Customer Reviews

Pictures

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

 

 

When I first saw that Tony Rich was putting out a new album, I was hyped. I loved his albums Words and Birdseye and believed them to be two of the best albums EVER in R&B. His creativity and songwriting are outstanding as seen by Nobody Knows it but Me, Grass is Green, My Stomach Hurts and Blue Butterfly. His third album Ressurected was an interesting twist on the R&B genre, oftentimes blending with soft rock. Yet the album was impressive and reaped of his creative skills with tracks like Mental Purgatory, Free, and Red Wine.

My love for Tony Rich was running high and so when Pictures came out, I bought it right away. Yet playing through the tracks, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, the album is very well designed, with each track acting as a Picture in the photo album of a relationship. In this sense, it is very much like Babyface's unreleased album Love Story. The set up is clever and some tracks really shine but unfortunately, the album seems to take some time to get into the groove and escape bland mainstream tracks.

The early tracks Gone Girl and Somethin About You sounded like regurgitated tracks from other artists, not Tony Rich. R U Breathin begins to hint at the old Tony Rich lying out somewhere in the songs. That One, while a good song, again sounds nothing like Tony Rich and is very mainstream R&B music. Quiet doesn't carry much emotion in it, and is really something I tend to just skip over.

Would U Lie has a strong resemblance to tracks on Ressurected and is nice and catchy. Besides R U Breathin and That One, this is one of the first solid tracks to listen to. Moving On (has anyone else noticed the return of a similarly named song on every album of his? Leavin from Words, Thoughts of Leavin from Birdseye, Travelin Alone from Ressurected and now Moving On) is a solid track, showing the album to finally be turning around. It has that soothing buzz on your mind that many of Tony Rich's earlier albums invoked and has a nice beat to it as well.

From here out, Tony Rich really starts to get in his groove. Sponge is a thoughtful song that fits right in on Birdseye. It's strong and the chorus is simple and catchy. U My Girl is uptempo and lets Tony really ring out his sound. It's not a unique song but the rest of the closers more than make up for that. She Loves Me has a nice catchy guitar sound in the background and the lyrics are soft but a neat soft rock sound that works well. Don't Be Worried is a tear jerker but is incredibly well done. The track is very soft but it fits well with the song's message. The album closes with Beautiful, a strong track that gives Tony Rich an almost gospel sound.

Overall, the album is worth picking up for any fan of R&B music. It's far from Tony Rich's best work (Birdseye will always hold that honor) and it starts off weak but around track 8 or so, Tony really gets into feeling it and starts to let it out.

Hopefully the album will do well enough that we can continue to hear more from the great Tony Rich

UPDATE: Every time I listen to this album, it gets better and better. In my opinion, it is better than Words and close to the same level as Birdseye. Tony Rich has a clever way of making songs sound like the emotions they convey. While early tracks like Gone Girl, Somethin About U and That One seem more mainstream R&B, they fit perfect with the message the album is trying to convey. The feelings are high and the songs work wonders in making you feel the same way as the relationship being described. While there are still several weak tracks on the album, I feel even more confident now to fully recommend it.

When I first heard the album I was a little unsure about how i would rank it amongst Birdseye, Words and Resurrected. Because althogh the tracks were arranged, written and delivered well, everything just seemed a bit too "happy" and a bit too commercial for me. Words was a beautiful album yet u could really feel his depression (Nobody Knows is a perfect example. And if you like Words you will like Mario Winans - Story of My Heart). Admittedly Birdseye (his best album by far) was much happier although the songs were still so deep. In Ressurection you could see the journey he was going on, from losing love, to meeting someone and then wondering if they are the one. And finally drawing close to God. However Pictures seemed a little too mainstream for me to relate to the man who is Tony Rich whatsoever. And the songs that would normally make you stop and think (eg Dont Be Worried) just seemed out of place.

Once again its obvious how much influence Prince had on him [and this is no bad thing..to be influenced by one of the greatest artists ever]. Tony Rich knows it too. I mean, the first thing Tony Rich said on his first album was "lemme get a bowl of fruit cocktail". Dorothy Parker anyone?? Do U Feel Me reminds me of a typical Prince song although much less explicit lol.

So for the first few weeks I was a bit disappointed in Tony Rich and Pictures. I mean one of my favourite artist of all time, an artist whose every other album i fell in love with because it was so different to everything else and so damn amazing. And his latest album just felt as if there was no particular message he wanted to convey, no way to understand what he is feeling.

However over the past month or two of listening to the album, I find myself at home or out somewhere and out of the blue I begin to sing one of the songs on this album. And I have to switch my ipod on and find that song just to sing along to it or to think WOW those lyrics ARE deep, i never realised! This is the effect this album has had on me. Alot of The melodies and guitar riffs really paint a picture (no pun intended), and the lyrics are typical Tony Rich..Simple yet exciting and extremely effective. And I begun to realise that Tony Rich doesn't want you to compare this album to any of his other albums. It's obvious over the years that he is an experimental artist. Words was different to anything else at that time. Birdseye was different to Words. Resurrection was different to Birdseye. And now Pictures: completely different yet again. Im sure he could make another Birdseye (i hope he does eventually!), but who are we to stop him from doing what HE wants.

And when you understand this, then you understand the album and can realise that in no way has he gone mainstream. Going mainstream usually means conforming to what the public want in order to sell albums. And the unfortunate reality is that Tony Rich wont sell the number of albums trash artists like 50 Cent, Missy Eliott etc sell. He hasnt conformed to anything, he has just made an album with some songs you can dance to, and some you can read the lyrics to (Sponge, Beautiful) and really appreciate what he is saying.

Pictures is the perfect name for the album. He explains the name in one of the tracks, telling us Pictures are moments in time. And that's just what the album is. We go through thousands of feelings and emotions during even just one day, and this album is a set of freeze-frames of many of his emotions.

In finishing, this isn't another Birdseye, it isnt another Words, it isn't another Resurrected. If you own one of those and think this will be the same, I'm afraid you will be slightly disappointed. However it's a Tony Rich album, and if you like the ARTIST Tony Rich, you will love this album.

Well to be honest my review is gonna be somewhat biased because I know Tony and his brother Joe Rich personally and I gotta support my fam. Album #4! I'm proud of you boy!!! Now being that I'm a musician who happens to have discriminating musical taste I'll say that the album truly deserves 5 stars. My favorites so far are "Gone Girl", "Somethin' About U", "Moving On" and "Sponge"(deep lyrics). Overall, it's a very nice CD and I really hope that it's promoted properly. I won't even try to compare this album with the others. I like them all for different reasons. Believe me, you won't be disappointed. Sit back, relax and enjoy the musical journey.

**QuietSoul**

This is a great album and worth every penny. I loved Words and Birdseye, but I was disappointed with Resurrection. The album is a really nice fusion of soul, jazz, and a little funk.

Here's whats lacking in the R&B world today - some rythym and blues! With the exception of each tracking starting out with the sound of a picture being taken, this is nearly a flawless album. Mr. Rich was in the zone when he recorded this one. The entire CD has a vibe, luckily without repeating itself. Mostly made of slow ballads and mid-tempo tunes, it will still get you bopping your heading and tapping your feet with its heavy bass feel and tight percussion sound. The songs are written and arranged well, and his vocals (for me) stand out on this one.

Tony Rich has traveled a long, drawn-out road of mediocrity and disappointment. After breaking out with the monstrous single "Nobody Knows" on the debut album Words, it was pretty much downhill from there. I'm one of the only people that could even tolerate Birdseye, but even I couldn't compare it to Words. I don't even think anybody even knew there was an independent album called Resurrected that came out back in 2003. And few people will probably even hear his latest independent release title Pictures either. Unfortunately for Tony Rich, they aren't missing a whole heck of a lot.

I mean, there are a few songs that are decent cuts for the guy who brought us Words. "Somethin' About You" is a standout track that is worthy of radio airplay. "Beautiful" and "Gone Girl" are pretty decent cuts as well. But besides those three cuts, there are no other songs that will even keep your attention. The falsetto on "Don't Be Worried" will leave you asking "Is this guy serious?" "R U Breathin?" is like a bad rip of a Lenny Kravitz cut, while "Would U Lie?" would have been better if Prince had done it. The same can be said for "U My Girl," a song that I can hear Jamiroquai rocking for an upcoming single.

Tony Rich has struggled to find his sound (or even an listening audience) and has practically fallen short at every turn. At least he knows that he can't match the crisp, refined sound that he showcased on Words. I guess this is a perfect example of when Pictures aren't worth a thousand words, but rather three words.... GIVE IT UP!