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Anthony Hamilton
Soulife
(Atlantic/Rhino)
First Appeared in The Music Box, July 2005, Volume 12, #7
Written by John Metzger
Anthony Hamilton’s success hasn’t come easily. His debut was lost amidst his
record label’s financial struggles; his sophomore effort XTC floundered
after a lack of support from the industry; and after shifting to Soulife (an
indie-like subsidiary of Atlantic), his third outing was shelved when the small
company went bankrupt. Although his fourth album Comin’ from Where I’m From
eventually went platinum and earned the songwriter and vocalist several Grammy
nominations, its ascendancy wasn’t immediate. Coming in the wake of Hamilton’s
previous misfortunes, many wondered if he ever would catch the break he
deserved.
Fortunately, once the spotlight finds someone, it’s reluctant to move
elsewhere — at least for a little while — and salvaged from the ashes is
Soulife, a collection that compiles the previously unreleased material
recorded by Hamilton between 1999 and 2001. Tweaked with ProTools and awash in
programmed drum beats, the backing music that surrounds the ballad-heavy affair
suffers from the same set of symptoms that plagued Comin’ from Where I’m From,
and the modernized textures severely diminish the organic essence of Hamilton’s
songs to the point where they sometimes sound indistinct and manufactured.
Although there are moments when the synthetic haze of the smooth and polished
production is broken — the horns that grace Ball and Chain, the touches
of acoustic guitar that seep through the dense pulse of I Used to Love
Someone, and the swirling organ that envelops Day Dreamin’, for
example — it isn’t always enough to allow the tunes to transcend their drab
accompaniments.
What gives Soulife its momentum, then, is Hamilton’s easy-going vocal
prowess, which frequently succeeds in brushing away the artificiality in order
to strike a more natural pose. With a voice that glides somewhere between Stevie
Wonder and Bill Withers, he brings a sense of classic soul to much of his
material, and there are countless hints scattered throughout the album that
perhaps he one day will rival his idols’ greatest works. For now, however,
Hamilton is merely an elegant singer who is struggling to find a way to remain
relevant while also forcing the R&B world to shed its well-entrenched, formulaic
approach to crafting albums. 
Soulife is available from Amazon.com.
To order, Click Here!
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For UK orders, please
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2005
The Music Box
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