Track Listing

1. Save Room
2. Heaven
3. Stereo
4. Show Me
5. Each Day Gets Better
6. P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)
7. Slow Dance
8. Again
9. Maxine
10. Where Did My Baby Go
11. Maxine's Interlude
12. Another Again
13. Coming Home

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1393 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2006-10-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com
It takes guts, if not outright egomania, to abandon your given surname and adopt a loaded one like Legend, but the former John Stephens must have sensed that loftiness would one day be his calling card: Once Again, the follow-up to the Grammy-gobbling, platinum pile-on that was Get Lifted, surpasses expectations. Not that it bears much relation to its predecessor. Again again trots out a stable of talented, modern-minded producers--Raphael Saadiq, Legend comrade Kanye West, and the unsinkable will.i.am--but it's nowhere near as self-conscious about embracing the old-school as the knowing, R&B edge-skimming Lifted. Don't expect a derivative mash of smudgy, nostalgia-filching sounds, though, because despite its retro leanings, what's in store somehow crackles with currency. Call it neo-retro if you must, but never call it unimaginative: first single "Save Room" coasts, drifts, and floats along a ponderous path spiked by a cool keyboard-y crescendo; second single "Heaven" busts out a big, busy beat over a slow seduction; and a couple of selections--"Each Day Gets Better" and "PDA"--are so bright and twirly they seem custom-made for dizzy love scenes or jaunty, sunny-day skips through the park. Maybe the most unusual track is "Show Me," a rock song that pilfers elements of Hendrix and finds Legend climbing a few octaves to sound, weirdly, like Jeff Buckley, but it works: so slippery is its beat and so affecting are its hope-laced lyrics that, oddness aside, it's among the disc's best. Sandwiched as it is among 14 songs that all sound like future classics, that's saying something. --Tammy La Gorce

More Legendary Music

Get Lifted

Get Lifted/Live at the House of Blues (CD/DVD)

Live at the House of Blues (DVD)

Customer Reviews

RETRO-SOUL CHARM
"Once Again", John's new album, is many things, chief among them, it's a pop/soul album fueled by intelligence, intuition, sensuality, spirit and a creativity made possible when which includes Raphael Saadiq, Kanye West, Craig Street and will.i.am, who brought the lead single, 'Save Room' to John.

Breezy and sexy, 'Save Room' is a joyful, cool love song, inspired by an old AM radio single, 'Stormy', by the Classics IV (a 60's Top 40 band best-known for 'Spooky').
Even more so than he did on 'Get Lifted', John went boldly in his own creative direction on 'Once Again', opting to write, not from a marketing standpoint, but from his heart and soul and personal experience.

Laced with a somewhat more dramatic flair is the mid-tempo 'Where Did My Baby Go'. John takes a somewhat political perspective on the stately 'Coming Home'.

Relationship ups and downs are the subject of the swaying Kanye West-produced 'Heaven Only Knows'.

'Show Me', which John cites as one of his favorites, is hushed, haunting and deliberately ambiguous (co-produced by Raphael Saadiq and Craig Street ).

Just as Kanye West tows hip-hop along a more cerebral path, so his protege (and fellow college boy) John Legend prefers master-crafted, soulful R&B to the bump, grind and glitter of his contemporaries.

Like his Grammy-winnning debut "Get Lifted", this impeccably produced follow-up runs a knowing gamut of styles and eras, taking in Motown, crooning, polished pop and even a hint of bossa nova.

You can forgive Legend's showtune and piano lounge moments for his gorgeous, lived-in voice. Whether whispering mournfully on 'Show Me' or giving it the come-hither purr on 'Slow Dance', it gently nudges the heart into submission.

Undeniably intense and enjoyable.
It's hard not to feel underwhelmed by this follow-up to Legend's major-label debut "Get Lifted", which secured three million sales through a judicious blend of his gospel roots and hip-hop ties.
The lunge for the mainstream is too pronounced, and probably ill-advised, inasmuch as it places him in direct comparison with more expressive, adept singers.
The better tracks make best use of Legend's vocal mix of Bill Withers' warmth with the reflective nature of Donny Hathaway: the smooth, Philly soul-styled " Each Day Gets Better", and " Slow Dance", whose sleek early-Sixties R&B sound recalls The Impressions and "Groovin'" -era Young Rascals.
But too many seem like water-treading cast-offs from Legend's high-profile producers Kanye West, Raphael Saadiq and will.i.am.
Subtle Tropicalia influences, such as the backing vocal section of " Save Room" and the bossa nova groove of "Maxine", add colour, as does the quietly discursive, Hendrix-esque guitar on "Show Me"; but elsewhere the tracks seem bland and hurried, and in the case of the bizarre blend of chamber music and cabaret ballad that is "Where Did My Baby Go", simply wrong-headed.
HIGHLIGHTS : 'Slow Dance', 'Show Me', ' Save Room', ' Maxine ', 'Another Again ' and ' Heaven '.

Save room for more Grammys
Just when you thought it was safe to come back down to earth after you got lifted two years ago, back comes Legend like a breath of fresh air to send your spirits soaring once again.

Face it folks, this is as smooth and mellow as R&B/Soul is ever gonna get, and this is a perfect album to get for that workaholic friend or family member who really needs to take some time to sit back and experience some good music.

First single "Save Room" needs no further introduction, and is one of the best R&B songs this year so far, but don't underestimate the rest of the album. Second single "Heaven" takes up the pace a bit with a nice little jazzy groove, and then he goes a tad Hip Hop with "Stereo" (Note: turn yours up). "Show Me" is a smooth fusion of R&B and rock, and then it's retro time with "Each Day Gets Better" which reminds me of the Eagles' "Best of My Love".

A nice piano intro brings in the romantic "P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)", and then it's way, way back in time to the days of Sam Cooke and company for "Slow Dance". After a quiet interlude with "Again", we get served a back-to-back pair of songs that can carry the album all by themselves. I'm talking about "Maxine" and my favorite track "Where Did My Baby Go", and I'll be very disappointed if the latter doesn't make it to hit single status. "Maxine's Interlude" gives a little breathing space before the album comes to an end in grand style with "Another Again" and the excellent "Coming Home".

Versatile, talented, and with a voice that gets way down and tugs your heart strings, Legend proves that he's no mere urban myth.



Amanda Richards, October 24, 2006