Water is all around me, streaming down my face and shoulders. Falling down, down, down… Lapping at my ankles, pouring down through cracks that have forced their way up and out of the ground below me. Darkness precedes all that is, or will one day be. I am in a moment where everything around sounds faint, far away… I am travelling through time – through space – and through my mind… one second at a time…
I open my eyes, blinking, as bright lights cut a path through the haze that has settled all around me – intruding upon my own, home-made reality and returning me to the present. Reaching for a towel, I dry myself off and step out of the shower. My journey to Mars has begun.
Often the best ideas come at the most unsuspecting moment, at a time when the mind is completely at ease and carefree… Uninhibited. When they come, you have two choices – 1. go with it, or 2. forget about it. I pride myself on being able to recognise a good opportunity when it stares me in the face – in this case, an opportunity by the name of Creativity. Quickly hauling ass into my studio (conveniently located in my home), I breathed life into my iMac, grabbed a pen and pad and got busy.
As the idea began to take shape, I brought Joel, and long-time friend/super talented singer Cassie Wallace into the picture to join me in the songwriting festivities. The first few hours were draining ones – the three of us brainstormed, jotted down lines, scribbled them out, debated, and then re-wrote – always striving for perfection. Once the lyrics were finished Cassie stepped up to the plate – or in this case the silver plated Mic. She literally flew through the vocals, bringing to the table the kind of melodies that I can only dream about. She bounced from harmonies to BVs to adlibs, before sinking into a chair with utterances of contentment – 2 long sessions later.
Now that the scene has been set, please close your eyes, sit back, and prepare to descend with us onto the Red Planet.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnYG24IeErA[/youtube]
After the brilliance and success of Ryan Leslie’s first self-titled release, it made me nervous to think how R.Les could possibly top, or even match it with his follow up release, Transition. After receiving my own personal copy of his newest offering on the day it was released, I found myself practically trembling – experiencing the sum of excitement and anticipation that had been accruing during the many months of aural ecstasy I had spent flying with this musician, singer, and scholar extraordinaire. I don’t feel it is my place to pass any type of judgment, good or bad, upon a man that has barely put a foot wrong up until this point. Instead, I thought I would conduct the first half of this album review a little differently – I have decided to let the man himself narrate his own journey – through the lyrics found across both of his releases, starting with Self Titled…
RYAN LESLIE is:
Like a boxer “Im’a take you 10 rounds”
Like insomnia “I’ll be the reason you’re not sleeping”
A publisher “You can be my centrefold”
Your lead man “You can be my co-star”
Your future “Make you forget about your past”
A gentleman “I never used to call”
A connoisseur “I’ll stroke your body like it’s an instrument”
Himself “I wanna make you happy just by being myself – cos I can’t be nobody else”
TRANSITION is:
Santa “I can give you everything on your checklist”
A physician “If you’re sick”
The scratch “For your itching”
A superhero “Coming to rescue you”
A security guard “You can be my night watch”
A concierge “I know all the right spots”
Pat Sajak “Just like Wheel of Fortune”
Gabriel “I’ll be your angel… [with] white wings”
Once you have listened to both albums, you should understand the comparisons I am drawing in this exercise. If not, my apologies for what may just feel like a year 10 classroom exercise on similes and metaphors…
Now for a short-and-sweet subjective component to this review:
The good: There are four or five highly listenable tracks on this album for me, but it’s hard to go past tracks one and four – “Never Gonna Break Up” and “Is it Real Love?” – the common denominator here being the fresh and inventive instrumentation and memorable guitar/bass hooks, catchy chorus melody lines, and solid themes and lyricism.
I must also give credit where credit is due – Mr Leslie has again shown some streaks of absolute genius with a few of the bridge change-ups throughout - particularly in consecutive gems “Nothing” and “To the Top” – mind blowing stuff, Sir!
The not so good: When I listen to this album I really hear a distinctly dated sound to a number of his tracks – somewhat of a didn’t-quite-make-the-cut-for-last-album, B-side filler sound. In spite of his arguably brilliant lyrical abilities, there was a real lack of variety in Lesley’s lyrics on Transition– perhaps sprouting from the tired and overstated themes of love and romance. The other thing that stood out was this constant feeling of déjà-vous I felt throughout the album – namely with his progressions, guitar strumming and keyboard rhythm patterns, bass fills, synth solos, and vocal melodies.
In conclusion, I would say this album has some great moments and is definitely worth checking for fans of R.Les, but don’t jump into it expecting the hit upon hit upon hit that he delivered last time around.
Allow me to wrap up with one of the previously mentioned classics from Transition.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4UB_Fxtg6U[/youtube]
