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Occasionally I hear an RnB album that is made the way it should be; with a soulful vocalist, complimentary beats and real passion in the music. The way RnB was once made! Shine Through provides all of this, and as such it comes as little surprise to see Aloe Blacc signed to the mighty Californian label Stones Throw.
Many will be familiar with Aloe Blacc from his days as an MC, where he teamed with Exile to form the much loved independent group Emanon. In 2006 Aloe has reinvented himself as a soulful, bilingual crooner, producer and occasional rhymer, delivering possibly the strongest RnB album since John Legend’s Get Lifted. Production wise Stones Throw has two of the scenes most innovative in house, with Madlib and Oh No, and each contributes one track here. Oh No lays the restrained foundation for Long Time Coming, a cover of Sam Cooke’s most loved track, whilst Madlib digs up a gem of a sample for One Inna. Avoiding the temptation to select purely from his label mates, Aloe Blacc has instead assumed almost total creative control. He has created beats that are restrained, yet layered and complex, but most importantly respectful to his vocal style. These are beats like those of the classic seventies RnB, not the generic beats by numbers that clutter our pop charts and music video shows. It is a refreshing change if nothing else!
Lyrically Aloe Blacc croons in the true sense of the word. No stupid lyrics about taking ladies home from clubs, just using your voice as an instrument. One of my personal highlights include his take of John Legend’s Ordinary People, here totally in Spanish, and as such renamed Gente Ordinaria, it takes serious balls to tackle a Legend track, and flipping into another language is almost certain death, but it is brilliant! Other highlights include, Are You Ready, Long Time Coming, Shine Through and Caged Birdsong, the latter seeing Aloe revert to MC mode. Often chopping and changing delivery, language and even beat structure throughout, sometimes several times in a single track, it could have left the album disjointed. But instead, it makes it an ever changing, always impressive opus.
Forget any preconceptions you may have about RnB music. Buy this album and let the music remind you how good this genre can be.
