Customer Reviews

Playlist

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In the end, it all just comes off, like David Gates's "Diary," as Bread, all of it awfully, awfully, awfully white. --Alanna Nash

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WOW! Amazon reviewer Alanna Nash can't seem to get over the fact that a respected R&B performer like Babyface was influenced by white pop-rock artists. "Awfully white"? Didn't anyone else find this review more than a bit racially biased?

This is soft pop with some R&B flava, a tribute to great musicians who made history in the 70s and whose work continues to inspire many artists including Babyface. In most cases, remakes of songs like James Taylor's "Fire and Rain," Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" or Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" are condemned as self-indulgent when the performers try hard to make the song their own yet Babyface tastefully does it with class and enough restraint so as not to upstage the originals and also with enough gentle R&B massaging to make them worthwhile.

Playlist Album Résumé

Not Going Nowhere is the best Babyface's song since The Loneliness. The lyrics, his voice combined with the nice arrangements make it one of the best tracks of this album. 5/5

Longer 5/5 (It deserved a Grammy nod...)
Time in a bottle 5/5 (Simply divine)

Diary 4.5/5(it reminds me of "Girl in the life magazine" a song Babyface wrote for Boyz II Men)
Fire And Rain 4/5
Knockin' On Heaven's Door 4/5
Please Come To Boston 4/5 (Brandy's voice is so sweet)

Wonderful Tonight (3/5), I will quote Babyface himself: "I'm excited to say I got an e-mail from Eric Clapton, and he said that it was one of the best versions he's heard yet. And I'm just as excited that I got a letter from James Taylor himself saying that he loved the versions, and so I don't care what anybody else thinks. I'm fine now. That's better than winning a Grammy."

Shower the people (3/5)
The Soldier Song (3/5) it has all the ingredients of a patriotic song with the Nashville touch, the acoustic guitar, the harmonica and its meaningful lyrics.

Playlist is a great and mature album with no commercial intentions. After all, Babyface is already a multi-millionaire with 10 Grammies, multi-platinum albums... the only thing that comes to his mind is doing it for the love of the game and not for money!

Although I'm Face's die hard fan, I must confess the idea of covering such hits was great but the concept was relatively poor because of the following reasons:

1. First I'd like to compare this album with Barry Manilow's greatest songs of the 70s. The concept is similar to Playlist but Barry has put out a Dual Disc with more than 20 tracks while Babyface opted for 10 tracks only. That's my first disappointment coz there was still room for extending this amazing playlist!

2. I heard Face initially did not want to include new material on Playlist and luckily LA Reid (IDJ Boss & former LaFace partner) insisted to include new tracks and they agreed on "A soldier song" and the tearful "Not Going Nowhere". The later was written for his kids and inspired from his amicable divorce, it leaves you wanting more new material from Babyface...

3. Babyface is known to be among a few multi talented artists who can walk in a studio and get out with 100 songs I still don't understand why he always spends 5 years to release an album. He should have released a Double CD (This Playlist and one with new material)!

4. Another problem with Playlist is that he does everything from A to Z except on Please come to Boston where Brandy does some backing vocals (this track is one of my favs). My suggestion is "Invite guests Face!"... Add John Lennon's Imagine on this Playlist and call Michael Jackson or Elton John to lend their voices..., what about Beyoncé on Paul McCartney's Maybe I'm Amazed? Or invite Maxwell or Sting on John Lennon's woman.

5. Last but not least, I think his Playlist is incomplete without homage to R&B artists who also contributed much to the success of 70s' music (Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Stevie Wonder etc.). This is actually what was more predictable from a Soul singer like Babyface. A duet with Corinne Bailey Rae on Temptation's just my imagination, Toni Braxton on Smokey Robinson's cruising, Alicia Keys on Staple Singer's I'll take you there, Robin Thicke on Earth Wind and Fire's Reasons...

Babyface has the right to try doing s.th different especially after dominating R&B charts for a decade... so if you don't want the billboard charts to define what good music is, buy this piece of art!

this album is very touching.for those in our thirties that would have babyface, mary j blige, toni braxton on our playlist, these are people that have influence him that have made him the singer that he is today.the man could sing the alphabets for all i care and it would sound good.lol. people dont sing anymore.he is an artist that like to try different style and you cannot knock him for doing that, it just showed that is flexible and well rounded. he will always be # 1 in my book. for those that dont love this cd - oh well, get over it.my fav. song is not going nowhere- really a touching song about his son.

Not like his former stuff BUT still good for all Babyface fans out there. To be honest the man could sing the alphabet song and it would still sound cool to me. Its just his style....cool.

I've never owned a "Babyface" CD before but saw him on CMT's Crossroads with Trisha Yearwood. I was very intrigued and found this CD today. He said in a recent Jet article and on CMT that he was heavily influenced by James Taylor, Bread, Eric Clapton, etc. as a young teen.

All of the songs on this CD are cover songs except for Not Going Anywhere which he said was written for his childen after his divorce. I love this CD and his version of James Taylor's Fire & Rain is AWESOME! I highly recommend this CD.

This is a great CD !!. he has done it again, these are some the artist and songs that inspired him to write those off the chain love ballads and smooth dance tunes!. I think this is a good tribute CD and also has a few song original from babyface.

This album is a wow,beautiful choice of material and beautifully delivered.This shows off his wonderful voice.He connects with the material without ever sounding forced.

Let's get things straight if you're after urban beats or guest rappers. This CD isn't for you, as it's very mellow. Why is this CD a surprise? It's a surprise because I didn't like the idea or concept of this release, but I can't stop playing this CD. Babyface covering tracks from the 70's which some reviewers have said sounds country. This did not appeal to me or alot of people for that matter as it spent only 2 weeks in the Billboard Top 100. However Babyface has meticulously picked these songs and carefully arranged and produced this to be a stunning album. I expected this CD to be like "The Cool In You" but it is more like "The Day". It's very mellow made up entirely of ballads. Some of these songs from the 70's I don't know but they're fantastic. I've never liked Knockin' On Heaven's Door by Bob Dylan, but Babyface makes it bearable even likeable. It never ceased to amaze me why Bob Dylan sung his own songs. He was a great writer, in particular a great lyricist, (Check out "The Hurricane") but vocally he was painful karaoke. Which brings me to a good development in Babyface's career as featured in his 2 original songs on this album "The Soldier Song" and "Not Going Nowhere". Perhaps Babyface's only weakness in the past are his shallow lyrics. Nearly always about relationships. The same old story. "I miss her", or "I'm sorry I cheated". Ho hum, Boring. But in these 2 songs. HE'S ACTUALLY TELLING A STORY and showing depth lyrically. While he's always produced beautiful melodies, this sure is a welcome development. Finally a gripe, and one of the reasons that put me off buying this CD is it's length. The US release is 41 minutes long and only 10 songs. Hey we're not in the 1980's where vinyl had a limitation of less than an hour. If you don't mind paying an extra $5 and you're a diehard fan get the Japanese version (go to cdjapan.co.jp you can pay via PayPal as you would on eBay) as it gives you an extra 2 tracks both of them originals. The first bonus track is written & produced by Babyface and should have been included as the closing track on the US version. It's called "The Last One's Standing." The other bonus track was written & produced by Babyface & Daryl Simmons and sounds like it should have been on the "Grown & Sexy" album. It's called "Miss Know It All". Both very enjoyable tracks especially "The Last One's Standing". With these extra tracks the CD clocks in at 50 minutes. So for the extra few dollars, you should seriously consider the Japanese version. If you like Babyface's ballads, put your misconceptions aside and buy this. And by the way, I don't think it sounds country.

You guys are being too hard on Babyface. The simple fact is he did justice to these already classic songs that take all of us back to a time when everything was much simpler and we as a nation, as a world, were a lot less jaded and judgmental.

Thank you Babyface for making me smile!

Babyface has the perfect voice for these beautiful melodies. These songs bring back wonderful memories. When I heard Fire and Rain on the radio, I knew I was going to purchase this CD. Great job Babyface.