Crooner Anthony Hamilton is currently entertaining audiences on The Night Tour with fellow soul-crooners Maxwell and Joe. It was a long road for Anthony Hamilton to break through to mainstream audiences. His 1996 XTC didn’t chart was quickly out of print. However, GOD had bigger plans for the singer. Seven years later Hamilton Would experience a platinum-selling album and two signature singles from his sophomore album, Comin’ from Where I’m From.
Shortly before releasing his third solo album Ain’t Nobody Worrying, Hamilton made an appearance on the film soundtrack for In The Mix. Collaborating with producers Dre and Vidal, Hamilton constructs a mid-tempo ballad that allows anyone whoever couldn’t find the words to express how they feel about a crush. What I’ve always loved about the song is the simplicity in the lyrics :
“Girl, it [?] impossible
For me to come and talk to you
Can we exchange and meet again?
Something kinda magical
For me, it’s more than physical
It’s spiritual, and I respect your wait
Can we just talk for a minute?
Can we just walk and hold hands?
Girl, I do dig you
And everything that comes with you, yeah!
Some kind of wonderful
Some kind of beautiful.”
The song does appear to have been specially created for the soundtrack given the film’s plot, as I don’t see where the song would have first on his second or third album. Seventeen years later, “Some Kind Of Wonderful” is still in rotation and easily one of my favorite Anthony Hamilton tracks.
Final Grade : A
“Some Kind Of Wonderful” from the In The Mix soundtrack is available on YouTube and iHeart radio.
Nineties R&B was home to many female groups, so standing out took more than good looks and a major industry endorsement. I still remember seeing Allure in a Vibe ad and thinking how gorgeous those four women were. The question was whether they had the talent to compete in the music scene.
In 1996, I first heard the Houston quartet Ideal on the Original Gangsters soundtrack. Their interpretation of Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues,” featuring the Chi-Lites, caught my attention.
For this week’s Second Listen Sunday, I want to revisit 2004 and highlight Romeo’s debut solo album, formerly of Immature. Titled “Food for Thought” and released on June 22nd, this project marked the singer’s change of name to Young Rome in an effort to distance himself from the youthful sound of his group, much like his bandmate Marques Houston had done a year earlier.