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51 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Still Ssssssmokin', October 2, 2005
Toni Braxton returns to the music scene with her impossibly deep and smoky contralto tones intact and firing on all cylinders. This is obviously not a woman who raises her voice a lot, even when handling her boys Denim and Diezel, who probably stop acting up as soon as Mom purrs at them.
With six Grammy's under her belt, the Maryland-born clergyman's daughter doesn't disappoint, except for the length of the album. However, hunt for a copy with the bonus tracks "Suddenly" and "Long Way Home" and you're home free. (The UK version has the bonus tracks)
This is a strong return, following 2002's "More Than a Woman", not counting the two "collection" albums in between. First single "Please" is an upbeat R&B pleaser, but my pick is single number two "Trippin' (That's The Way Love Works)", the best track by a long shot.
A solid album, and a must for all Braxton and R&B music fans everywhere.
Amanda Richards, October 3, 2005
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Toni's Back, But the Industry Is Not Feeling Her: Some Good Music, February 26, 2006
R&B mainstay Toni Braxton returned to the musical scene in Fall 2005 with her first release, Libra, since 2002's More Than a Woman. When Toni burst onto the scene in 1993 with her mega-success debut CD which spawned numerous hit singles, people raved over her as the next best thing. Three years later, she returned with Secrets which experienced the same mega-success as her first CD. However, in the four years between 1996's Secrets and 2000's Heat, Toni experienced bankruptcy. While sales-wise, she lost some footing, her Heat has been certified Double Platinum for sales of 2 million. However, two years later, 2002's More Than a Woman flopped selling only 500,000 copies and Toni left Arista Records for Blackground Records (home of the late Aaliyah and young R&B/pop star Jojo). While this release contains some good music, its sales have been extremely low especially for a singer of Toni's caliber.
Please-Produced by Scott Storch (Floetry's Supastar; Mario's Let Me Love you; Terror Squad's Lean Back), this mid-tempo was released as the first single. It has a very catchy beat; Toni's smoky vocals gives the right slant to this edgy song. There was a nice accompanying video, but radio never warmed to this song. A-
Trippin' (That's The Way Love Works)-Produced by Bryan Michael Cox (Faith Evans' Tru Love, Mary J. Blige's Be Without you; Usher's Burn; Fantasia's you Got Me Waiting; Destiny's Child's Bad Habit; Frankie J's How to Deal) and Keri Lewis, this smoldering ballad with tinges of a dark sound is the trademark song for Bryan Michael Cox. He's one of my favorite producers because while his songs are similar, they all have a unique vibe to them that distinguishes them from other songs out there. This song fits Toni's vocals well, and the background vocals fit the song well as does the musical arrangement. This was Toni's second single, but moreso than Please, it made little noise except on Urban AC radio formats. That doesn't take away from it being a great song. A+
What's Good-Produced by Bryan Michael Cox, Keri Lewis and containing elements of "In My Wildest Dreams" performed by The Crusaders, this sultry mid-tempo has Toni written all over it. It's hard to imagine any other singer trying to tackle a song like this because it has that "late nite" Toni signature to it. While the original sample is derived from The Crusaders, Tupac Shakur sampled this song, and it's interesting that Toni would include another Tupac sample. Her 2002's More Than a Woman contained Me and My Boyfriend (a Tupac sample). The background vocals are tight. The only complaint is that the spoken "what's good" do get annoying after a while. I could see this working on late night radio stations. A
Take This Ring-Produced by Rich Harrison (Amerie's One Thing, Beyonce's Crazy in Love & Jennifer Lopez's Get Right), it's hard to shake the fact that this sounds like Amerie's One Thing so much. The song is definitely catchy, and it is probably one of the most commercial songs on the CD able to cross-over to various formats. However, because Rich Harrison's go-go songs sound SO alike, it's hard for an artist to really garner a hit from him because the chances of radio or the public accepting a song so, so similar are slim. Bryan Michael Cox's productions do sound similar, but each of them have their distinct mark. Unfortunately, the same doesn't really happen with Rich. It's a great song, but it's difficult to separate it from other cuts. A
Midnite-Produced by Soulshock and Karlin (Whitney Houston's It's Not Right, But It's Okay), here's another Toni "midnite" mid-tempo that has that "late nite" feel to it. The song speaks about knowing where one's man is at midnite when he was supposed to be home a long time ago. The arrangement of the song all blends together to make it a very listenable song and allows it to sound like good album filler. A
I Wanna Be your Baby-Produced by The Underdogs and Babyface, this acoustic slow jam with a prominent bass line is the kind of music that Toni needs to explore. It has life. It makes a statement. It's like an updated version of some of the ballads from her early career, and it has appeal to many formats (Rock, R&B, Country, AC, Pop). This is the best song on the CD because it's not the typical Toni song. She also lets loose exhibiting that at 38 years old, she still can sang. This should be released as a single, but these days, all that people wanna hear is "lean wit it, rock wit it." A++
Sposed to be-Produced by Antonio Dixon, this sultry mid-tempo once again has that trademark Toni sound. It is a very sensual song, and one has to listen to the vocals to really get what Toni is saying. The background vocals are on-point and very catchy. All of the elements of this cut work together to make a great sound. The hook is, well hooky. A
Stupid-Produced by Cory Rooney (Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson), this is probably the weakest song on the CD. It sounds so much like what Toni has put out before. It's nothing new. Didn't I hear this on one of her other CDs? This cut appeared on Tyler Perry's 2005 Diary of a Mad Black Woman Soundtrack. I guess it takes a certain, acquired taste to get into this languid piano-centered, jazz club song. C
Finally-Produced by Antonio Dixon, this is another song that has Toni written all over it. After the disappointing Stupid, it's good to hear this cut, but it too sounds like it's a hybrid of many of the other songs. It's a mid-tempo with some good background vocals, but it's not commercial, and it comes off as listenable album filler. It takes a Toni fan to notice all of the references to her past hits where she intersperses the song titles into this song. B+
Shadowless-Produced by Keri Lewis, here is an acoustic ballad that doesn't work as well as I Wanna Be your Baby because it doesn't have the same fire/energy, but it's better than the boring Stupid. This song makes a statement, and it's good to hear Toni's interpretive abilities on this song. A
Overall, I am perplexed as to why this CD has struggled to sell 400,000 copies. Radio has not responded well to this CD. Add to that that Toni is not even 40 years old yet, and it's like she is being relegated to faded, 90s R&B star status. Her More Than a Woman was listenable and contained some strong songs including Lies, Lies, Lies, but it didn't have any promotion because she was pregnant. This one has seen some promotion, but if radio is not responding, how much can the record label really do? It's true that there are album fillers, many of which come off as hybrids of each other (What's Good, Midnite, S'posed to be and Finally), but they all sound good. There are songs with a different sound to them which gives the CD an edge like Please, Trippin', I Wanna be your Baby, Take This Ring and Shadowless. Only one song does not work for me. But I'm still confounded as to the lack of success this CD has experienced. It's hard to blame it age because Madonna, Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige have all released CDs that have made noise on the sales charts. Maybe it's Toni's status and appeal, but it's a great CD to pick up and to witness that Toni still has it.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Strong but not solid. , November 4, 2005
Besides being a sign, "Libra" is also balance and that name is perfect to describe Toni's career at this time. After "More than a woman" which from my point of view was a great album but the critics were negative, Toni comes back with this production which has what I call the two faces of Toni Braxton (her earliest generes Pop, R&B with a slide touch of Hip-Hop and her newest which was mainly Hip-Hop on her previous release). The result is very impressive and with Toni's voice any kind of music is going to sound flawless. What I have to admit is that her record company is not making any effort about promoting this album. The first single "PLEASE" went nowhere and I also have to say that the production is not the best because the album has only 10 tracks and the booklet doesn't include lyrics. From all this you can notice how big is Toni's background and credibility because the album debuted at #4 on Billboard's 200 and #2 on Billboard's Top R&B and Hip-Hop albums.
Anyway that's just my opinion but to focus on the music. I would recommend the songs "PLEASE", "FINALLY", "TRIPPIN'", "WHAT'S GOOD", "I WANNA BE" and "TAKE THIS RING" which has an incredible rhythm and Toni's perfromance is great. The album was produced by Toni, Keri Lewis (Toni's husband), Vincent Herbert, Jomo Hankerson and Barry Hankerson. I really miss here L.A Reid, Babyface and Diane Warren. They should always be on Toni's productions.
You should give a shot to this album, it's not Toni's best but it's pretty good and let's hope that Toni gets back to the big success that she used to have.
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