R&B veteran Maxwell has built his career upon romance. Putting out tunes that ooze love, sex and basic baby making grooves. On his latest album he sees the wheel is not broken so he is not trying to fix it. Instead of sounding tired or what is expected this is his best work in over a decade. He is a master at singing about the ladies and keeping it fresh. That is because even though the subject is the same Maxwell keeps it from getting stale by playing with his sound. On black SUMMERS’ night, the second album of a trilogy, you get some big band, Seventies soul, sexy Prince sounding jazz influence R&B and other throwback sounds. All these different sounds are fused together to make on complete thought or a tied together album. Through all the variations, though, he manages to keep that certain something that makes it a Maxwell album. What that is has always been his voice. He uses that falsetto like few others do and can. Serves the romance heavy lyrics quite well, thank you very much. It is sumptuous and honeyed. The ladies love it and the men wish they could have it. Strongest tracks include “1990x”, “Lost” and “The Fall”. Here’s to hoping that it doesn’t take seven years for the final album of the trio to be released.
Maxwell – black SUMMERS’ night
