Jamie Lidell - Multiply
By: Tyler Watson | Category: Album Reviews | 10/13/05 | 11:43 PM
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Grade: B | Genre: R&B/Soul
Summary: Mr. Lidell has a killer voice and the perfect music to go with it. If he had been around about 30 years ago, soul & R&B might still be taken seriously.
There's just something about Jamie Lidell. His music sounds 30 years old at most times, but then that Warp Records touch comes in and it sounds like the future again. And damn, dude's got some kind of voice there. He sounds so much like Otis Redding it borders on eerie. However, that also means his voice is taken for granted and might even seem a bit unoriginal. Fortunately the good overpowers the bad here and we get to enjoy this guy and his crazy pipes. |
On an album like this (soul? R&B?) the things I look for are voice and feeling. He's got the voice thing on lockdown, even if it does sound a bit too familiar. It's the feeling part where he really shines. When I listen to this, I imagine him jumping around in the booth waving his arms around, filled with all kinds of musical energy I can't understand. There are also parts of the album where, in my mind at least, he's definitely doing a pelvic thrust since he's so into it. He channels Michael Jackson at some parts (in a good way), which contributes to the pelvic thrust theory. There's a fantastically well-placed "hee!" on "When I Come Back Around" that makes me want to get moving too.
So Jamie's definitely got it in the voice and feeling areas. But he's also got some killer music working with him to keep him going. It reminds me a bit of Stevie Wonder: just cheesy enough to totally rock. It's not something you would ever want to hear without the singing, but since it's there it sounds great. Also like Stevie Wonder, you know it's good from the first listen but it takes a little while to grow on you. When I first heard Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life I thought it was elevator music. Similar story with Multiply, but not really. I never thought it was elevator music, but I definitely thought it wasn't my style. Why am I so close-minded? I don't know. Fortunately I forced myself to listen to it so I could write this, and now I really dig it. Don't be like me. Love it from the start.
Multiply is certainly an album you want. You won't want to hear it every day, but on those sunny mornings when you feel great, I can think of few things better. One of these things is Otis Redding. But even though Jamie Lidell has a voice a lot like Otis and many other old-school soul singers, that doesn't mean he should be appreciated less. It takes a lot of work to get a voice like that, just like it takes a lot of work to play the guitar like Jimi. And Mr. Lidell has other things going for him, namely the music he sings over. Nobody else has ever had the benefit of a voice this great and the strange music that comes along with a Warp Records contract, and he creates some awesome stuff with it. And the album art is really cool. If that's what it takes to get you to check it out, so be it.
Release Date: June 28, 2005
Buy Jamie Lidell's Multiply now.
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