| Bilal - 1st Born Second |
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| Music Disc Reviews Audio CD | ||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Dan MacIntosh | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, 31 July 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||
Naturally, Bilal's record company is touting rap superstar producer Dr. Dre's involvement in his new project 1st Born Second, and who can blame them? Dr. Dre's endorsement is like money in the bank. But Bilal, a sensual soul singer, traces his musical influences back to Prince and Al Green erotic musical territory, rather than coming straight out of Dre's Compton mean streets on his debut album. In the same manner that Prince created simmering grooves as means to push his vocal falsetto to the limit, Bilal's song "Fast Lane" warns against the temptations of fast lane living the way Prince's "Sign O' The Times" wept prophetically back in the Eighties. The track is reminiscent of Prince's simmering grooves pushing falsetto to the limit, all with vocals in the uppermost register. While Bilal's singing may point back to old school values, the production on this mostly soul album - with obligatory rap elements - is completely recorded in the modern vernacular. Backing vocals are layered, bass and drums bounce along with insistent simplicity and all of this happens without anything getting in the way of Bilal's front and center one-on-one sung soliloquies. There are also a few welcome musical surprises, which keep 1st Born Second from ending up sounding too same-y. These include "Sally," which incorporates group mock-operatic vocals, borrowed from old Parliament recordings, and synth shrieks, also deftly Bogarted from the George Clinton camp, for a punk-funk romp. On "Home," Bilal applies a Rasta-esque rhythm you'll swear was stolen from one of Bob Marley's classic cuts. Its spiritual longing is also a nice side road away from street realism and sex talk, which comprises the majority of this disc's content. Bilal is not a candidate to become Dr. Dre (or anyone's) next rap/soul superstar. Instead, he stands out as a sweet-voiced lover in a room full of mostly tough-talking thugs. Like this article? Bookmark and share with any of the sites below.        |
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