★★★★★
Dedicated to his mother, partner and daughters, Jeffrey Osborne's debut album from 1982 is a strange beast that finds him unsure if he wants to be an MOR balladeer or an out-and-out funker. Osborne was former leader of US dance group , and went on the solo market at the same time as , another vocalist leaving his long-term outfit for solo success with a similar blend...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2013-04-23
★★★★★
This compilation of cover versions of soul standards like People Get Ready, First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Stephen Stills' classic For What It's Worth makes Rod Stewart's American Songbook series look good. This outing is an awful disappointment from the man who once topped the charts worldwide with On the Wings of Love. How sad.
- www.hour.ca
2010-11-02
★★★★★
Veteran smooth-jazz/R&B; vocalist Jeffrey Osborne joins the rush of contemporary artists covering their favorite songs, joining recent efforts by Kirk Whalum, Rick Braun and Eric Marienthal. It's typically a savvy move, especially for artists who may have peaked and are struggling to make fresh music that casual fans will pay attention to--but they may listen to Osborne's glowing vocals wrapped around such classics as "Yes, I'm Ready," "All at Once" and "Hey Girl...
- www.jazztimes.com
2010-02-19
★★★★★
I'm trying to figure out what it means to say I kind of like this record, a big-budget multiproducer job of the sort suddenly standard in crossoverland. It's not just that I'm impressed with all the heavy equipment, from Osborne's dolomite voice to the usual phalanx of hitmen turning out materiel. I respond--that's one thing kind of liking it means. And though the response feels synthetic, it's not unreal...
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
Osborne proves that the secularization of black pop needn't mean the end of a great vocal tradition, only of its church roots, and he doesn't sing as if he learned how at Performing Arts, either. Instead he sounds like what he is--a son of the most uncompromised black secular music, funk. The slightly herky-jerk bent of his phrasing and pronunciation is geared to the rhythm, and when he bears down into a ballad he sounds fresher than more conventionally soulful singers...
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
Jeffrey Osborne's voice is so silky and warm that he can anchor avaried collection of songs ? ranging from the up-tempo "If My Brother'sin Trouble," which proclaims his familial loyalty, to the morepersonal, blustery "Only Human," a lover's plea for patience. For anyother singer, such an eclectic mix of musical styles like in Only Human, might seem likea desperate, unfocused grab for pop-chart success...
- ew.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
Jeffrey Osborne has been a contemporary musical icon for more than 30 years, first as a member of the R&B group L.T.D. and then as a solo vocalist. In that amount of time, Jeffrey's enduring talent has successfully criss-crossed the lines of R&B, jazz and popular music in a very distinctive manner. His rich baritone voice has been seen and heard in any number of settings with artists in various genres that includes Kirk Whalum, The Rippingtons and Dionne Warwick to name a few...
- www.jazzreview.com
2009-06-07
★★★★★
Perusing the current spate of male R&B singers, it's very difficult not to get nostalgic. While artists like Rahsann Patterson, Maxwell, D'Angelo, Kevon Edmonds (formerly of After 7 and of course Babyface's younger brother) Joe, and even David Hollister have fit comfortably in a universe recently dominated by the likes of the aforementioned Babyface, Luther Vandross, Gerald Levert, R...
- www.popmatters.com
2009-03-21
Loading...
