Thank You＜限定盤/Pink Vinyl＞

Diana Ross first album of originals in over 20 years and first studio LP since the covers-oriented I Love You is neither the unqualified triumph nor the disgrace it could have been. Thank You is constructed as a major return. Although Ross co-wrote eight of the songs and did some of the recording at her home studio, it involves multiple teams of writers and producers, was pieced together from other sessions in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and London, and features the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra separately on over half the cuts. Ross seems much more invested in these songs than she did on her 1999 and 2006 efforts. She puts her all into these positive messages of gratitude, support, and unity, no matter how much the lyrics resemble mixed-and-matched phrases from inspirational memes. Conviction is always evident in her soothing voice, even when its modulated to a jarring extent or sounds somewhat garbled. The clearest bid for a smash is the one produced by hitmaker Jack Antonoff, I Still Believe, whose fully tricked-out modern disco is so sweeping and grand that Annie Clarks guitar is barely audible. That and other songs clearly attempt to recapture moments from Ross past -- the Supremes era and later solo ballads and dancefloor hits -- and then theres Beautiful Love, a ballad that seems to have Lionel Richies Hello in mind despite its maternal perspective. That song is among eight collaborations with Troy Miller (Laura Mvula, Gregory Porter). The four made with the hipper Triangle Park team are more adventurous, veering from the stiff dancefloor jumble Tomorrow to Lets Do It, a motivational number that finely melds U.K. garage and synth funk (a world apart from the like-titled Cole Porter composition Ross reinterpreted on Blue). ~ Andy Kellman

実に15年ぶりの新作は、華麗な足跡を愛おしむような素晴らしい表題曲を手掛けたトロイ・ミラーを中心に、トライアングル・パークらポップ職人が集ったポジティヴな一作。セレステがやりそうなコンテンポラリー路線でもシンプルなバラードでも独特の高級な雰囲気作りの巧さは流石で、ジャック・アントノフによるイナタいダンス曲"I Still Believe"も絶妙に映える。娘のロンダやサイーダ・ギャレット作のナンバーにも注目だ。
bounce (C)轟ひろみ