Great soul from Foxx & Maxwell

Jamie Foxx is a gem of an artist. Academy Award winning actor, box-office star, Grammy nominated singer, pianist, producer, even a television channel executive, Foxxhole, etc. He does so many things well that fans inevitably look forward to his every outing. This time around focus is on his new CD, Intuition. Much is also being made much of the album because this is his follow-up to the Platinum selling Unpredictable from four years ago.

This is a star-studded one and the tracks have so much going on inside them. Everybody seems to want to collaborate with Jamie. Just take a look at this line-up. Just Like Me featuring T.I.; I Don’t Need It feat. Timberland; Number One feat. Lil Wayne; Digital Girl feat. Kanye West & The-Dream; Blame It feat. T-Pain; She Got Her Own feat. Ne-Yo & Fabulous; and Freak’in Me feat. Marsha Ambrosius. Even his videos are full of cameos by big-name stars. Think Jake Gyllenhaal, Quincy Jones, Ron Howard, Forest Whitaker, Samuel Jackson and others.

I guess that if you really like doing things in a big way, then it really pays to be a big star in Hollywood. And that seems to be Jamie’s intention here. Unpredictable had a seductive vibe for sweet and slow times with somebody special. Contrary to its title denotes, Intuition is a party CD. This was made for mingling and having fun. Great grooves. I do wish though that Foxx did more singing instead of rapping here. He has a great voice and I would love to hear him do something like early Babyface in the future.

If that is also the Foxx you like, then be consoled with the tracks that feature him alone in the album like the Intuition Interlude; I Don’t Know; Weekend Lover; Why; Slow; Rainman, Overdose; and a bonus track Love Brings Change.

Thoughts of Babyface bring me to BLACKsummers’night by Maxwell. After all the “featuring credits” and all those studio gimmicks in Intuition, BLACKsummers’night comes like a breath of fresh air. Maxwell is in this alone. Okay I do not know what to make of the title. But let us indulge this guy. He is working on something big with this one. In fact, this CD, which by the way features all new materials, is the first installment of the Trilogy BLACKsummers’night.

I distinctly remember the first time I saw Maxwell and that was almost 10 years ago. He was young, handsome and very talented. He had a distinct, sensuous sound that I thought was an updated Babyface. Sad to say, though, he chose to disappear after making a No. 1 seller in his album simply titled, Now, which included cuts like This Woman’s Work and Lifetime. Having no Maxwell around allowed the new kids like Ne-Yo and Akon to pick up what he started.

For reasons I also do not know, Maxwell has now resurfaced and is showing off BLACKsummers’night. Nothing has changed. He is as good as ever and I so love the fact that he recorded his album live and amazingly with live musicians in the studio. This just makes everything feel so tasteful and authentic. And with Maxwell, that also means, romantic.

Includes Bad Habits, Cold, Pretty Wings (Uncut), Help Somebody, Stop The World, Love You, Fistful Of Tears, Playing Possum, Phoenix Rise, Help Somebody, Cold, Stop The World, Love You and a radio edit of Pretty Wings.

Top 10 tunes in Billboard

Here are the Top 10 tunes in Billboard’s Hot 100: The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) by The Black Eyed Peas; Best I Ever Had by Drake; You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift; Knock You Down by Keri Hilson featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo; Fire Burning by Sean Kingston; Boom Boom Pow again by The Black Eyed Peas; LoveGame by Lady Gaga; I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) by Pitbull; Birthday Sex by Jeremih; and Waking Up in Vegas by Katy Perry.

In the Billboard list of top albums, we find Maxwell slipping down to No. 2 after being hit by storm Daughtry. Leave This Town by Daughtry; BLACKsummers’night by Maxwell; Hannah Montana 3, another original soundtrack from the TV series; Now 31 by Various Artists; The E.N.D. by The Black Eyed Peas; The Dead Weather by Horehound; Signature by Joe; Category F6 by Twista; Fearless by Taylor Swift; Only By The Night by Kings Of Leon.