Sister duo Mary Mary make up for the relative sameness of their sophomore effort by going all out to pack Mary Mary with variety to pique all their constituencies.
For the R&B throngs who made "Shackles" the catchiest soul gospel crossover so far of the '00s, there's "Heaven." Its Jackson Five interpolations, though cleverly nostalgic, mask the lack of an immediate hook. A more insistent nod toward the Soul Train dancers comes from the retro disco-funk of "The Real Party (Tevon's Birthday)." Those who want their glossy, melodically complex urban pop with rapping need only cock an ear to the Fred Hammond-borrowing "Save Me;" introductory couplets courtesy of their producer, Warryn "Baby Dubb" Campbell.
Campbell takes lessons from even older schools for the gals. "Yesterday" positions MM as the leads for a golden age soul gospel quartet-styled workout. "Biggest, Greatest Thing" lets the duo loose in a swinging jazz setting owing to Ella Fitzgerald's arrangers.
Alt-soul lovers get served, too. "What is This" brings violin ala 4th Avenue Jones or Miri Ben-Ari to a burner that would do Angie Stone proud. "Love You That Much" continues the flavor at a more leisurely tempo.
And for the Hispanic listenership that's catching on to soul gospel? A light flamenco experimentalism informs a collaboration with Kirk Franklin, "And I." Its slow-growing hook underlies some of MM's more doctrinally fulsome lyrics.
That leaves the dramatic urgency of the opening "Believer" and the set's closest thing to genre formula, "Speak To Me," to bookend a glossy, diverse collection. Mary Mary plays as an eponymous triumph.
4 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2005Reviewed by Brian A. SmithErica and Tina Campbell have taken the self-titled route for their third album, Mary Mary. It would be easy to pigeonhole these sisters into the typical gospel category, and to be fair, the second half of this album probably is indistinguishable from most of that genre. But, oh the difference between the first and second halves of this disc! The Campbells show a willingness to explore new styles,…Similar sounding releases
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