REVIEWS:
Post your comments about Barry White
(reviewed by Kevin Baker)
Shocked, are ya? Didn't think I was a smooth, mellow "ladies' man" type of guy? Well, I'm not, but I do have a fondness for soul music. And I figure if VH1 considers soul to be a branch of rock, and if George Starostin has reviewed some soul music, then dang it, I can review some. So, here I am...sharing poetry with a lovely lady over ICQ, sipping club soda with a lemon wedge squeezed into it, and listening to Barry White with the lights off. Crud, I just got a piece of lemon pulp....that's the hazard of keeping the wedge in the glass. Oh well, the extra flavor's worth it.
So, what do I think of Barry White? His music is smooooooooooooth....he makes Steely Dan sound like The Sex Pistols productionwise whem it comes to the smooth, cool factor. However, unlike Steely Dan, Barry White's ear goes to "classical" instruments. There's a lot of harpischord, strings, mandolins, flutes, etc. all mixed together in the production. Barry White produced his own music by the way, and he certainly did it better than anyone else could have. He knows how to layer sounds to create very cool, smooth, sensual music. Plus, the man's voice is practically an instrument. I normally avoid describing men's voices as being sensual, but I guess I'd call it that if I was a woman. Very relaxing and soothing almost. Plus, it's definitely the deepest popular voice in music.
Now, my big problem with Barry is being too samey sounding at times, which really is a charge than can be levelled at soul music as a whole sometimes. However, Barry falls victim in particular because he always shoots for the same theme---sensuality. There's a reason he's considered to be prime make-out music. He wanted to be Mr. Romance, the Love Walrus...and it worked. However, I'm not sure if Barry working his mojo for 20 tracks is where it's at. He was probably more of a singles artist, but don't hold me to that.
Well, this is yet another case of no real bad songs to mar the listen. However, there are some standouts. The two instrumentals (Love's Theme and Satin Soul) are simply excellent and show off Barry's ability to produce. Out of the faster songs, Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe is my preferred choice. All the slow, sensual, steamy ones work as well. This is all the Barry you could ever want or need, really. Make-out music extraordinare, he was.
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