Amazon.co.uk Review
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Renaissance, Lionel Richie proves that, even after more than 30 years in the business, he's still got it. With tracks produced by some of the leading producers in R&B, Latin, and dance music, Renaissance plays like a sampler of contemporary popular music. Richie is at his romantic best on "Don't You Ever Go Away," an intoxicatingly soulful ballad that leaves anyone within earshot rocking to its hypnotic beat. With its bass-heavy production and complex vocal patterns, "Wasted Time" (a song about a love affair gone sour) is a melodic testament to Richie's vocal ability. He travelled to London to work with dance music producers Rawling and Taylor on "Angel", a love song with serious party potential. What is most impressive about Renaissance is not that Richie has kept his ear to the street, but rather that he has taken the contemporary and made it his own. The songs are updated and Richie's voice is as flawless as it was 20 years ago. --
Felicia A. Wilks
Description
He's updated both his trademark big hair and his sound, which now includes hip hop beats and samples, but Lionel Ritchie's first album of the 21st century still sounds as melodic,and as harmonically complex, as anything he's done before, and the lyrics are just as heartfelt. "Angel", the album's single, for example, sounds right at home (particularly rhythmically) with anything else on the radio in 2001, but if youreally listen you'll hear a classic Ritchie ballad that would have worked equally well during his '80s heyday.
Elsewhere, there's a pronounced Latin influence on several of thesongs such as "Cinderella", "Dance the Night Away", and "Don't You Ever Go Away". The album ends rousingly with the anthemic "Don't Stop the Music".
