Search - Gordon Chambers :: Introducing Gordon Chambers

There's nothing spectacular here

Olukayode Balogun | Leeds, England | 10/21/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Shame on me, I didn't know who Gordon Chambers was until someone pointed him out to me. He' a songwriter with an impressive pedigree, having written (or co-written, if we'e going to be precise), hits for the likes of Anita Baker ("I Apologize"), Brownstone ("If You Love Me"), Angie Stone ("No More Rain (In This Cloud)"), as well as a string of other songs for people like Aretha Franklin, Carl Thomas, The Isley Brothers, Queen Latifah, Usher, Brandy, Beyoncé, Yolanda Adams, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan and Marc Anthony, just to name a couple.



But, with the greatest of respect, I think the man should stick to songwriting. I'd heard and read good things about this album and was prepared to have my socks blown off but in all honesty, it's just a collection of okay songs by a dude with an okay voice. There's nothing spectacular here. And he sails pretty close to the wind where mixing and matching songs is concerned too, if you ask me. For instance, I heard elements of Brownstone's "If You Love Me" in "Be Happy" and of Michael Jackson's "I Can't Help It" in "Still In Love". The former, I understand since it was partly his creation but the second one; tut-tut. It's interesting that Amazon have placed him alongside Frank McComb up there - interesting because the two are so far apart I wonder if they really have anything in common apart from both being bald-headed black males. McComb is consummately soul; this dude is consummately r&b.



But it's good r&b; I'll give him that. Classy even. So if that's your thing you should definitely check Mr Chambers out. For me, this is the kind of stuff I might play when I have people around who don't get the stuff I usually listen to at home or in my car. I doubt I'll ever play this for my own personal enjoyment (sorry, Gordon), though I will give it a jolly good run. If all fails I'll probably have to sell it on. The only two songs I can say I really like thus far though are "My Valentine", which features Carl Thomas & Roy Hargrove and "That's When You Fall", which is a really nice ballad. I guess it serves me right for buying a CD solely on the basis of the pretty face on the cover.



I give this CD two stars for the two songs I mentioned. For that pretty face, the CD gets an extra star free of charge."