You have to hand it to blue-eyed soul survivor Michael McDonald: Once he sets his mind to something, he stays on it. After finding commercial nirvana with his Motown cover album series—2003’s Motown and 2004’s Motown Two—the former Doobie Brothers frontman and session legend has gone back to that lucrative well. But Soul Speak finds McDonald expanding his cover repertoire to a diverse range of R&B, funk, pop gospel, and even reggae standards, with erratic results. Things start shaky for the singer. McDonald’s bluesy re-working drags down the feel-good groove of Aretha Franklin and George Michael’s “I Knew You Were Waiting For Me.” And Stevie Wonder’s iconic rebuke of institutional racism, “Living For The City,” lacks urgency in his hands—he sounds trapped in a MORstyle rut. But he soon hits his stride, injecting a gutsy passion into Dionne Warwick’s “Walk On By.” McDonald even does Leonard Cohen justice with a stirring version of “Hallelujah,” taking the folksy spiritual to church. Still, his overproduced take on Bob Marley’s protest classic “Redemption Song” may leave you wanting to hear McDonald ditch the covers and utilize his larger-than-life vocals on some originals. After such a long stretch, a rich voice like this deserves it’s own spotlight.
April 22, 2008 @ 8:00 am
Michael McDonald, "Soul Speak"
Expanding to a diverse range of R&B, funk, pop gospel, and reggae standards, with erratic results.
Article tags: Michael McDonald, Revolutions
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Comments
1.
audiopimp says:
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Jackie Wilson is spinning in his grave. After hearing M.D. s rendition of Jackie's classic "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me higher" while trying to eat a nice meal at a local restaurant - I wanted to slit my wrists with my steak knife. He should stick to rehashing doobie brothers garbage and leave the classic Soul to REAL SOUL SINGERS. However as most decent soul vocalists are now deceased (well at least we still have Solomon Burke) I guess M.D. thought he was filling a void. I'm sure Berry Gordy, Smokey, et al. felt the same way after M.D.s horrific Motown covers. He and that other "great soulman" michael bolton should be cleaning the toilets in a Burger King somewhere as neither are singers. M.D. sounds as if he is in dire need of a 55 gallon drum of Maalox.
June 19, 2008 at 12:53 pm