★★★★★
If 112 songs had Cliffs Notes, they'd read like this: Boy eyes girl in club. Damn!?she's fine. She comes home and assumes the position; he gets the peaches and cream. She betrays his love; he's sad and sorry. On their fifth album, these P. Diddy discoveries adhere to this thematic formula, but insistent beats and gospel-style harmonizing help you forget how trite it is. 112 successfully toe the line between agreeably cheesy and agonizingly schmaltzy...
- www.blender.com
2010-08-22
★★★★★
At its best, Atlanta synth-soul combo 112 rings as true as a rafter-rattling gospel choir; sophomore-disc tracks like "Be With You" find four solid voices united in hypnotic harmony. At Room 112's worst, the group settles for an alley-cat posturing that nearly defuses the power of its ballads. 112 can't seem to decide whether they wanna woo the ladies or beat up on the competition. It's a choice that could make or break them in the future.
- ew.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
On the stark "Everyday,"112's Daron Jones laments his group's recent contractual difficulties with P. Diddy, but the outfit is more at home in lusher confines. The excellent "Give It to Me" sounds like a lost Tom Tom Club track, and on "Na Na Na Na," which features reggae don Super Cat, 112 pant and squeal -- alluringly -- over frolicking drums. The rest of the album moves at a snail's pace, though - an undifferentiated set of slooowww jams that suggest 112 are asleep at the wheel...
- www.rollingstone.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
After four albums, these former P. Diddy proteges should at least be able to deliver a couple hot singles, but Pleasure and Pain doesn't even have that. "If I Hit," a limpid "Yeah!" rewrite featuring T.I., employs slinky pseudo-electro production; almost everything else is forgettable R&B; mush.
- www.rollingstone.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
For 112's Part III," Puff Daddy continues to brand his soul acts with everything B.I.G. Here, the slain rapper's "Dead Wrong" serves as intro music; there, a vocal snippet from his "Who Shot Ya" punctuates the R&B; quartet's "Dance With Me." But this album doesn't need B.I.G. to bump - the jittery, futuristic "Dance" bounces like something Judy Jetson would jam to when George isn't around, the prurient "Peaches and Cream" thumps hard with synth rattles and a thugworthy groove...
- www.rollingstone.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
Any vocal group's greatest asset, R&B; or boy band alike, is an instantly recognizable voice that stands out from the harmonies and gives them their trademark. Often this isn't the most talented singer in the group, simply the most unique. In the case of 112, that voice belongs to Marvin "Slim" Scandrick, a thin, almost feminine tone that matches his nickname and physique...
- www.stylusmagazine.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
Where Were You in '77? was one of the first Sex Pistols bootlegs available in America. Released in 1985, it took its name from an implied accusation that dominated the post-punk landscape in the UK. Confronted with upstart poseurs in leather and Mohawks, all pumping their fists to the sub-par heavy metal of yob bands like The Exploited, the people who made punk happen saw their dreams debased by a mindless horde of aggro fashion victims. Aghast, they demanded credentials...
- www.pitchforkmedia.com
2009-03-21
★★★★★
What's more surprising? That Pleasure and Pain, One Twelve's fifth album, is not a greatest-hits compilation named after a song off their 1996 debut, or that it comes with a parental advisory label? In nearly a decade of existence, the group has amassed enough charting singles to warrant a concise best-of, and not many artists coming up with them during the mid-'90s are still active. In the wake of parting with P...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-27