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.
It’s hard to believe that an iconic singing competition like American Idol has produced only two Black male winners in its more than two-and-a-half-decade history. Jamal Roberts made history last year when he won the show, following Ruben Studdard’s well-deserved victory in Season Two.
One wonderful aspect of supporting physical media is that I never run short of albums to choose from when deciding what to cover for Second Listen Sunday. Often, I’ll head to the man cave, browse through my CD collection, and an album will pop out at me. This week’s pick is T-Pain’s fourth album, “Revolver.”
One of my favorite singers, Mr. Eric Roberson, is performing this weekend at America’s legendary music venue, The Birchmere. To show Eric some love, I want to highlight something longtime R&B fans have always known: he’s had remarkable songwriting talent.