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Chaka Khan reviewed in 2 UK papers Chaka Khan's Come 2 my house reviewed in two UK newspapers:
Review from The Times dated 26/3/99 by David Sinclair: In striking contrast to the bland generalities of Le Roc's first album [note: another album reviewed in the same section] is Chaka Khan's 20th, an earthy, high-voltage display of passion and emotional insight by the soul diva who celebrated her 46th birthday on Tuesday. "Two times a mother and as many times wed," she tells us on the autobiographical ballad This Crazy Life of Mine, one of many songs on the album co-written with Prince. "I ain't worried about the future/The here and now is looking cuter," she sings on Spoon, a lyric that is more than a match for the song's salacious funk groove, this one co-written with Robert Palmer. Other contributors, including veteran bass player Larry Graham and rap star Queen Latifah, leave their mark, but the album is primarily the fruit of Khan's alliance with Prince. His fingerprints are everywhere - the propulsive rhythm tracks, the riotous horn arrangements, the spiritual/sexual lyrics, the purple artwork and number-speak title - but it is her voice which dominates unwaveringly throughout. Whether pleading, demanding, seducing, joking, testifying or celebrating for the sake of it, here is a singer with the life experience to make this sort of music count for something. Review from the Independent dated 26/3/99 by Andy Gill: In many ways, this three-way collaboration between Chaka, Prince and former Family Stone bassist Larry Graham is the most satisfying of Prince's recent works, thanks largely to the welcome presence of another, more distinctive vocal character on top of the familiar technomatic funk. It also features his best song in some while, the catchy parental instruction "Don't talk 2 strangers", which vies with a jazzy version of Graham's Seventies popping-bass showcase "Hair" as the album's highlight. Extending the Seventies mood even further, the album's funk is embellished here and there with some slick jazz-fusion touches, light brushstrokes of flute and piano lending tracks like "Hair" and "Come 2 my house" something of the flavour of Weather Report. The mix is as impeccably layered as you'd expect, and Chaka in as fine a voice as ever (though she only really gets to rip loose on "Journey 2 the center of your heart"; things can go somewhat awry, however, on her less successful songwriting exercises - such as "Democracy", in which, despite admitting she doesn't really know what the term means, Chaka decides she's agin it. Good call, Chaka. | |
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