I'm Ready - Campbell, Tevin (CD 1993)

Some people are just born to sing.

Even as a pre-teen, Tevin Campbell had one of those voices that put him way past the "just another kid singer" title. Blessed with the precocity of a young Michael Jackson and the gospel fervor of Aretha Franklin, Tevin made an impact on the scene before he even hit puberty. While there's a bit of dispute as to who he was discovered by, his first national attention came as a result of being featured on Quincy Jones' 1989 all-star "Back on the Block" album. People quickly became fixated on the little kid with the big voice, and soon folks were clamoring to work with him.

His debut album, 1991's "T.E.V.I.N." spun off several Top 10 R&B hits and unsteadily walked the line between cute ("Little Brother") and a little TOO mature ("Alone With You"). Tevin's voice was the star of the show, despite some inconsistent production. Nevertheless, it sold over a million copies, and set the stage for 1993's sophomore effort, "I'm Ready".

This album brought together some of the leading lights in R&B production-Babyface, Prince and Narada Michael Walden, mainly, to construct an album that had kid appeal but didn't position Tevin as just another teen act, and it managed to perform the task quite capably. Even when the material is not up to par, Tevin sings his *ss off on every single track, injecting believability (and so much soul) into even the most banal lyrics.

Babyface-the "it" R&B producer of the mid Nineties, gave the album it's three hit singles ("Can We Talk", "Always in My Heart" and the title track), and the songs have a basic similarity that 'Face, for all his genius as a songwriter, was often guilty of. "Can We Talk" and "I'm Ready" are practically the same song structurally, with the same airy, midtempo base, but Tevin puts his own personal stamp on each track, going from pensive to insistent over the course of both songs. If he wasn't able to win over the potential love he was singing to in either song, it was through no fault of his own!!

This album's MVP-besides the vocalist himself-would have to be Prince. At this point (late 1993), he had already changed his name to that stupid symbol and was credited on the album as "Paisley Park". Whatever damn name he went by, he supplied this set with four certified heaters. "Halls of Desire" is a horn-spiked midtempo jaunt with a "door #1" lyrical motif. Yeah, it's kinda silly, but it's also kinda sensual. It has a cool, jazzy air about it. Meanwhile, "Shhhh..." sort of pushes the envelope of what a 15-year old should have been singing. Lyrics like "I'd rather do you after school like some homework...am I getting you hot?" should have sounded bizarre coming out of the mouth of a teenager, but Tevin's mature voice (and Prince's sensual groove) made this a bedtime classic.

Prince also supplied Tevin with some surprisingly political lyrics on the other two tracks. "Uncle Sam" is a New-Jack spiced jam that begins with a military cadence, and finds Tevin using a deeper tone to bemoan the black man's status as a second-hand citizen. In an era of politically-conscious hip-hop, this shouldn't have been a surprise, but what's surprising is that it came from the pen of Prince, who'd never been much for racial issues prior to this. "Paris 1987530" is a moodier, jazzier affair which reflects Prince's ongoing fascination with horns and also presents Tevin's best singing. Midway through the song he unleashes a tormented scream and follows by practically shreiking the lyrics

"When a baby cries, you know what, I envy his tears
So little does he know of the ignorance and fear
That will divide us until we are willing to change
Until the cup we drink from is the very same!"

It's a powerful minute or so of pure vocal heat and power that makes this album worth the price all by itself.

The rest of the album struggles to live up to those standards, with a handful of fairly interchangeable ballads, highlighted by "Don't Say Goodbye Girl", an airy beat ballad in line with many adult contemporary ballads of the period. Songs like "What Do I Say" and "Infant Child" (co-written with spiritualist Sri Chinmoy) are fantastic from a vocal point of view, but relatively unmemorable as songs.

This album rightfully made Tevin a superstar-albeit temporarily. "I'm ready" sold nearly two million copies and spawned three Top 20 pop hits. His two follow-up albums were not sales blockbusters, but featured him doing some of the finest singing of any other R&B vocalist in his generation. He's still only 28 years old (or 30...websites waver on his actual age)-roughly the same age as artists like Usher (who was initially created as the more "street" version of Tevin Campbell), although it looks like his career was pretty much torpedoed by a George Michael-esque bust in 2000 (Tevin later classified himself as a "try-sexual" in an interview with "Sister 2 Sister" magazine). Rumors are bubbling about a comeback album slated to appear later this year. Until then, allow yourself to sit back and enjoy a piece of timeless soul from one of the finest vocalists of his generation in ANY genre.