Joe has been serenading us with his romantic R&B tunes since the early 90s. With 20 years active in the game and now ten studio albums under his belt, Joe still doesn’t get the accolades that he inevitably deserves. With his mature sound, look and poise he brings something to the game that cannot be duplicated as seen with his classic hits like “All the Things (You’re Man Won’t Do),” “The Love Scene,” “I Wanna Know,” “What If a Woman” and “If I was Your Man.”
With his tenth studio album marking two decades of his work, we now fast forward to “Doubleback: Evolution of R&B.” Going the independent route since 2008 and now on a new label with Kedar Massenburg, the 39-year-old singer may just have given us one of his most mature records to date. Coinciding with his maturity in age, this album seems to be a recollection of a man growing up, acknowledging his mistakes and realizing it’s time for a change. This album should be labeled and proclaimed as a man’s guide to ‘settling down’ and will teach a man to retire his ‘playa’ cards. It’s no doubt for the grown, sexy and calls for no child-play or childish ways.
I categorize this album into three phases.
Old –School, Melodic Flare
The album starts off with a bang and made me feel as though I was at a live concert and a wedding reception at the same time. As if we were all being welcomed to this grand event with strong musical band-like instrumentation. Joe uses a Beverly Maze-like sound with melodic, old-school influence to get our heads bobbing and fingers snapping starting off with the first track, “Something for You.”
Joe melodically croons, “Ooh I got something for that/that body is all that/I think we make a perfect match/let’s not waste time.” It then transcends to a similar old-school-esque track, “Easy,” showing that he is on grown-man status admitting that you have “to put in work to make it work.”
The next song, “Baby,” completes the first phase of the old-school-like flare, but with a different twist that includes a chopped and screwed twang that is very catchy to the ear discussing his love for two different women that he both calls “baby.”
No More Playa Cards.
The second phase of the album shows a mature outlook on love. One that entails a man’s journey of all the mistakes and lessons learned reflecting upon himself and past childish ways. This phase kicks off with the single, “Compromise,” the very pretty melody that makes anyone want to just surrender and compromise in their own personal relationships. The power of his serenading voice translates so persuasive through the lyrics realizing that it’s time for a change and a ‘resolution’— “Let’s chop it up and get to a solution.” The next track, “Magic City,” continues with the same cohesive theme, but slows down with a reminiscent tune. Joe realizes that he “was looking for love in all the wrong places/in the long run when you do it like that/you’re gonna be all alone.” The lyrics reveal that he wasn’t ready for love and was in any young guy’s mindset, “if they stripping I’m tipping/Got a couple dollars I’m spending” in Magic City. The last song to complete this phase is the single, “I’d Rather Have Love,” the epiphany track accepting that he rather have love than nothing at all. He starts it off by schooling the fellas and giving them some life tips.
Love Scene Action
Phase three saves the best for last as we get just exactly what we know Joe for—his romantic, sexy bedroom tunes. This kicks off a little different as he teams up with Fantasia in “Love & Sex.” He opts not to take the obvious raunchy route and instead takes a soft, lullaby approach. This single shows the growth of a boy to a man who can finally realize that there is a clear distinction between love and sex—“Something is missing when it’s only a superficial thing.” Joe and Fantasia plead back and forth about wanting to have them both (love & sex) with one another. Joe then takes us right along on this journey to a doo-wop-like lovemaking tune—“Kick off your shoes slide off them jeans/take off the rest and leave it to me, oh.”
The next sexy track, “More,” has that classic R&B sound that we all love and is one of my favorite tracks, which has a potential to be a single. “I don’t care if you call me six in the morning/I would jump up in my coupe to come and serve you in the morning,” he sings as he promises to always be there to give his lover ‘more.’ Next we get a mellow, sultry tune giving a metaphor comparing a woman to a drug, Mary Jane– “I wanna get high off your love tonight…take my mind off the stress and strain.”
The eleventh track, “1 to 1 Ratio” assisted by rapper Too Short, doesn’t seem to fit the flow of the album and could have been better suited off the track list. The album is brought back full-circle with the Joe-produced track, “DoubleBack.” With the same strong band instrumentation as we get from the beginning of the album, this reflective track nicely wraps up the album as a man takes a look back and realizes that he could’ve made better decisions—“I should’ve told you ‘I love you’/should’ve showed you ‘I love you.’”
Finding his way back to love, brings meaning to the title of the album as Joe “DoubleBacks” and brings back true R&B. This is also shown on the album cover itself as Joe, with arms folded and eyes closes, seems to be meditating searching for some form of clarity.
Final thoughts
All in all this was a cohesive collection although; it took a number of times of listening to the album as a whole to gain a full sense of the album and what it represented. Not everyone will understand this album or accept it for what it is—except for the true R&B lovers at heart. This album represents what I call a ‘relationship/love epiphany’ with a step-by-step recollection of realizations of bad decisions and the necessary changes that needed to be made to grow from boy to man that only comes with maturity. This album definitely gets you in a mellow mood, so don’t expect to ‘turn up’ with this album. Pop it in when you’re ready to wind down getting ready for a warm bath or glass of wine. Ladies, if you can’t get your lover to settle down and guys, if you’re ready to call the game quits pop this in as a guide to manhood and commitment.
4 out of 5 stars
Favorite Tracks: Compromise, Magic City, Sexy, More, DoubleBack
Nice review, will definitely have to check it out
There’s always hope for RnB everytime artists like Joe step up and give us new music. I love Double Back Evolution