"The Day" Babyface Opened His Rolodex & Realized "Hey, I Know Lots of Famous People"!!!
by - Written: Aug 28 '08 (Updated Aug 28 '08)
Product Rating:
Pros: Babyface hadn't completely forgotten how to write a great song. Some delightful singing and melodies.
Cons: Way too many guest artists here, and Babyface is starting to hit "autopilot" mode.
The Bottom Line: Babyface's last gasp as an artist, "The Day" finds 'Face raiding his address book for guest artist flavor. It's a solid but overall unspectacular work that's recommended by a hair.
speeddemon531's Full Review: The Day by Babyface (R&B)
By the time "The Day" was released in 1996, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds had already established himself as quite possibly the most important songwriter and producer of the Nineties. With a classicist's approach to writing love songs, the Indiana native had already built up an impressive resume that resulted in his writing and producing two of the longest running Number One songs in the history of pop music-Boyz II Men's End of the Road (13 weeks) and I'll Make Love to You (14 weeks). In addition, he had artists ranging from Whitney Houston to Eric Clapton knocking down his door for a hit, and he was also a successful entepreneur and label executive, spinning off acts like TLC and Toni Braxton from his LaFace label.
Babyface also managed a more modest career as an artist. His easygoing, hooky approach to R&B had already resulted in a string of hit singles and albums for himself. On his own albums, he was the personification of cool, rarely bringing his voice above a sensual murmur and keeping the tempos relatively relaxed. However, for "The Day", his fourth studio album, 'Face decided to open his Rolodex and the result was a star-studded affair that, while solid, was sort of a dilution of the effect that his previous two albums, 1989's "Tender Lover" and 1993's "For the Cool in You", had. Ever heard the expression "too many cooks spoil the soup"? That's a pretty wise statement to keep in mind here, as the stunt casting goes a wee bit overboard here.
Another thing that may have kept "The Day" from reaching its' full potential is the fact that 'Face may have been spreading himself just a little too thin. When you are getting called on to provide hit singles for everyone and their momma, eventually you are going to run out of material. 'Face's productions had already been criticized for having a basic sameness to them, and by this point and time, you could literally listen to a song and know in the first ten seconds whether it was a Babyface production-or whether the person behind the song was channeling 'Face in the effort to get some of that magic. The fact that 'Face occasionally seems to either be on autopilot or giving himself his own sloppy seconds winds up hurting the album.
That said, when this album is on, it's on. Being elaborate and ostentatious was never Babyface's forte, and there are some beautifully simple gems on this album. Having Mariah Carey and Kenny G. on the same track might be the dentist's office kiss of death for some, but Every Time I Close My Eyes manages to be romantic without being cloying or cheesy (and wound up being played in more than it's share of dentist's offices anyway). Carey's background vocals are the perfect flavor additive to the song and Kenny G's sax solo is pretty enough. The dramatic Seven Seas offers a Fabio-novel sensibility "I'd travel the seven seas for you...walk around the China Wall for you...",but it's sung with complete and total devotion. You truly believe that 'Face is truly in love with whoever he's singing to.
Unfortunately, the quality of this album's material doesn't remain consistent. Talk To Me, at least from a musical standpoint, is a ripoff of the then-recent 'Face production "Change the World", down to Eric Clapton's bluesy guitar licks, while When Your Body Gets Weak (which features an all-star cast of harmonizers from Boyz II Men and Az Yet) is an unsuccessful trip down sex-you-up lane. Actually, it's not to say that these songs are actually outright BAD. It's just that they're standard. Babyface sounds like he's on autopilot, and while he is almost definitely able to write songs in his sleep, it doesn't mean those songs are worth listening to. There's a sense of laziness to songs like the ones I've mentioned above (and the one truly awful track, All Day Thinkin', which finds 'Face mangling the English language in an effort to sound "down") that's a bit unsettling. However, if I'd known then that 'Face was just beginning on his journey down the slippery slope of suck (this was the last album he made that was better than OK), I might have appreciated these songs a little more.
Ultimately, there is more to recommend on this album than there is to cast aside. How Come, How Long is a stirring and disturbing tale of domestic abuse that brings out a little fire in the otherwise too-cool-for-the-room Babyface. You can thank the presence of Stevie Wonder for that, as the legend works himself into an evangelistic fervor here. Simple Days is a pretty, sepia-toned rememberance of days gone by, when "a man was a man and a friend was a friend". The Day (That You Gave Me a Son) is a heartfelt (although somewhat mawkish) piano ballad that he dedicates to the birth of his newborn boy, and 'Face closes the album with a hip-hopped out remake of Shalamar's slow jam classic This is for the Lover in You. While it certainly sounds more "street" than the average Babyface song (thanks to bass that threatens to break your speakers in half), guest rapper LL Cool J is at his flirtatious best. You've also got to give 'Face props for reuniting the members of Shalamar's best-known lineup for this song, as Howard Hewett, Jody Watley and Jeffrey "I Taught Michael Jackson to Moonwalk" Daniel put aside nearly fifteen years of acrimony to appear together on this track. 'Face must have hit them off with a nice chunk of change for that one.
It seems like over time, Babyface lost a fair amount of interest in his singing career. Aside from his debut solo album, 1987's "Lovers" (an album that I haven't fully ingested yet), each successive album of his has dipped in quality from the one that preceded it. "The Day" marks the last of his good albums. Not all of the guest appearances work, and 'Face isn't operating with his best set of songs, but it's mostly a satisfying, easy listen. Don't expect to get knocked out of your seat by the quality of the music (sh*t, don't expect to even break a sweat-'Face lost his dancing shoes somewhere around 1990), but the fact is that most of the songs here are enjoyable enough- a testament to the songcraft of one of recent pop's most successful wordsmiths.
"The Day" by Babyface Released 1996 on Epic Records Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
Track Listing: Every Time I Close My Eyes/Talk To Me/I Said I Love You/When Your Body Gets Weak/Simple Days/All Day Thinkin'/Seven Seas/The Day (That You Gave Me a Son)/How Come, How Long/This is for the Lover in You
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