In 1990, after having two albums under his belt already, Johnny Gill was recruited to fill in for Bobby Brown after he had left New Edition, but the short stint and single album with Gill included had him turn back to his earlier days and reinvent himself as he was before, and so in spite of already having one in his name, the R&B singer chose a “Johnny Gill” as the title to his 1990 album, just as with his 1983 debut, but this timer (as trends were leaning) with the inclusion of New Jack Swing.
1. “Rub You The Right Way”
The album gets going with a pure New Jack Swing tune. As you find that it isn’t Teddy Riley behind the production for it, the results aren’t really up to the standard that what many others were able to churn out at this time. However in Johnny Gill’s case, it really doesn’t matter as he is able to use the power in his voice to override the importance of this as he brings such soulful material for you to get your dance on to.
**Four Stars**
2. “Fairweather Friend”
With this one you get some more of the same sorts of things as the people behind the production (including the likes of Babyface, LA Reid and the duo of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis) come
out with another Swingbeat jam for him to get into and I felt that this Hip Hop-inspired cut was a good one to show that he could easily work to fit in with the trends of the time and come strong with it to get the album flowing.
**Four Stars**
3. “Wrap My Body Tight”
The tinny snares you get from this you hit you immediately and indicate that there won’t be any sort of lowering of the pace to the music, and I felt that it was good to keep the album flowing in the way it was as it shows that he is willing to extensively explore the music that he is trying out here and come out with an album that shows the depth of his music well and I found tha tit was another strong one for him.
**Four Stars**
4. “Feels So Much Better”
As predicted, he decides that it is time to slow the pace, and so does so with this one and alters the tempo in order to get into a slow jam (a kind of song that I’m sure most of his fans were waiting to get for some time; especially considering how strong his vocals compared to previous work up to this point on the record). His performance here is strong and supports expectations with a tne which uses his talent in the right way.
**Four Stars**
5. “Never Know Love”
As a unexpected twist, he decides to move right back towards the much faser material as he gets into his one and jumps into some exciting stuff to show his abilities and capabilities to come through when it comes to this type of thing. However I felt that with this one, it couldn’t have the same effect as earlier ones on the album due to the fact that the production is too plain, and far from what you tend to get in this peak period for New Jack Swing.
Here he moves things on quite a bit and decides that it is about time to lay down one of his most well-known tunes as here he gets into a slow and sensual tune that really fits in with the general feel of all (of the more romantic) R&B songs around the late eighties and very early nineties. It is a big tune, but not really to my tastes as others on the album tend to be and so it is decent, but I can’t really see why it became as popular as it did at the time.
**Four Stars**
7. “Lady Dujour”
Here he performs another song in the same sort of style that came through on the track prior to this one and I felt that this was done to keep listeners knowing that he was able to come out with even more of the same sort of things that enabled him to top charts at the time for another fairly good one that has him working very well as he shows the full range of notes he can reach with his voice as he sings to a special lady in his life.
**Four Stars**
8. “Just Another Lovely Night”
With this one you get some very impressive production coming through as you get a smooth groove that has a distinctive Funk feel coming through on a low level and it means that he is able to come out with a tune that brings out the kind of things that made that genre so powerful whilst combining this all with some low-paced things to pull through the soulful emotions that the song is essentially based upon.
**Four Stars**
9. “Giving My All To You”
Here he comes with a tune which makes good use of his strengths when it comes to composing strong, soulful R&B efforts and seems to bring in a lot of what will have come through in his time as part of New Edition. However the way it was done really wasn’t to my own tastes and I felt that the executive producers behind it had too much of an influence to turn it towards the Quiet Storm style.
**Three Stars**
10. “Let’s Spend The Night”
Before reloading one of the biggest singles from the album, this one sees the singer coming out with a tune which seems to round things off in a way to bring together lots of what came through in order parts of the album. However it seems to match the sorts of characteristics that came with the track prior to it, and this wasn’t really the sort of direction that I enjoyed in it, so it was a bit of a shame (although he does big things on the vocals front).
**Three Stars**
11. “My, My, My” (Reprise)
If you are looking for an album with some strong male vocals, then this is an album that you can’t really go wrong with as this is what the artist brings from start to finish, however I felt that at times the way that it was used to fit in with the types of tracks that were popular at the time wasn’t the best and made it quite inconsistent and held it back quite a bit (despite having lots of big tunes within it).
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
It's telling when an artist releases two self-titled recordings a mere seven years apart. ... more
Gill has a great voice, but for the most part he remains in search of good material and effective production. This eponymous effort for Motown (the first was for ...
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It's telling when an artist releases two self-titled recordings a mere seven years apart. ... more
Gill has a great voice, but for the most part he remains in search of good material and effective production. This eponymous effort for Motown (the first was for ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
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