Dance With My Father - Vandross, Luther (CD 2003)

As hard as American Idol Ruben Studdard may seem to try, his voice will never match the utterly smooth, easing quality of Luther Vandross s; the latter is perhaps the greatest voice of American R&B ever. Unfortunately, before the release of his latest album, Dance with my Father, Luther suffered a life-threatening stroke, which he is thankfully starting to recover from. I really tried to like Dance with my Father as much as I could, but it just can t match some of his earlier efforts. But then again, when Luther sings, it s hard to really complain.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1: If I Didn t Know Better - 4:07 (***)
2: Think About You 5:04 (****)
3: If It Ain t One Thing feat. Foxy Brown - 4:13 (***)
4: Buy Me a Rose - 3:48 (*****)
5: The Closer I Get to You feat. Beyonc Knowles 6:25 (***)
6: Lovely Day feat. Busta Rhymes - 5:57 (***)
7: Dance with my Father 4:26 (*****)
8: She Saw You - 5:44 (***)
9: Apologize - 4:59 (****)
10: Hit It Again feat. Queen Latifah - 4:37 (***)
11: Right in the Middle 4:50 (****)
12: Once Were Lovers 4:34 (***)
13: Lovely Day part II feat. Busta Rhymes 3:54 (**)
14: They Said You Needed Me - 4:40 (**)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luther Vandross, who also produces most of the songs in this album, seems to try to do two things at once; he returns to his past days with ample helpings of exquisite, soothing ballads while making room for guest appearances from hipper artists. I suppose J Records were afraid that Luther no longer had the mass appeal to sell many records, so they had to force the likes of Busta Rhymes on the album. Luther s music is aimed at adults; I don t know why there are artists on this CD that typically sing and rap to children. Granted, Busta and Beyonc try their best to restrain their grandiosity and not defile the effort of a classic R&B artist, but they just don t belong. I don t know why Carmen Romano and Clive Davis couldn t call upon Whitney Houston or, even, Alicia Keys to help instead, because almost every time someone other than Luther opens his mouth in this album, it detracts from the enjoyment.

The apex of Dance with my Father is the title track, where Luther is allowed to strut his voice the most, unhampered by intrusive background vocals or, even worse, rap verses. Dance with my Father is perhaps the most powerful demonstration of Luther s emotive soul since This House is not a Home way back in the days. If I could steal one final glance, one final step, / One final dance with him / I d play a song that would never, ever end / Cause I d love, love, love / To dance with my father again. Luther s father slipped into a diabetic coma and died when Luther was still a boy and, as this single was first airing on the radio, Luther himself was in a coma. The song also mentions the sorrow experienced by his mother after his father s death: Sometimes I d listen outside her door / And I d hear how my mother cried for him / I pray for her even more than me. In light of the current predicament of Luther, one has to feel especially sorry for his mother. These ironies mixed in with the fact that Dance with my Father is just in time for Father s Day makes this ballad powerful enough to arrest breathing.

The only other song that comes close to Dance with my Father is Buy Me a Rose . Buy Me a Rose is perhaps the gentlest and most romantic ballad on the album and is about a woman s need for attention to the little details. It is not merely enough for a man to listen to a woman s wants, he literally has to be psychic. But some men evidently have this prized faculty and it would not surprise me if Luther is one of them: Buy me a rose, call me from work / Open a door for me, what would it hurt / Show me you love me by the look in your eyes / These are the little things I need the most in my life. Luther sings the chorus with an unknown Ulisa Ivey, who impressed me with her brief background vocals that give hints of Monica.

Buy Me a Rose demonstrates how you put in other vocals to complement Luther s. When you throw in a popular artist who demands equal attention, the result is questionable, because few people can appropriately work with Luther at that level. The Closer I Get to You , featuring Beyonc Knowles is a remake of Roberta Flack and Donna Hathaway s effort. The lulling production by Nat Adderley, Jr. actually threatens to be a little too polished and Beyonc s vocal effort is uncharacteristically low-key. Unfortunately, without her distinctive I m Foxxy Cleopatra and a whole lotta woman! survivor, bootylicious routine, Beyonc is rather prosaic. Here, J Records is guilty of choosing better record sales over a better record.

But the decision to pair Luther with Beyonc was not nearly as bad as the decision to pair Luther with rap music. Foxy Brown gives the most decent effort with her verse in If It Ain t One Thing . Queen Latifah, as much as I love her, gave a completely forgettable cameo in the highly sexual, slightly up-tempo Hit It Again . Busta Rhymes proves to be the most incompatible of the three rappers, and the idea of mixing Luther with him is as insane as mixing water and oil in a heated pan before you cook (splash - cover your fucking eyes!): Wassup my people? / You know; I am your weatherman Busta Rhymes / I ve come today to gi you your weather forecast. Here, it s cover your fucking ears how the hell does this ever belong on a Luther Vandross track? Despite this, the catchy chorus for Lovely Day was just enough to warrant three stars, but the remix produced by Kaygee (of Naughty by Nature) is just too much hip-hop!

In general, Dance with my Father has too much of a supporting cast. Apologize and Right in the Middle are two five-star songs ruined by too little Luther. Apologize , from the title, feels like a I m sorry, song but actually turns out to be a fun tune making the droll observation that rich people don t have to apologize for being rich and just because they re successful doesn t mean they are materialistic. Right in the Middle reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend of mine, who is probably more sensual than me. He told me, You know how with everything in life you re either right-wing or left-wing? Love is the only thing that s right in the middle, like that space between the breasts. I replied with a perplexed look on my face, Love is space the between the breasts? Lover s talk is a jargon, but Luther does well with Right in the Middle , offering the wise observations of a seasoned lover. Both these great songs are undermined by background vocals that keep interrupting Luther s wonderful voice; it makes it seem as if Luther is disinterested or incapable of singing the whole song.

Despite distractions, you really can t go wrong with a Luther Vandross album (except maybe if that album is called I Know). The man is the very voice of love, not of just women, but as the track Dance with my Father proves, of other, perhaps more important, kinds as well. Luther is especially adept at touching the soul by reflecting on either what was or what could be. This could be Luther s last original album, but lets all pray he recovers fully enough so that this isn t the case!