R&B band Tony! Toni! Toné! was already immensely successful when their fourth album House of Music, hit stores on November 19, 1996. The Tonies kicked off the project with the dance flop bop “Let’s Get Down” and the lush ballad “Thinking of You.”
However, for this week’s Slow Jam Saturday, I wanted to showcase one of my favorite album tracks from the project, “Still A Man.”
Written and produced by group member Raphael Saadiq, “Still A Man” was the nineties personification of the slow drag. Saadiq lets the instrumental ride out for a minute before coming through a passionate vocal. The sincerity in Saadiq’s voice is genuine as he croons:
“Now looking here, I’m still standin’
Since the last time that you walked away, honey
See me and the kids are left here disappointed
We don’t have nothin’ to do
But wonder where you’re headed, baby
Have you ever loved somebody
Who loves you so much it hurts you to hurt them so bad?
Have you ever loved somebody
Who loves you so much it hurts you to hurt them so bad?”
I personally always felt the song is a story about a man who has let his woman down, causing her to exit the relationship. Naturally, the man knows the errors of his ways, and while he’s failing, he’s still a man. Sadly as of 2022, House of Music is the last album by the group. Nevertheless, “Still A Man” is a beautiful ballad that holds up twenty-five years later.
Final Grade: A
“Still A Man” from House Of Music is available on all streaming platforms.
There are some albums you revisit because of nostalgia, and then there are albums you return to because they remind you just how high the standard used to be. Anita Baker’s Rapture falls into that second category. Released in 1986, the album did more than make Baker a star. It helped define what sophisticated, grown R&B could sound like without losing any soul, sensuality, or personality.
Gwen Stefani had already established herself as a significant force with No Doubt when she released her debut solo album, *Love. Angel. Music. Baby* in 2004. This week, while my iPod was on shuffle, one of my favorite songs from that project, “The Real Thing,” came on. Although the original version has an upbeat new-wave feel, the Slow Jam Mix takes it to another level and is the perfect choice for this week’s Slow Jam Saturday.
Unless you’re a music purist, mentioning Randy Jackson from the famous family is likely to elicit a joke. However, any serious Jackson fan knows that Randy had musical achievements long before the punchlines. Before he was old enough to buy a drink, he had already co-written “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” and “Lovely One” with Michael Jackson.