NuR&B

horace brown by horace brown

Horace Brown, by Horace Brown

At some point, I came across Horace Brown and added his self-titled album, “Horace Brown,” to my R&B listening queue. My first listen was not a pleasant one and I was basically going to trash the entire album. But I sat on it and gave it another spin, and I actually like a lot of the songs.

It came out in 1996, and decidedly sounds like an 90s R&B album. It’s slower in tempo and much more melodious, with instrumentation that comes in as somewhat boom-bap. “Things We Do For Love” was released as a single and definitely stands out enough that it merited a remix with Jay-Z. Another standout track is “How Can We Stop” featuring Faith Evans. Honestly, how was “I Want You Baby” not a sped up just a little and released as a single? Despite Diddy’s adlibs and some somewhat disconcordant rhodes chords on the hook, this really should’ve been a radio banger. Similarly, “One For The Money” would have been perfect as a summer cruising track in the same vein as “Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (i.e. Will Smith).

I’d say that a lot of the other tracks are representative of their time. Which isn’t a bad thing, but just reflects a different era in R&B music.

Wherever you are, Mr Brown, I hope you’re living well off the spins from this album.