Keep the Faith

Turn of the lights, light some candles, pour some wine and press play. I can assure you a night of romance or relaxation. The sweet sounds of Faith Evans self titled album “Faith” provides the perfect soundtrack for an evening alone, or a night shared with a lover. Tracks like “Come Over” make you feel young because it takes you back to the place you were when you first heard it. At the same time you are overcome with a sense of maturity because life has helped you understand the emotion behind the words for the first time. The jazzy feel of “Give it to me” will certainly take you to all the places you have longed for. And then the quintessential make up song “Soon as I get home”, will have you in a hurry on the freeway. This is a real R& B album. If you love love songs, sung sans the synthesizer this album is for you. If you like an album that you can play from beginning to end, this album is for you.

Faith Evans’ voice is so sweet and soulful over the Bad Boy tracks produced by then super producer, Puff Daddy. Say what you will about his unrefined look; If Puff Daddy produces artists like Faith Evans and MJB, and Sean Combs produces groups like Danity Kane, I’ll take Puff Daddy every time (shiny suits and all).

Listening to Faith made me ask myself if an album like this could survive in the mainstream music climate today. Among all the Rihannas, Beyonces, and Keri Hilsons, I get plenty of club music, but real R&B, music that helps you through hard times, or inspires you in good ones; I think it was buried alongside Hip Hop. Don’t get me wrong, I do recognize the Jill Scotts, and the Dwele’s out there, but I really miss this really raw, and real R& B that was so prevalent in the 90’s. I guess that’s why it is so nice to be able to pull out an album like Faith and get that old familiar feeling whenever I want it.