Born and raised in Brooklyn, Lillo Thomas aspired to reach the top of the world of sports. However, a 1984 automobile accident in Brazil stopped that. The tragedy prevented him from competing at the 1984 Olympics, for which he had already qualified. Nevertheless, Thomas found another passion in the world of music.
Thomas found success pretty quickly and even toured as Eddie Murphy’s opening act. However, I wanted to take a gander at the singer’s third album, Lillo, for this week’s Second Listen Sunday album. Thomas opens up his third project with the dance floor-ready bop “I’m In Love” and keeps the vibe going on the album’s next track, “Her Love.”
I was also fond of “Sexy Girl” and “Downtown.” With the uptempo material, the only weak song was the album’s closer “Put Your Foot Down,” which has the vibe of a filler song. However, given that I’m a ballad guy, those are the songs that I gravitated to on this project.
“Sweet Surredner” and “That Guy Could Have Been Me” are decent album tracks. Thomas does Otis Redding justice with his cover of “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now).” My favorite cut on the project is the hit single “Wanna Make Love (All Night Long).” The production is set to a lush arrangement. The track is a sensual mood setter that avoids vulgarity and takes us back to more specific times when it comes to romance.
Final Grade: B
Lillo is available on all streaming platforms.
One of the great things about buying a soundtrack when I was in my DJ prime was discovering a slow jam that I could put on my mix CDs. For this week’s Slow Jam Saturday, I wanted to highlight one of the songs: Jagged Edge’s cover of Air Supply’s, “All Out of Love.”
After twenty-six years in the game, Atlanta-based quartet Jagged Edge is currently on the road celebrating the anniversary of their magnum opus sophomore album, “J.E. Heartbreak,” with a tour titled “An Intimate Evening With Jagged Edge.” To kick off our seventh wedding anniversary celebration, my wife and I will be the D.C. date on the tour this coming Wednesday.
For this week’s Second Listen Sunday, I wanted to travel back to 1999 and show some love to R&B group Amyth, which was initially signed to LL Cool J Rock the Bells Records. Hailing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the group was formed in 1995 while the members were students at Southern University.