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Donell Jones
His R & B debut
01-11-1999

This album is the much anticipated follow up to Donell Jones' very promising R&B debut: "My Heart".

Although his reputation as a songwriter is already established with songs for Madonna and Jade, and his name attached to the success of his remake of Stevie Wonder's "Knock me off my feet" which made the top 15 R&B hits, everybody is still discovering Donell Jones- the artist.

You won't be disappointed by "Where I want to be": the use of percussion, guitars and Jones' own drum programming is excellent. This is by far the most soulful album ( music wise ) I've heard in a long time, and Jones thereby confirms his talent, emotion and respect for the music. As an example, just listen to the simple but catchy rhythms of "Pushin'", or to the beautifully fluid acoustic guitar lines in the track which gives its name to the album.

However, it would be the understatement of the year to qualify Jones' lyrics of "poor": nearly all of the 12 songs are very unconvincing lyric wise, being medleys of leitmotivs such as "how can a woman so beautiful be going through such a terrible thing" or "I'll be the sunshine of your life"; only the single "U know what's up" reminds us of the talent behind the great "In the hood". But then, who cares? You can just appreciate the lush ballads, tender mid-tempo songs which bring out Jones' beautifully quiet, sensuous voice.

If you're familiar with Jones' first album, you won't discover much new material here. If not, keeping in mind that "My heart" is a more diverse album, this is still a very good buy for long blue nights alone.

Titou



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