Customer Reviews

G Force

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Kenny turns from ex-leader Jeff Lorber as producer to early
80's electrofunk maestro Kashif and turns in a fine collection of
bouncy funky R&B sax tunes,all with a great rhythm and some great
vocals.Kenny G's solo' here evoke a soulful,late night mood and have a definate hipness that none of his future music would come
close to replicating.The grooving title song,the fine gospel-
inflected vocals on "Hi,How Are you Doing?" and a kinetic
cover of Kashif's own "Help Yourself To My Love" are sure-fire
highlites.A warning:as with all of Kenny's first 3 albums lovers
of his post-'Duotones' album's won't find anything of interest
here for them.These are soulful,funky and often exciting R&B
songs that no,don't hold much jazz interests,but are at least a
promising start to something that shouldn't have gone that way that it did!

...is another man's sweetness" is how one of Kenny G's song goes. I see that most people reviewing this don't seem to like this album. One person rated this as "slow and weak" (That person probably likes the "slow and weak" song, "Songbird" from one of his sellout albums). Others have said the songs on this album were "...very repetitive..." and "...sounds the same...". That's funny, because most of his subsequent hits sounded like re-hashes of his first hit, "Songbird".

But I will dismiss the naysayers and proclaim that this is the ONLY Kenny G album I possess and would possess. This album has a more funky R&B groove that I appreciate more than his droning "adult-oriented" pop fare. Moreover this album was made before his record company literally forced him to come up with something more "watered down". They probably thought that because he was white, he wasn't going to sell a lot of records playing R&B/funk-style music, and that type of attitude is why I hate record executives (and some music listeners, as well).

And "sounds the same"??? Does "Hi, How Ya Doin'?" really sound the same as "Tribeca" (which is my favorite cut from this album)

Anyways, I have listened to Kenny's playing ever since the Jeff Lorber days and I definitely like this period in his career way much better than his "sell-a-million" hit-maiking days. I don't blame or hate Kenny G for going in this direction. But as far as uncompromised artistry is concerned, he proved that he is just as skilled on this album as he is on his future ones.

G Force is Kenny at his R&B best! with that Great Kashif sound! here is another great cd in that smooth jazz tradition that is good all the way through... I do hope in the near future Kenny will return to this type of production and vary his sax playing.
"I've Been Missin'You' is some of Kenny's strongest playing!

Anyone who has lived through the "fusion" Jazz era would understand. "G"-Force is the best Kenny G album ever made. You can't have a tru appreciation of jazz without realizing the importance of it's soul content.

Kenny G lost the edge that G-Force had begun to establish. David Sanborne and even his earlier partner Jeff Lorber have gone on to realize true success. They never lost that edge. Kashif's contributions to the G-Force album were wonderful. Kenny could have really been a G-Force in the jazz arena had he stayed with the flavor.

It was that creative energy back in the early 80's that made fusion jazz a beautiful thing. Judst check out "Back street" from David Sanborne. If anyone cannot appreciate the G-Force album, then they've missed the elements necessary to relate to fusion jazz.

Between Kenny G and David Sanborn, we ended up with a new genre of jazz music, which thankfully has hung on after all of the horrible R & B that has hit the airwaves. Yes, I am more of an early Kenny G enthusiast (Duotones is his best, in my opinion, though I do love his Kashif colloborations), but people like Praful, Kevin Toney, and others owe it to the original sounds Kenny and Sanborn brought to the table. Get over the long hair and Michael Bolton fears, relax the "threat" to your manhood and enjoy decent music. This and Duotones are excellent starts to those who want to hear Kenny G at his rhythmic best.

I bought this on vinyl in '83 and it blew me away. It stood the test of time 20 years later. Great direction from Kashif and music production from Wayne Brathwaite. Combine that with Kenny's awesome playing and you have a masterpiece. Kenny took a lot of backlash from the Jazz community for so-called "selling out" on his latter albums. I never understood this because he was always a great sax player. It basically all stemmed from jealousy in my opinion. Even the late great saxophonist George Howard voiced his opinion about Kenny's popularity. I have both vinyl and the CD version and it seems like the vinyl sounds a little better than the CD.

Probably some of the people who wrote these comments just haven't been listening to it.I think this album sounds cool!Actually,my favorite songs on it are G-Force.

Reviewer "MCB" pretty much nailed it. This album won't be surpassed until Kenny returns to the funky sound which drew me in originally. He collaborated with Kashif on this record and the result was very cool and the influence was obvious. I've seen him about a dozen times in concert, (though not for years)including when he was opening up for the likes of Gerorge Benson in the old Seattle Music Hall. Sadly he went in a different direction following his rise to commercial success - having written some beautiful songs since, but minus the infectious funky groove that I was looking forward to hearing more of. There are one or two similar type tunes to be had on an album here or there ("One night stand" from Gravity) but for those who are complaining that G-force's songs sound the same - please! It's the Pastels and Silhouettes that are indistinguishable. They are beautiful songs but I'm afraid that the promise of G-Force went unfulfilled and Kenny kind of lost me along the way. I know plenty of other fans like me who were there at the start feel the same way. Also, the original yellow album cover was WAY cooler than this new CD version. This is the only album of his that I rebought on CD.

This album is better than his first, and he had some of his first hits on this one ("Tribeca," "G-Force," and "I've Been Missin' You"). "Sunset at Noon" is a very interesting, Native American-sounding song that my mother enjoys. The only song I don't like is "Hi, How Ya Doin'?" because there isn't much saxophone in that one. Also, check out Kenny's album "Duotones" and David Sanborn's "Backstreet."

This is where his solo career began and it's not bad for a his first project. The stars were within reach after this project because he just took off!