so. I got to hear the advance copy of this album. i wasn't very excited about hearing a bunch of covers.. but I must say I dig his versions. It's very simple covers, very similar to the originals in a lot of ways... I paticualry like Time in a Bottle on this album.. it is gorgeous piece of compositions. a couple of the tracks are new one's.

Tracklisting for Playlist:

Shower the people
Fire & Rain
Not Going Nowhere
Time in a Bottle
Wonderful Tonight
Knockin on Heavens Door
Longer
The Soldiers Song
Please Come Back To Boston
Diary


covers span from Bread to James Taylor to Bob Dylan to Eric Clapton.
[Edited 9/18/07 16:22pm]

He does a remake of the Dan Fogelberg song "Longer"?? That might be interesting to hear.I love the original.

I listened to some of the tracks of Face's new album, but I'm not all that crazy about it. I will say that I loved his cover of James Taylor's Fire & Rain. In fact, I heard his cover of that song in some movie I saw and I loved it.

SoulAlive said:

Yeah, its very close to the original. its a acoustical, strings, piano type.. very nice

I hadn't even heard he had a new album. Thanks for the heads up.

Lothan said:

It's surprisingly under his real name. The artist listed on the cover is Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. I guess he is trying to be serious. Sounds like an interesting album from the guy that helped create New Jack Swing.

i can't listen to fire and rain from anybody other than James

U guys need 2 check out his Crossroads on CMT with Trisha Yearwood. They did a lot of these songs as well as some of each other's material. It was very good to hear these songs. I actually liked some of them....especially "Fire and Rain". I believe the new cd comes out this week.

I had no idea he was doing an album either
is Diary a cover of Alicia Keys' song?

thekidsgirl said:

Nope!

hmm didn't know he had a new album out...then again, in recent years all the albums he has put out has been shot to shit. Wonder if this one is different...?

I tried liking Fire and Rain but I think I'll just pass and download the album...

I know that "Not Going No Where" is also a single they are pushing at Urban AC while Fire and Rain is being puched at AC radio. I like both songs, but they both are extremely POP!! I guess after "Grown and Sexy" and "Face 2 Face" didn't do as expected, he decided to go in another direction.

I like "Not Going No Where" a lot (especially lyrically). It is a song for his children with Tracy. Very touching when you listen to the lyrics closely.

PricelessHo said:

Not even the Isley Brothers version?

AlexdeParis said:

i just knew from you

was it an official release?

PricelessHo said:

Givin' It Back (1971)

1. Ohio/Machine Gun
2. Fire and Rain
3. Lay Lady Lay
4. Spill the Wine
5. Nothing to Do But Today
6. Cold Bologna
7. Love the One You're With

It's an album of great covers. "Love the One You're With" and "Lay Lady Lay" are my favorites.

I imagine Face got the idea for this album at least in part from the Isleys.
[Edited 9/17/07 18:37pm]

^ thanks for the heads up, Alex

Here is an interview with Babyface on About.com about his new album:

An Interview with Babyface
From Mark Edward Nero,
Sep 17 2007

Q&A with a Music Superstar

Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds is one the the most successful R&B/pop balladeers in modern history. He's written and performed dozens of hit songs for himself and others and has won 10 Grammy awards.

On Sept. 18, he'll release his 11th album, Playlist, a collection of Babyface's versions of eight songs by such pop and rock music legends as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and James Taylor, among others. The album also has two new songs: "Not Going Nowhere," a song to his children explaining how even though he's now divorced from their mother (Tracey Edmonds), he's not leaving their lives; and "The Soldier's Song," a track honoring the military members killed in the Iraq war.

About.com's R&B critic, Mark Edward Nero, had a chance to sit down with Edmonds recently for a face-to-(baby) face interview, and the highlights of it can be read in the Q&A below.

Nero: I want to talk to you about the new album - Playlist. How did you come up with the concept for the album?
Babyface: It was just something I wanted to do for awhile, to record an acoustic kind of album and the songs that I had grown up with. And I felt like this was just as good a time as any.

Nero: How long did it take you to record the album?
Babyface: The actual recording was maybe a couple, three months. But it took awhile thinking about the album, thinking of the songs to do and finally just kind of getting in and doing it. I went in and maybe cut three songs at went and went and talked with L.A. (L.A. Reid, Babyface's production/business partner) and he liked the idea of the direction. And then I said 'Okay, I need to go in and finish it up.' And it took about two months.

Nero: So it was a pretty organic process for you, then?
Babyface: Yes, it was just picking out the songs and our musician guys, we just kind of went in and cut it.

Nero: How long did it take you to choose the particular songs that you did for the album?
Babyface: The first half was easy, they just kind of came, but I had to search around for the next ones. There were some songs that I recorded, but I didn't think they worked for me. And so I just went with songs that I felt were natural for me.

Nero: There's 10 songs on the album - eight are cover songs and two are new. So how many songs total did you record?
Babyface: I only recorded maybe 15 to 16. I didn't do a crazy number of songs. I was pretty specific - I was mostly doing songs that I grew up with and grew up listening to, that I knew. Things that I'd heard and definitely influenced me.

Nero: So what songs didn't make the album, out of curiosity?
Babyface: I was looking at Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" and Gilbert O'Sullivan - "Alone Again Naturally." So there's things that were - "nice song, just not this time around."

Nero: Why did you decide to put a couple of new songs on the album?
Babyface: I felt like there should have been something new, as opposed to just a whole record of covers and I wasn't sure what those songs would be initially.

Nero: I had a chance to listen to part of the album and "Soldier's Song" sounds very Dylanesque - was that intentional?
Babyface: I was listening to everything from that era at the time and when I start to write, it's the harmonica that makes it feel Dylanesque, I guess. But I feel good about it. I was happy with how it came out.

Nero: How big of a Bob Dylan fan are you - you named one of your children Dylan.
Babyface: I'm a Dylan fan. I can't say I'm a total fan, where I know all of his music, but I've known enough things and known his vibe and his poetry that I've always been a fan. I didn't follow him as much because I can't do what he does. The ruggedness and freeness of his voice, it's cool. I wish I could do that. I didn't so much try to follow in his footsteps, but I always appreciated his music.

Nero: You've worked with Eric Clapton in the past. Are there any other artists on the album that you're covering that you've worked with?
Babyface: No, I met with James Taylor once and we started to do some work together, but we didn't. But other than that, there wasn't anybody else. I started to do a (John) Mellencamp cover, but ultimately didn't end up doing it. I always loved the song he had, "Jackie Brown," and I listened to him, but I couldn't find anything that I felt like I could pull off. And I'm a Bruce Springsteen fan, but I couldn't anything I felt I could pull off. The guys with those kinds of voices, I can love their music, but it doesn't mean I can do it.

Nero: I mentioned you have a son named Dylan - how many kinds do you have?
Babyface: Two kids.

Nero: And Dylan is how old?
Babyface: Dylan is 6. And Brandon, he'll be 11 on Aug. 28.

Nero: Have you played the song "Not Going Nowhere" for them?
Babyface: No. That would make 'em sad under the circumstances right now. Interestingly, I wrote the song for them as my sentiment, then as I thought about the people it would affect, I felt it would affect dads that were going through situations, going through divorces. Even though you're saying the right thing - 'I'm not going anywhere,' it can still be a sad situation.

Nero: And the other new song on the album, "Soldier's Song," can you tell me a little bit about that song and talk about how it came to be?
Babyface: I was in Washington, D.C. staying at a friend's house and his son was in the service and he had just came home. He had a friend in the service who had just got killed in Iraq. Then I got on the Internet and looked up all the kids - all the soldiers who had died in this war. And the thing just kind of hit me, in terms of how these kids are going there and sacrificing their lives. They are going there with the intention of believing they are fighting for a purpose, fighting to protect us here back at home. Regardless of what the politics are ... it just hit me that for every life we lose there, they didn't die in vain. We appreciate the fact that they gave their lives for us. And I think the song just kind of came to me thinking that regardless of what their reasoning were, that we respect and honor their lives.

Nero: So you think you might be touring in support of the album?
Babyface: Yeah, we're definitely looking at that. Probably ... November, December. We've got something that we're working on.

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daPrettyman said:

Nice, Thanks for that.

I dig the album.. I think people have to absorb this album like this: If you like babyface, and his overall sound, and want to hear him cover some really classic songs, check out this album.

its very acoustical, organic nature.. i like it alot.

Time in a Bottle and Please Come Back To Boston are just two stellar covers..

PricelessHo said:

My pleasure.

I just bought this cd and it is OK, nothing spectactular. It is definitely worth the $7.99 that Circuit City has it on sale for.

Grammy winners Trisha Yearwood and Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds come together for a concert where music knows no boundaries in CMT Crossroads. Known for their lyric voices and distinctive interpretations, Yearwood and Edmonds give a soulful performance of hits from the pop, country and R&B genres.

One of the highest-selling female artists in country music history with over 10 million records sold, Yearwood has earned nine No. 1 hits and 20 Top 10 hits and won multiple awards from the Country Music Association, Academy of Country Music and three Grammys, to name a few.

Hailed as a singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Edmonds has won 10 Grammys and numerous other honors from the Billboard Music Awards to the NAACP Image Awards.

Taped before an invitation-only audience in Nashville, the show features these two talented musicians taking turns on each other's songs and sharing their views on music. This episode of CMT Crossroads premieres Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. It will be re-telecast Sept. 22 at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Sept. 23 at 10 a.m.; Sept. 25 at 2p.m.; Sept. 29 at 10 a.m. and Sept. 30 at 2 p.m. All times are ET/PT.

Decent Allmusic review


Covers albums tend to be dashed off as a way to fulfill an artist's last remaining contractual obligation to his or her label. However, Playlist is Babyface's first release for Mercury, following 2005's Grown & Sexy, and he put a lot of heart and soul into the material, all of which connected with him as a youngster listening to '70s AM radio. Most of the sources are anything but cool: James Taylor, Jim Croce, Dan Fogelberg, Dave Loggins, and Bread. (Then again, Bread were sort of like the Coldplay of their day.) Apart from Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," everything is suited for Babyface, often to the point where the songs don't sound tremendously different from what he has written during the last several years. While you could go back as far as the first Deele songs for indications that he had more than soul and funk in his background, this album really conveys how much he owes to '70s singer/songwriters. In addition to the eight covers, there are two new songs, both of which fit into the album's scheme sonically while being far from lightweight subject-wise. In "Not Going Nowhere," he talks to one of his sons in the wake of divorce ("I've got a room with your name on the door/Your favorite things you could ever ask for"), and "The Soldier Song" addresses those who have had their lives taken by war ("Hope was all he had to cope/But he never made it home").