構成数 | 1枚

合計収録時間 | 00:52:39

Personnel: Babyface (vocals, various instruments, programming); The Underdogs , Pagani (various instruments, programming); Eric D. Jackson (guitar); Greg Phillinganes (piano); Clarence Allen, Cassandra O'Neal (keyboards); Eric Dawkins, Kevon Edmonds (background vocals). Seventeen years prior to 2005's GROWN & SEXY, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds's voice first appeared on the Deele's exquisitely sweet Top Ten pop and R&B hit "Two Occasions." Even then Babyface was by any measure fully grown, immeasurably sexy, and slowly taking control of the R&B world as half of songwriting and producing team LaFace (with future Arista head L.A. Reid). That GROWN & SEXY, the singer-songwriter's fifth album and first following a four-year absence, breaks little new ground and has a breathy familiarity is no shortcoming. Most of the vocal groups and sultry singers of the 1990s and beyond were informed by Babyface, and his stature shows on this solid record. On the title track, Babyface lays out the value of experience in love and lovers' games, offering an implied rebuke to the arrogance of mid-2000s juvenile crooners. While Babyface's confidence is unquestionable, he's one of the kings of expressing strength through vulnerability, as the heartfelt "Sorry for the Stupid Things" shows. Babyface can craft a simple song with considerable depth like few others, and GROWN & SEXY is the sort of rewarding album that's only possible from someone who's been in the game for a long time.

録音 | ステレオ (Studio)