824. Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite (1996)

Track Listing

1. Urban Theme
2. Welcome
3. Sumthin' Sumthin'
4. Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)
5. Dancewitme
6. Till The Cops Come Knockin'
7. Whenever Wherever Whatever
8. Lonely's The Only Company
9. Reunion
10. Suitelady
11. Suite Theme

Review

This album is lauded as being part of a return to the old kind of soul music of people like Marvin Gaye. In fact it is so far from the sheer quality of the albums that it references that it ends up sounding almost like a mockery. In fact some songs remind me of the Flight of the Conchords in their tackiness.

Now while the Conchords do it on purpose, Maxwell does it by accident. Songs like ...Till the Cops Come Knockin' or Sumthing Sumthing are hilarious! Unfortunately this is not on purpose.

So in the end it is a pretty tacky album. Fun for the wrong reasons, almost in the so bad it's good side of the spectrum, but it isn't bad enough for that. The production is too good for it to achieve its full potential.


Track Highlights

1. ....Till The Cops Come Knockin'
2. Sumthing Sumthing
3. Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)
4. Welcome

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite is the first album by Maxwell. When the album was finished in 1994, Columbia Records had doubts about the album's potential, and shelved it for two years, but finally issued it in 1996. It did not catch on until the release of its second single, "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)", which became a hit. Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite sold over 500,000 copies, earning gold status, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. It was heavily inspired by the sound of classic soul music.


... Till The Cops Come Knocking: