Marques Houston | Mr. Houston
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Marques Houston | Mr. Houston
The new Mr. Houston from Marques isn’t anything too special to break out to the public. Especially if his music, or previous discs all have the R&B minded rhythms in tact & indirect focus to appeal his fan base from years before. Not seeking new ones. What remains from Marques is whether or not the cat has something different to add to the total game. Something that sticks & adds bricks & mortars to what already is a testy market of todays generational by-products who depend on radio gimmicky playbacks, or songs that generate a ‘quick buck’….but doesn’t come up to air for resurgence in the ‘playback yesterdays music dept’. And I hope & wanted this disc to take me to that point of my review.
You see, I once digged that young, charismatic, almost darn near mimicking TLC, boy group called “Immature”, where Marques was the lead singer & member of. These guys made a colorful splash that lasted a few years in the early to mid nineties. Henceforth Mr. Houston’s solo music career and an inspiring acting one too. A few movie clicks to his credits, the latest one & most important “You Got Served” should give him the props most critics didn’t give him. But it won’t matter.
In many of our reviews from the majority of writers & reviewers on The Urban Music Scene, one of the greatest components to success in the industry, & its not always music, is to stay consistent. Stay focused & stay on the mark of the grand prize of the gift YOU have to offer. And Marques did just those things. The question is, will it work in his favor?
For Marques, “Mr. Houston” wasn’t necessarily a home run after the overall completion of my review. It contained selections too similar to his last 2 albums, “Veteran” & “Naked”, & the project leaned on ‘the easy road out’ with passive, overstated themes of sex, beauty of a woman and not enough texture or blended elements of traditional, sophisticated romance and lyrical in-depth love letters that would otherwise churn his mature growth of a singer into a embellished balladeer.
Its been said he’ll have 12, yes, 12 music videos – one for each track on the record. A ‘record’ all in itself by a recording artist, no matter what genre. Coming soon, as well, as a DVD set by Christmas time – 2009. A whole lot of money spent. Hopefully, the material will surface somewhere other than YouTube by means of the commercial TV stations who will give him a moment of time. A feat unchallenged, but will the music STICK long enough for the listener to stop, look & listen?
For instance, “I Love Her” sounds too much like the same production formula used on his counterparts albums (Trey Songz, Bobby Valentino, etc..) and not enough difference or originality to glow away from the crowd – especially when it comes to that auto tune..; “Express Lane” still borrowed the same ole’ ‘in the club – drinkin Padron’ Fairy Tale.; And of course the easily predictable songs “Sexy Young Girl” & “Beautiful Woman” did lack the intense feel of romanticism, heart warming soliloquies often cherished in older, modern, urban classics our young kids keep sampling from the Motown, Atlantic Record collections.
One thing is certain, He has a fanbase. And after awhile, the beats, the productions has a simple catchy effect that picks up after a moments chance and snatches them.
I didn’t think this was the best Marques had to offer – 3- out of 5 stars (My Opinion), but it was great to still see him in the studio believing in his vocal abilities to give. The young group of listeners may agree to disagree. That’s cool. But I wanted to see Marques step into the ring & produce a solid, tenderoni, Luther Vandross appealing, Keith Washington style of love songs where the maturity of emotional feeling is just the touch of imagination.
George Strand
The Urban Music Scene