A great dissapointment
Smooth, groovy, unadventurous, solid R 'n' B… but is it worth it? I believe this one is not…
“Trust Me” was released November 2007 and is the fourth studio album from 26-year-old Craig Ashley David. His debut album from 2000, “Born To Do It”, which was released when he was only 19, stormed the charts with hits like “Rewind”, “Fill Me In” and “Seven Days”. Seven million copies sold all over the world got some interest in the US as well. But that interest soon has disappeared, since the following albums, “Slicker Than Your Average” and “The Story Goes” from 2005, failed to get the same interest. From 2005 till now silence. Some expected a complete withdraw. The question is not if he dropped the arrogance, the infatuation but if he managed to make changes in the way his music sounds.
How are the lyrics now?
Just two examples…
"I was waiting for your love, but you can only wait so long/I was hoping and praying you would see what was going on/Now we're standing here with open hearts/And I'm chained inside my world" - Awkward
"So hot she'll have you begging for more/And even hotter when her Victoria's Secrets drop to the floor. Hot like Elle, hot like getting down with Gisele/What the hell, hot like sex back at the hotel" - She's On Fire
Does he have some chances for the Grammies? I certainly hope not… Maybe a few nominations will come his way, but that’s it. The only good thing in the album is only his voice, as the flatness of all the rest doesn’t make it better. Probably, if Craig David didn’t sign it we wouldn’t have heard about this album.
The general sound is awful. The alert rhythm combined with some soul passages feels like a parody, there’s nothing to laugh there. Maybe the dance sound that he wishes to impose is frenetic, but somehow you get the impression it’s better to lie down. The voice is unquestionable; he is able to sing from R’n’B to reggae on this album, as well as a ballad. Still, the experiment fails this time. If that collaboration with Sting was great, no doubt about it, this time the production and music arrangement really step behind quite a few steps, despite Craig’s talent.
Maybe the best thing of this album is the fantastic turn of a newcomer in the song “Awkward”, the 17-year-old Rita Ora, discovered by the album producer Martin Terefe.
Everything else is R 'n' B-by-numbers: perfectly pleasant and resolutely uninspiring. However, banal lyrics and unimaginative production are consistently elevated by the quality of David's voice. While not incredible, it is extremely and consistently strong.
With a better team behind him and a clearer sense of musical direction, he could be just as good. Slicker than the average, certainly, but still not quite fulfilling the expectations raised by his remarkable debut.
Smooth, groovy, unadventurous, solid R 'n' B… but is it worth it? I believe this one is not…
“Trust Me” was released November 2007 and is the fourth studio album from 26-year-old Craig Ashley David. His debut album from 2000, “Born To Do It”, which was released when he was only 19, stormed the charts with hits like “Rewind”, “Fill Me In” and “Seven Days”. Seven million copies sold all over the world got some interest in the US as well. But that interest soon has disappeared, since the following albums, “Slicker Than Your Average” and “The Story Goes” from 2005, failed to get the same interest. From 2005 till now silence. Some expected a complete withdraw. The question is not if he dropped the arrogance, the infatuation but if he managed to make changes in the way his music sounds.
How are the lyrics now?
Just two examples…
"I was waiting for your love, but you can only wait so long/I was hoping and praying you would see what was going on/Now we're standing here with open hearts/And I'm chained inside my world" - Awkward
"So hot she'll have you begging for more/And even hotter when her Victoria's Secrets drop to the floor. Hot like Elle, hot like getting down with Gisele/What the hell, hot like sex back at the hotel" - She's On Fire
Does he have some chances for the Grammies? I certainly hope not… Maybe a few nominations will come his way, but that’s it. The only good thing in the album is only his voice, as the flatness of all the rest doesn’t make it better. Probably, if Craig David didn’t sign it we wouldn’t have heard about this album.
The general sound is awful. The alert rhythm combined with some soul passages feels like a parody, there’s nothing to laugh there. Maybe the dance sound that he wishes to impose is frenetic, but somehow you get the impression it’s better to lie down. The voice is unquestionable; he is able to sing from R’n’B to reggae on this album, as well as a ballad. Still, the experiment fails this time. If that collaboration with Sting was great, no doubt about it, this time the production and music arrangement really step behind quite a few steps, despite Craig’s talent.
Maybe the best thing of this album is the fantastic turn of a newcomer in the song “Awkward”, the 17-year-old Rita Ora, discovered by the album producer Martin Terefe.
Everything else is R 'n' B-by-numbers: perfectly pleasant and resolutely uninspiring. However, banal lyrics and unimaginative production are consistently elevated by the quality of David's voice. While not incredible, it is extremely and consistently strong.
With a better team behind him and a clearer sense of musical direction, he could be just as good. Slicker than the average, certainly, but still not quite fulfilling the expectations raised by his remarkable debut.
