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Human
Human in Bloomington, MN
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Throughout his career,
Rod Stewart
has been remarkably skillful at adopting current musical trends, whether it was disco, new wave, adult contemporary, or even Brit-pop. Still, his records started to slip off the radar screen toward the end of the '90s, so he parted ways with
Warner Bros.
and signed to
Atlantic
, where he released
Human
in early 2001. Again, he tried to change with the times, which, theoretically, may have been a wise move, since his thoroughly credible trad rock
When We Were the New Boys
was largely ignored. Since he tried contemporary rock, it made sense that the pendulum would swing back and he would take a stab at contemporary soul. Seems logical, but as the neo-
TLC
title track starts, it's hard not to think "what the hell happened?"
Cher
's neo-electro move on
"Believe"
made some sense, since she had always indulged in trashy modern dance, but
Stewart
never played that game -- even when at the height of superstardom, he never pretended to be hip, which is what he's trying to do here. Surrounded by skittering drum machines and
En Vogue
-styled harmonies, crooning
Babyface
-styled ballads, it sounds like he's auditioning for the
La Face
roster. Rarely does
try to be outright modern dance music, instead blatantly stealing these production techniques for a set of mid-tempo tunes and ballads that are firmly adult contemporary territory in content -- they're just delivered as if they had a chance of sitting at the top of the charts, alongside
Pink
. In general, the slow ballads wind up being a bit better, since
has gravitated toward that style during the '90s, while the livelier numbers, such as
"Don't Come Around Here"
(the
Mary J. Blige
duet) also work at times. Still, it's bizarre to hear
in this setting, since he not only doesn't mesh with the sound, but he also has a really awkward batch of songs, typified by the clumsy
"Smitten,"
the bewildering love song
"Charlie Parker Loves Me,"
or the cut-time "love's merry-go-round" refrain of
"It Was Love That We Needed."
Consider this: the most effective songs are
"To Be With You,"
"Run Back Into Your Arms,"
and
"I Can't Deny It,"
three fairly conventional
numbers tucked away toward the end of the album. Apart from that,
is the sound of an artist painfully trying to sound modern but -- by trying to sound fresh -- sounding older than he ever has. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Rod Stewart
has been remarkably skillful at adopting current musical trends, whether it was disco, new wave, adult contemporary, or even Brit-pop. Still, his records started to slip off the radar screen toward the end of the '90s, so he parted ways with
Warner Bros.
and signed to
Atlantic
, where he released
Human
in early 2001. Again, he tried to change with the times, which, theoretically, may have been a wise move, since his thoroughly credible trad rock
When We Were the New Boys
was largely ignored. Since he tried contemporary rock, it made sense that the pendulum would swing back and he would take a stab at contemporary soul. Seems logical, but as the neo-
TLC
title track starts, it's hard not to think "what the hell happened?"
Cher
's neo-electro move on
"Believe"
made some sense, since she had always indulged in trashy modern dance, but
Stewart
never played that game -- even when at the height of superstardom, he never pretended to be hip, which is what he's trying to do here. Surrounded by skittering drum machines and
En Vogue
-styled harmonies, crooning
Babyface
-styled ballads, it sounds like he's auditioning for the
La Face
roster. Rarely does
try to be outright modern dance music, instead blatantly stealing these production techniques for a set of mid-tempo tunes and ballads that are firmly adult contemporary territory in content -- they're just delivered as if they had a chance of sitting at the top of the charts, alongside
Pink
. In general, the slow ballads wind up being a bit better, since
has gravitated toward that style during the '90s, while the livelier numbers, such as
"Don't Come Around Here"
(the
Mary J. Blige
duet) also work at times. Still, it's bizarre to hear
in this setting, since he not only doesn't mesh with the sound, but he also has a really awkward batch of songs, typified by the clumsy
"Smitten,"
the bewildering love song
"Charlie Parker Loves Me,"
or the cut-time "love's merry-go-round" refrain of
"It Was Love That We Needed."
Consider this: the most effective songs are
"To Be With You,"
"Run Back Into Your Arms,"
and
"I Can't Deny It,"
three fairly conventional
numbers tucked away toward the end of the album. Apart from that,
is the sound of an artist painfully trying to sound modern but -- by trying to sound fresh -- sounding older than he ever has. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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