Product Reviews
After four years off, R&B singer Carl Thomas returned with Don t Kiss Me, a stupendous and nostalgic single that suggested his iffy days were over. The album it lands on is, in true Thomas fashion, a mixed bag, with an epic yet ultimately empty title track that stately suggests conquering women is what the man does best. That fever-pitch bedroom talk is better left to R. Kelly and the like, as Thomas is best with either the slow burn (the love-drunk It Ain t Fair ) or the flirty dirty talk ( Round 2, a pillow fight night metaphor with Look what we did to the bedroom baby being its unashamed high point). Compared to his previous efforts, Conquer is more aware of these strengths than any release since his debut, and when it takes winning musical risks like the complicated Long Distance Love Affair, that mythical, classic Thomas album seems almost within reach. Material-starved fans craving his rich, warm, and velvety delivery should ignore all these minor complaints and plunder at will. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi
Product Notes
2011 album from the R&B vocalist. For the recording of Conquer, Thomas enlisted some of today's top producers, including Andre Harris (formerly of multi-platinum production duo Dre & Vidal) who produced the smooth and seductive title track which opens with a quiet tempest of strings--the kind you hear during a pivotal scene of a spaghetti Western--and "Round 2," about his request to repeat an intimate encounter with a beautiful woman to jar his memory. Conquer continues with the Rex Rideout-(Ledisi) produced "It Is What It Is" which was written by hip-hop legend Heavy D and showcases Thomas' effortless ability to ride rhythms and skillfully ad-lib all at once; the romantic wedding ballad "I Do" which was written by Thomas and produced by The Internz (Justin Bieber) conveys the groom's point of view as he watches his gorgeous bride walk down the aisle; and the Mario Winans-produced "It Ain't Fair" whose production style works in perfect tandem with Thomas' subtle yet urgent delivery as he continues his grown-man flirts and adulation of a angelically beautiful woman.