’s three-year-old son, Demyan. The album’s middle songs—namely “Consequence of Love” and “Don’t Be a Fool”—seem preoccupied with regret, as though the singer wants to atone for mistakes he’s made along the way. “Insanity” speaks to the raw passion lovers sometimes feel for one another. It finds Porter in limbo, that point where the relationship is over but neither person wants to give up. “Sometimes a lover can be angry till the end,” he sings earnestly.
On “More Than a Woman,” Porter sings about his late mother who, while dying from breast cancer, encouraged him to pursue a full-time singing career: “She brought love to my life, gave love light … simple words, I love you, she made true.” Porter is a formidable songwriter with poetic flair, but Alley puts more focus on what he’s saying than the music itself, which lessens the album’s immediate satisfaction. Porter sounds best when his music has greater variation. His narrative stands up here, but without a broader spectrum of sounds, Alley feels a little flat. It’s more of a slow burn and a slight step backward from Liquid Spirit’s dynamic nature. The results are nice, but with too few standouts, Alley breezes by.
With that said! Listen to the Title track “Take Me To The Alley’
LISTEN HERE!
This CD is must get! For all things Gregory Porter visit www.gregoryporter.com and get this new project on itunes
No comments:
Post a Comment