Customer Reviews

Instant

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This CD is one of the best I've heard in the past 5 years.
If you enjoyed his music and soulful voice with the Tonies, this is a double treat. Its worth the purchase. Do your self a favor and buy this CD. Just think how many albums you purchased in the last year or so that you can listen to continuously. I know that I haven't heard too many. Let that be your motivation.

Sha

Now that 20-track CDs have become the rule instead of the exception, "sprawling" is an adjective you could slap on plenty of new R&B albums--and not as a compliment, either. But the first solo disc from former Tony! Toni! Tone! frontman Raphael Saadiq is one of those rare creations that makes a virtue of its sprawl.
More a grab bag of classic soul riffs than a collection of proper songs, nearly every cut on Instant Vintage sticks nonetheless, as Saadiq's crafty production (check the tuba on "Still Ray," or the vocals that substitute for wah-wah guitar on the Prince-ly "What's Life Like") and occasionally imaginative lyrics personalize his borrowings. What makes it all flow together like honey, however, is the genuine warmth of the old masters; it's reflected in Saadiq's supple croon and through the guests he chooses (similarly earthy artists like D'Angelo and Angie Stone), and puts him an easy cut or three above the many neo-soul hopefuls he's inspired.