Rediscovering a Cd can seem like Christmas day (say when u come across an album like Brandy's debut) but often times it can seem like a cruel joke and often makes you wonder why the album is in your collection in the first place (Dangerously In love, i see you) But luckily, its more common for me to come across an album and fall back inlove with it, or even more so than before. I played with this idea back in October with my Faith Evans post, that people seemed to enjoy, but now i decided to make it a fixture here at RhythmicWords and call it Back in RhythmicRotation and share with you what I've recently pulled out of the collection to nod my head to.
Back in 2001 when I first heard the soulful sassiness of "Heard it All Before" my interest were immediately sparked by not only the fresh sound but the sweet texture of the voice behind it and I soon became amazed by radios eagerness to play and its push behind the record (oh how those days have come and GONE). Sunshine Anderson came onto the scene sounding like nothing at the time and providing a quite pleasant and DESPERATELY needed departure from the overflow and resurgence of pop music that came at the time. Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, and Destiny's Child all came out with some of their most successful albums of their career during this time (and arguably their most POP influenced music), but all I could do was focus on the little soul engine that could.
Sunshine became a break out hit and experienced an amazing amount of success from her first single alone, WITHOUT the annoying endorsements from prominent hiphop figures that force feed us broads left and right now a days, and WITH nothing more but pure talent. "Heard it All Before became a top 20 hit on the billboard 100 and her album Your Woman debuted at number 5 on the billboard top 200 album chart and went on to sell 750, 000 copies.
Better than the neck rolling, finger snapping women's anthem that was "Heard it all before" was the overall album Your Woman. Produced entirely by former SoulLife A&R Vice President Mike City (Brandy, Dwele, Carl Thomas), the album flawless from track 1 to 18 with interludes that didnt stop the flow or interrupt the feel and vibe of the record. The production paired Sunshine's amazingly raw voice (a voice that I don't think was used at full church, soul SANGIN potential) with beautiful melodies and polished arrangements that were displayed on some favorites of mine like the smooth "Lunch or Dinner," the sweet and endearing "Being Away," and the simply beautiful "Last Night", which just so happened to feature a little known Anthony Hamilton ( I think Sunshine's voice complimented Anthony's like no other duet, he's done since, has). One of the most memorable and stand out tracks is the amazing "A Little Sunshine," if your not yet in the mood to step outside and enjoy the sun beaming down on your face and the birds a chirpin in your ear than take one listen to that track and your spring will officially start off on a good note for its the quentisential "Go out and smell the roses, then fall in love with somebody" song.
This album can definitely be put on the shelf and keep company with other albums that are considered some of the better R&B albums of the past 10 years, it was nothing but the R&B/Soul in its PUREST form, it didn't try to be anything else but and came off organic and cohesive, a true album lover's album that could put you INTO the mood to listen to it. With some albums for you to really appreciate it, or even want to listen to it, you already have to be in a certain mood or mind frame; Your Woman is an album that will have you nodding your head and tapping your foot whether you intended to listen to the moody melancholy of old Mary, the vocal supremecy of Faith or the uptempo activity of Janet, and thats an album I intend to revisit more often.
Heard it All Before
4 comments:
WICKED! I love this album, great pick. And my fav song is "Lunch or Dinner." Sweet entry as always! ;)
wow havent heard that song in ages.
I wonder what your thoughts on her new LP was? My junior year of high school she was everywhere. She's pretty cool though, loved when she worked with my girl Macy Gray.-QH
I was actually going to add what i thought about 'Sunshine at Midnight' in the post but i decided against it, wanting to focus more on what was the actual album back in my rotation...BUT..since u asked lol...
I thought "Sunshine at Midnight" was a VERY solid album, but did it compare to its predecessor? not quite..and was it an album worth waiting nearly 5 years for? not at all...while she enlisted some strong producers which included the GENIUS Raphael saadiq, the album seemed to have entirely too many stand outs, simply because the other songs were not as strong and they made the good ones stand out like a sore thumb, like "Wear the crown" and "My whole life" and the very 'Your Woman' sounding "Switch it up"...It wasnt a cohesive album like 'Your Woman' was..and I partly blame that on Mathew Knowles, since she was signed to his label during the recording of that album, and its clear when its not Beyonce, he doesnt know what the hell hes doing...the album was Sunshine trying to cater to the sounds of today, not blatantly but yanno... in her own way, like on "Trust"....Again, I LOVED this album and think it was a remarkably solid one..but is it as good as her debut? id vote no
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