The First Lady (by Faith Evans, Soul)

In a series of self-revelatory story-songs, Faith Evans proves herself to be much more than the lovely widow of the late Biggie Smalls in her first Capitol release after leaving Bad Boy Records. On one energetic track after another, she appears to be revealing her deepest feelings, memories, and rationalizations while having a truly fabulous time. The songs themselves tell interesting little stories in which memories of hard times are shared, along with maybe a few too many "gotta-tell-this-whether-or-not-you-actually-care" feelings about lost love, found love, wrecked love, jealousy, and hope. But if the messages are a little too preachy or self-referential, the music puts those messages across with grace and charm.

The classy arrangements of THE FIRST LADY show off Ms. Evans' voice to its best advantage, evoking the roots of seventies soul music at its best. Faith's singing is terrific, but the background vocal arrangements are so good that they often come close to stealing the show. A couple of four-letter words, the occasional pathetic "poor me" sentiment, and truly odd song structures on some of the tracks keep this from being an all-ages family dance party CD, but it's still REALLY good. Singing students especially will enjoy the interplay and chemistry between lead and background vocals, and the instrumental tracks are pretty terrific, too.

Released on: March 29, 2005
Label: Capitol
Genre: Soul