I tend to focus on an album for a few weeks, listening to it until I know it by heart, and then I move on to something else. So, at any given time there are one or two albums that I play again and again - and I thought I would feature some of them here.
So, today the album is Pulse by Toni Braxton.
Pulse is Toni´s 7th album, released May 4th, 2010 and her first on Atlantic Records. The album debuted at number nine in the US, inside the German top 20 and the UK top 30. It became Braxton's fifth US top-ten album and received generally positive reviews.
Speaking of the thinking behind titling the album 'Pulse', Braxton explained in May 2010: "It comes from when I got ill. I went into cardic rehab, and there was this older lady there. She was like 'What are you doing here so young? It must have been your heart. You know what? This is my fourth heart-attack and you're so young, you can't be AFRAID! You can't stop LIVING!'... Then she told me how she'd just got back from holiday with her 40-year-old boyfriend! And because I'd lost hope - the doctors had told me I'd never be able to record again - her conversation was like that heartbeat, that pulse that gave me back the love of life".
The album was originally scheduled for release in 2009, but then pushed back to February 2, 2010 before ultimately being released May 4, 2010. "The album was supposed to come out in February, but we held it back because seven of the ten songs we picked were leaked. We decided to go back to the studio, record four or five more songs and then pick. Now we send everything via Federal Express - nothing's going through the internet!"
After hearing the fabulous single "Hands Tied" from the album, I decided to check out Toni's complete back catalogue. I am now a massive fan, and consider Toni to be one if the many artists (especially female) that somehow seem to fall through the cracks as they get older.
This album has been called "a return to form" - and in a way it is, although I personally feel that her 2006 album "Libra" is amongst her best work to date. "Pulse" has a very organic sound to it and includes three fabulous singles, along with some hidden gems - especially the tracks "Hero" and "Why Wont You Love Me". I will be waiting with excitement for any future material Ms Braxton will release...
THE SINGLES:
"Yesterday", the first single from the album, was released in the US in late 2009. In the States, a remixed version featuring Trey Songz was used as the single version. The album features the European version with just Toni's vocals.
Single number two: "Make My Heart".
The third single - the fabulous "Hands Tied".
And she made a video for this track, although it wasnt a single. This is a cover of a Delta Goodram song from 2007:
This has been my most played album over the the last few weeks. Almost time to move on to something completely different...
2 comments:
I still don't get the attraction. To me Toni Braxton, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige and the like all sort of merge into one vague blur... Jx
You know, to me too. Except I find Toni to be somewhat in her own league. I have never liked R&B music at all - but when Toni first came onto the scene in early 90s for some reason I liked her. As that bloody R&B music almost overtook the music scene during the late 90s/early 00s, I stopped listening to her (the same thing happened with Janet Jackson). I have rediscovered them both now, but they remain amongst the very few R&B based artists that I like.
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