Show, The After-party, The Hotel, The - Jodeci

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Classic material
Disadvantages:	Lots of interludes .  A couple of tracks let it down

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

"The Show, The After-Party, The Hotel" was the third and final album from the R&B four-piece, Jodeci. Consisting of the DeGrate (DeVante Swing and Mr. Dalvin) and Hailey (K-Ci and JoJo) brothers, Jodeci were one of the top R&B groups of the nineties, and this album was their final offering after having dominated the scene from the New Jack Swing days of the early nineties up to the point when this was released (1995), and set the trend for all R&B to follow it with their image as the Bad Boys of R&B, with a Hip Hop demeanor influencing the music they make.

Following this album, the Hailey Brothers went on to release more albums together as K-Ci & Jojo, and created even more R&B classics, and later on both Mr. Dalvin and K-Ci released solo albums.

1. "The Show" (Intro)

2. "Bring On Da Funk"

To kick off the album, we have them goig at the thing hard as DeVante provides a Hip Hop-inspired cut to get you into the flow of things to hype up the mood of it all. You also hear the voice of Timbablnd on this one as he had a role in creating this classic record from the group. It is a great post-New Jack Swing cut, and has them really capturing the feel of the time with West Coast Rap dominating the urban music scene, and R&B having to adapt to this change too, they get right into it with winding G-Funk-esque synth.

**Five Stars**

3. "Room 723" (Lude)

4. "Fun 2 Night"

At this early stage in the album, we have them sticking to the whole Hip Hop Soul thing, and they really perform well when doing this as they get into the whole groove of it all with lots. It is a big one, and went on to inspire the acts who are in the R&B game today. There is a significan't change in the way these early tune are in comparison to later on with the more sensual tracks.

**Five Stars**

5. "Room 577" (Lude)

6. "S-More"

On this one you have Mr. Dalvin take over for a short while, and you can get that its production is completely different to what is expected of their music as it is a lot gentler. I felt that it acted in a negative way ashe took on the role of the lead vocalist, and he clearly isn't as talented as K-Ci, who is forced into the background.

**Three Stars**

7. "The After-Party" (Lude)

8. "Get On Up"

This was the final single from the band, and it has them go back to an earlier time in their career as they revisit the old Swing days, and do an up-tempo joint to show that they are still fully-capable of getting people into the groove of things in 1995(/1996) with some club R&B. It is a banger of a cut, and they go at it hard this time around with progressive production on a generally well-done track.

**Five Stars**

9. "Room 499" (Lude)

10. "Can We Flo?"

With the sounds of the West Coast being brought into this one, you have them blast through with a Zapp sample (one of the classic breaks used in G-Funk, and lots of other Gangsta Rap), and it gives it an authentic G sounds to really appeal to the male listeners. With this support, they have the females as the focal point in the lyrics, and it all comes together well.

**Five Stars**

11. "Zipper" (Lude)

12. "Let's Do It All"

The production of this one is heard in the biggest hits from the album, and so with it all just adapted to this aong, you are bound to be impressed by it all. I felt that As Devante chose to use these sounds, inspired by the work of R. Kelly, he knew where he needed to go with it, and so it was made to be quite achieveable, and he certainly achieved this level of success.

**Five Stars**

13. "P.I.B. 4 Play" (Lude)

14. "Pump It Back"

This is a big one, and has them keeping the quality of a high standard, and maintaining the sort of emotions which you hear from the start of the record as they get freaky with it, and go into one of several sensual tunes. This one is set in the club, and so has a very different feel to the more personal ones to follow, but I believe that the overall thing is clearly made to indicate this is the setting of it.

**Five Stars**

15. "D.J. Don Jeremy" (Lude)

16. "Freek 'N You"

You simply can't get any better than this song. This is without a doubt their best single ever, and no other R&B act has been able to come close to it in the way that it is so perfectly constructed as they create such a sensual scene, and keep this going for over six minutes with the most engaging lyrics being sung beautifully by K-Ci (on lead), with the rest following. DeVante gets to work on the Voice Box and match what Teddy Riley (then of BLACKstreet) was doing as part of the other big R&B group of the time.

**Five Stars**

17. "Room 454: DeVante's 'Inhermission'" (Lude)

18. "Time & Place"

As we recover from the killer tune that is "Freek 'N You", you have them attempting to try something which attempts to capture some of the feelings from the tune before it, but just on a lower level as they are incapable of forcing anytihng else out of the banger prior to it. However as a track in its own right, this one is fairly strongand has them go for another epic six-minute-long track about how they are planning on getting with their girl.

**Four Stars**

19. "Fallin'" (Lude)

20. "Love U 4 Life"

This is a highly emotive on, and it seems to take on all the sorts of things which had been heard in material from them earlier on with stuff such as "Cry 4 U", and the way they choose K-Ci to really capture you with his great delivery of the sincere lyrics from DeVante. The relaxed production allow you to calm with the sound of it all, but it is taken a stage further with the way it is performed by the band.

**Five Stars**

21. "4 U" (Lude)

22. "Good Luv"

To end it all off, they seemed to drop the standard of things as they try something very different. As the last song together that anyone would hear from them, I wouldn't have thought it to be smart to go and do something new, but they choose to do an acoustic recording to finalise things. It didn't grab me as others did, but with time it does improve.

**Three Stars**

I have to admit that I expected a lot more from this album, and apart from the killer singles, "Freek 'N You", "Love U 4 Life" and "Get On Up", there's not really much worth listening to, and with so many interludes, you really have to search for the high-quality music from them. However, when it comes, they make sure you know it. I have to say that I preferred their earlier albums, but the singles are the best songs they ever made.