R. Kelly - 12 Play (CD)

All Music Guide

R. Kelly's debut album with Public Announcement from a year earlier, Born into the 90s, had been a fine new jack swing album, but it hardly foreshadowed the astonishing heights the allaround amazing producer/songwriter/singer summits on 12 Play, a likewise allaround amazing album with a little bit of something for everyone. There are a couple moments on 12 Play that are reminiscent of Born into the 90s, specifically the sungrapped ones: "Freak Dat Body" and "Back to the Hood of Things." These tend to be the least interesting of the 12 songs here, however, and their intermittent, midalbum sequencing is perhaps no coincidence. Rather, it's the swooning balladry of "Honey Love," a latealbum gem from Born into the 90s, that Kelly reprises to great success throughout 12 Play. The decision to do away with Public Announcement for the most part here is a wise one, as Kelly seems to have a real gift for latenight comeons as well as elaborately produced musical accompaniment that's similarly all...uring, as evidenced on the albumopening "Your Body's Callin'." This gentle song's inescapable pleading is then followed by another absolutely brilliant four minutes of tantalization, "Bump n' Grind," which eases in some throbbing beats to perhaps nudge up the intensity level a bit. From here, Kelly changes positions often, lightening up the mood a bit on songs like "It Seems Like Your Ready" and "For You" that seem intended for the slowtowarm while also getting a bit nasty on songs like "Freak Dat Body" and "Summer Bunnies" that seem intended for the fastandwild. He then returns to pure brilliance for the album's final climax: the breathless, 12minute "Sex Me" and the lovely albumclosing title track. What's most wonderful about 12 Play isn't Kelly's mostly dreamy, occasionally dirty, always enrapturing rhetoric, nor his likewise arousing mood music; rather, it's his precise ability to tie them together so perfectly. This guy really is a genius, and no matter whether you find him fantastic or perverse, you have to marvel at his ability to do everything so masterfully. - Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide Read more Less