I remember the first time I heard John Legend on an underground radio station. Anounced as one of the new stars in soul music for a long time to come back, followed by the first notes of Ordinary People, which still is one of his best tracks so far, according to me. Legend has always been one of those rare artists who managed to seduce true soul lovers as well as mainstream music fans and obviously, because of this, John Legend became a world wide star … appearing on the biggest festival stages and with a growing collection of hit singles. Anyway … Legend was soul, so you can imagine, here at www.jazzandsoul.eu, we were quite delighted when his latest full album, Evolver, droppped, in imitation of the Green Light teaser, whic sounded quite fresh. Evolver contains 15 tracks (2 bonus tracks included) of contemporary, modern, ‘high-tec’ soul music, a bunch of guest stars such as Estelle, Andre 3000 and Brandy in a Kanye West production. First thing that strikes me is that John’s music has changed. Tob e honest … I kind of miss that typical soulish feeling that’s so difficult to describe. That vibe that undoubtly was present on his first two CD’s, that characteristic sense that made John Legend, John Legend and that seperated him from all other ‘average’ artists and bands. Don’t get me wrong, Evolver still contains a couple of high quality jams. As mentioned Green Light is afresh, uplifting tune. It’s Over is a funky soul gem and comes in two versions (Original Mix and the Teddy Riley Remix as a bonustrack) built around good rhythmic beats and catchy horn samples … great tune. However, most of the tracks are slow tempo jams … nothing wrong with that, but frankly, there’s no ‘Ordinary People’ here. The songs are good, John’s voice still is beautiful … but there’s not really a spark here that makes me rush to the record store. Maybe I love, you Love comes close … a tune that floats on (believe it or not) a sultry Dire Straits sample from Tunnel of Love. As I said … Evolver is a good album. The evolution is that the music is sculpted into an accessible style which will certainly attract more and more people. On the other hand … the frequent use of drumcomputers and samples cuts away the raw and pure vibe that soul music needs and that was so distinctive for John Legend. Recommended for the average soul and R&B fans … maybe a bit too short for hardcore John Legend followers.

A Teach review

John Legend Linxxx

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