Customer Reviews

Now Or Never

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After three years since the album, "Sex, Love, & Pain", label changing, and lots of leaked tracks (good ones, too), Tank is back with a hot, new album steaming up for those winter nights called "Now or Never", the fourth installment and first on his label, Atlantic.

Like always, Tank brings out and produce the sexuality and sensuality the listener would enjoy. And he's not alone, he brings along the current cats Drake, Chris Brown, and his own cat, new artist J. Valentine for the ride.

The opening track, "Showtime", starts it off by Tank getting the listener ready for what's about to come.

"Sex Music", the first single, delivers with a sexy bassline for the party people, Tank proves that he can be current here.

"Celebration", the next single, with its smooth beat, finger-snapping, telling to celebrate love-making with your loved one. And of course, Drake is featuring in this track, too (since Tank is one his favorites)

"Emergency", the second single. In this song, Tank saving a woman in distress before it's too late.

In "Scream", Tank shares different ways to scream; when you're fed up or when making love.

"Keep It l00" - a phrase meaning "keep it real with me", "tell me the truth". Tank sings about telling the truth.

In "Foreplay", this is when Tank shines. Seductive beats, sensual lyrics, this track has it all with Chris Brown assisting.

There's a burning desire, heat and passion in the next track, "Can I". Tank delivers what the listener wants to hear without being too cheesy, too corny or too perverted - just sensual and raw. It'll be reminiscent of what Teddy Pendergrass, Ron Isley, Marvin Gaye or Barry White used to set the mood off right.

"Amazing" is a beautiful track and one of the highlights. With Tank's lushful vocals soaring through the listener's ears, this track is suitable for a night out with a loved one.

"You Mean That Much" is stripped-down R&B at finest.

His version of "I Can't Make Love Me" - another stripped-down R&B track - is beautiful, a well-done version of the track.

Bonus Tracks:

"On My Way" is solid as well and J. Valentine isn't bad either. He reminds me of Bobby Valentino when he first came out.

The beginning of "Let Me Know" might confused you at first with its bass thumping but when the music stars, it makes sense. Perfect for car crusin' music.

The remix for "Sex Music" - perfectly titled "Sex Nights" - slows it down as the album concludes.



Outstanding album, indeed. Make sure y'all get this album and support the General of R&B music!!!

Hands down an AMAZING album from the underrated Tank! It's a pleasurable listen from head to toe! It's a must have in an R&B lovers collection!

Tank has always been one of the most overlooked and underrated R&B singers since the 2000's. Though he is an exceptional contemporary R&B singer that has had a small handful of solo hits and modest record sales, he is probably more know for his excellent songwriting and production of other major R&B artists. In a lot of ways, I like to think Tank is kind of like a very very poor man's R. Kelly (Just Speaking in terms of chart success, not Poor Man in terms of talent). Much like R. Kelly, Tank normally writes, produces, plays and sings his own music along with the music he contributes to other artists. He has worked with a extensively long list of grade A R&B singers over the past five years, like Jamie Foxx, Omarion, Donell Jones, Joe, Keith Sweat, Marques Houston, Pleasure P, Fantasia, Keri Hilson, Toni Braxton, Chris Brown, Monica and Day 26 just to name a few... And while Tank has never been a truly standout artist/producer/songwriter, he should be a lot more popular as he makes some of the best modern day R&B music out, weather its his music or someone elses. And while I do think he is very underrated, he has managed to have 4 successful singles, 900,000 records sold amongst his first three solo albums, and he's gotten nominated for four grammy's, two of those nominations were for his own solo music. But even with that very impressive resume, he still tends to get overlooked quite often, and unfortunately I think that trend will continue on this long awaited Now Or Never album...While I'm sure he will have a decent first week sales (His last album, 2007's Sex, Love & Pain managed to move 100,000 in the first week surprisingly), Now Or Never will most likely fall off very fast much like his last album. But never the less, that doesnt detract from his super talent.

Like I stated above, Tank has never really had that "Breakthrough" success in terms of his solo career. He's one of those artists who has a hit here and there and sells a decent amount of records (Enough to keep him afloat), but never truly breaks into the mainstream for good. The first time people really remember hearing Tank, was probably with his first solo hit, the slow jam ballad "Maybe I Deserve", which ended up being his first and only top 40 hit and probably his biggest hit to date. The single was lifted from his 2001 debut album, Force Of Nature, which managed to go gold, probably due to the success of that hit. Now though, Force of Nature has slipped out of print, and is considered a rare collectors item if you can manage to get your hands on a copy. Force of Nature itself though, was honestly a pretty miserable album, which is probably why it only had one hit. It was very awkward and it sounded like Tank didnt really know what he was trying to accomplish with the record. The production was bad, the songwriting was sub-par at best, and the songs were just kind of boring, which is why I'm kind of surprised people are willing to pay upwards of 50 dollars for the album. Besides the two singles and maybe one other track on the album, the rest of the album was very bland. So when it came time for round two from Tank in late 2002, people were definitely skeptical. His second album, 2002's One Man, was unfortunately much to similar to his debut. Again besides the singles (the title track and a party track titled "Let Me Live"), there wasn't a whole to offer on the album. Although I will admit, it was a step forward from his last album, as there were at least a few tracks on the album that were worth listening to more than once. But overall, One Man still wasn't up to par with other contemporary R&B albums being released at the time, not even close really. Not to mention the album failed to have even one single achieve chart success, causing the album to flop even harder than his debut. So after his first to albums failed to meet expectations (Critically and Commercially), Tank disappeared for quite a lengthy period of time, although he was still producing and writing for other artists, but he wasnt getting a whole lot of attention for it. Tank didn't resurface in the music industry as a singer again until 2005 when he released a promotional single titled "I Love Them Girls", which also went unnoticed, though it was a fantastic stripper anthem lol So in early 2007, when he finally started to make his official comeback as a solo artist with his first single from his third studio album, Sex, Love & Pain, it had felt like he was gone for more than five years, especially since a lot of people didn't even know he released an album back 2002. So needless to say, the anticipation for Sex, Love & Pain was high. Especially since he finally started to get more recognition for his production credits on other artists records, most noteworthy his work on Jamie Foxx's Unpredictable album which ended up being one of the best and most successful albums of 2005/2006. So like I said, expectations were sky high (Including mine). The Sex, Love & Pain album ended up being a pretty successful album for him, especially since the first single "Please Don't Go" ended up being one of the more popular R&B singles of the year, and serving as the true comeback record for him earning him two grammy nominations. All in all, Sex, Love & Pain was by far his best album at the time, mostly because his production and songwriting had gotten sooooo much better over that five year gap between albums, probably due to how in demand he was during that time as a producer for other big name R&B artists. Not to mention he was taken in as part of one of the best R&B production teams of the past 10 years, The Underdogs. But with that said, and even though SL&P was his best album, I still can't deny that it was disappointing somewhat. It could have been the sky high expectations, or it could have been the fact that the album itself just wasnt that great still. Don't get me wrong, it definitely wasn't nearly as bad as his first two albums, it wasn't bad at all, but it still felt like it was missing something that made it a truly good or great standout R&B album...

So now, three and a half years later, we are in kind of the same spot with his newest album, 2010's Now Or Never. Tank has had a tendency to take his sweet time with his albums, especially his two most recent albums. So if Tank has perfected anything in his 10 year run in the music business, its that he has learned how to form very high anticipation for his albums. Just like Sex, Love & Pain, Now Or Never's expectations and anticipation was sky high after a three and a half year wait for the album, and over two years worth of push backs and leaks. This album has gone through it's fair share of modifications, in fact, its probably nothing like what the first original tracklisting suggested it to be. Now Or Never's original title was Sex, Love & Pain II: The All Night Experience, and it was intended to be released on his original label Blackground Records. But with almost the entire album leaked to the net before there was even a single released for the album, and a decreasing album budget with an already sinking label in Blackground, in early 2009 Tank decided to jump ship and take his talents to the SUPER label Atlantic Records, which i fully supported seeing it as he would probably finally get some good promotion and a good album budget (I mean have any of you seen the music video for his huge 2007 single "Pleas Don't Go" from Blackground records??? Talk about a low budget video). So he scrapped the entire Sex, Love & Pain II album in summer of 09, and started working on a totally new record, to be titled...you guessed it, Now Or Never. So in summer of 2010 when the rare up tempo banger/baby maker "Sex Music" was released as the first single to lukewarm ratings and chartings, the album was again pushed back from it's September 21st release date, to a November 2nd release, making the anticipation grow even more. And I honestly don't understand how "Sex Music" was such a flop on the charts, because it had everything Tank would have needed to have a radio smash...it had banging club beat, seductive lyrics, and instantly catchy hook, not to mention the song was just flat out great and super addictive. So honestly I was glad that the single floppped, because I just didnt want it to get over played on the radio, and "Sex Music" ended up serving more as a promo single than an actual single. But then unfortunately, the album got pushed back yet again, this time to a December 14th release date. The second single released was a typical Tank ballad about heartbreak in "Emergency", which was another great classic Tank track, that reminded a lot of fans and critics alike of Pleasure P's baby maker "Under", which coincidentally was also produced by Tank. And again, similar to "Sex Music", "Emergency" never really gained any steam on the charts, so far peaking at number 47 on the R&B charts, which signifies another failed single for Tank's Now Or Never album...But at least it didnt get pushed back this time, and now the album has finally arrived. And after just one listen I could immediately tell that it was by far Tank's best album. What seperates Now Or Never from Tank's previous albums, is the production and the vibe of the album. On Tank's previous records, like I stated earlier, the production and songwriting had a tendency to be bland at times (Actually more often than not), causing his previous albums to drag in some parts. But on Now Or Never he steps up not only his production, but his contributors also bring their A game. Like on "Scream", the Jim Jonsin produced piano tinged ballad about screaming, and not just sexually, is definitely a standout. And on the smooth babymaker "Amazing", Tank uses his soft falsetto to caress the gentle beat, and what Tank claims to be his favorite track on the album "Can I", is also another extremely steamy baby maker and probably the best song on the album, which if played at the right moment it's promised someone will become pregnant. And the mid tempo acoustic driven "Keep It 100" is another standout heartbreak ballad, produced by Tank and his production team Song Dynasty, who dominates the production on the record. And the Drake assisted mid tempo club banger "Celebration", produced by R&B duo The Stereotypes, is probably Tank's last hope for a hit single on this Now Or Never album, as its probably one of the more catchy songs on the album. The cover of Bonnie Rait's love ballad "I Can't Make You Love Me" is also surprisingly another standout, as Tank makes the track his own with his amazing vocals on the track. Thats another thing I want to point out about this record, is that vocally Tank has never sounded better than he does on this album. His smooth vocals just glide across all of these tracks almost effortlessly, making it very clear as to why I have always thought Tank has one of the best most mature contemporary R&B voices among the rather large group of modern day R&B singers. All in all, Now Or Never isn't going to be the best album of the year by any means, nor will it have any sort of tremendous chart success either, but it's the first Tank album that there isn't an ounce of disappointment in me about the record. It's the first Tank album to truly meet and exceed my expectations, which i was honestly starting to become skeptical if he would ever be able to give us a truly great or even a solidly good contemporary R&B album, after his first three records were mediocre at best. But it's finally happended, and Now Or Never proves that Tank is more than just a excellent producer/songwriter, he is also an excellent solo R&B artist.




Grade:
B

Tank did an AMAZING job on this record! Pure R&B at it's finest and it's criminal that he's so underrated. In a way maybe that's a good thing because he doesn't have to have EVERYONE on his album and can do his own thing. The whole album was good and it's one of the few albums in awhile where I can listen to the whole thing straight through. Tank did a great job on Bonnie Rait's "I Can't Make You Love Me". It was nice to hear that from a man's perspective.

I have been a Tank fan since his first album in 2001. He's not only a great writer and producer, but he is a great artist/musician. This album will not disappoint. He is one of the most underrated yet most talented artist of this decade. His range and his control is truly amazing to me. From start to finish this album will capture your soul and allows you to embrace what real music feels like. If you don't have this album go get it!

Tank is hands down the BEST singer and/or musician in the game. Not only does he sing great live, he actually plays the instruments. The guy is GREAT. I didn't skip not one song while listening to it. Hands down he is the greatest studio and live singer.

Sherrod Sellars Columbus OH

the new Album from Tank he has some nice tracks off the now or never album released again I don't think this is his best album. my favortite songs are

1. Showtime
2. Sex music
3.foreplay featuring Chris Brown
4. Can I
5.Clebration Featuring Drake

so far I like the new album I like his last released sex, love, pain that was released in 2007.

12-16-2010

I wasn't impressed at all with his other
albums....BUT....THIS IS THE ONE! FINALLY!!!
Don't let the negative reviews poison your mind.

Loved his last album but this just wan't the same... Amazing is a good song but it seems like he was trying to be Atlantic's top selling artist instead of tank.

I expected more from Tank, I enjoyed 1 or 2 songs and that is it. Maybe more to others liking.