RSSGroove bands get a lot shallower than the airy funk-lite of ElDeBarge as well. A decade ago, DeBarge was the smart choice forblack pop's next great love man, and though it didn't work out thatway, the likes of Babyface and Jerome Dupri help his unreal tenorreclaim its genius onHeart, Mind & Soul (Reprise).Read the lyricsheet and you'll suspect he's a refugee from a greeting-cardfactory. Listen to him sing those same icky words and you couldfind yourself falling in love, not to mention digging a groove.
Fast Cuts: Recorded in the Forties and Fifties, Slim Gaillard'sLaughing in Rhythm: The Best of the Verve Years (Verve)is the hep,hilarious testament of jazz's greatest comedian. If the wordsFlatFoot Floogie mean nothing to you, they ought to. Etta James'sMystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday (Private Music) is torchmusic that does less for the object of its veneration than for heroften misguided devotee, who benefits from the focus.
Playboy, July 1994
 | May 1994 | Aug. 1994 |  |