FanMail [Clean] [Edited]

Performer: TLC
Artist: Babyface; Nathan East; Jimmy Jam; Terry Lewis; Greg Phillinganes; Paulinho Da Costa
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: TLC: T-Boz, Chilli, Left-Eye (vocals). Additional personnel: Vic-E (spoken vocals); Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis (various instruments); Babyface (acoustic & electric guitars, keyboards, programming); Michael Thompson, Mike Scott, Tomi Martin (guitar); Gregory Hudspeth (saxophone); Melvin M. Jones (trumpet); Antnony Roberson (trombone); Greg Phillinganes (piano, Wurlitzer piano); Jerry Lumpkins (keyboards); Debra Killings (bass, background vocals); C.C. Thomas, Lamarquis Jefferson, Nathan East, Colin Wolfe (bass); Tim Knight (drums); Paulinho Da Costa (percussion); Alex Richbourg (programming); Dallas Austin, Leslie Brathwaite, Ty-Hudson, Joi Gilliam, Carolyn Paige, Kevin Wales, "Big" Stan Smith, Kandi Burruss, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, Necia Bray, Koko Watkins (background vocals). Producers: Cyptron, Kevin "Shekspere" Briggs, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Dallas Austin. Engineers: Carlton Lynn, Leslie Brathwaite, Steve Hodge. FANMAIL won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. "No Scrubs" won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song and for Best R&B Performance by A Duo Or Group With Vocal. FANMAIL was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Album Of The Year. "Unpretty" was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and Song Of The Year. "No Scrubs was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Record Of The Year. Personnel: Dallas Austin, Debra Killings, Marde Johnson, Koko Watkins, Carolyn Paige, Ty Hudson, Joi Gilliam, Kevin Wales, Tionne Watkins, Stan Smith, Leslie Brathwaite (vocals); Mike Scott , Tomi Martin (guitar); Gregory Hudspeth (saxophone); Melvin Jones (trumpet); Anthony Roberson (trombone); Greg Phillinganes (piano); Jerry Lumpkins (keyboards); Tom Knight (drums); Paulinho Da Costa (percussion); Alexander Richbourg (programming); Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, Necia Bray, Kandi Burruss (background vocals). Audio Mixers: Jermaine Dupri; Jon Gass; Alvin Speights; Phil Tan. Recording information: Brandon's Way, Hollywood, CA; D.A.R.P. Studios, Atlanta, GA; Doppler Studios, Atlanta, GA; Flyt Tyme Studios, Edina, MN; KrossWire Studio, Atlanta, GA; Riversound-Lithonia, GA; Silent Sound Studios, Atlanta, GA; The Enterprise, Burbank, CA; The Record Plant Studios, Burbank, CA. Photographer: Seb Janiak. Arrangers: Dallas Austin; Jimmy Jam; Terry Lewis. The bad girls of R&B are back at it again and after a long layoff. Chili, Left Eye, and T-Boz, collectively known as TLC prove that nothing's gonna change their world. With classic TLC demeanor on tracks like "No Scrubs" (sure to get even the most motion-challenged dancer to bust a move), "I'm Good At Being Bad," (TLC at its best) "Silly Ho" and "If They Knew," TLC reminds us why being "bad" is sometimes so attractive. But with all the bad-girl image that TLC works so hard to project, they show their versatility on tracks like "I Miss You So Much" and "Dear Lie." These two cuts show some sentimentality, spotlighting a different side of the TLC their fans have come to know and love. Crazysexycool was one of those records that defined an era. Few records before it combined hip-hop and classic soul songwriting quite as intoxicatingly or gracefully -- the performances and productions were utterly seamless. It would have been difficult to top anyway, but TLC had it doubly bad, since a number of behind-the-scenes problems delayed a sequel for nearly five years. As with any eagerly anticipated record, that follow-up, FanMail, arrived with too many expectations. And initially, it may be disappointing to realize TLC doesn't forge new ground with FanMail, but after a few spins, it settles in that nobody else makes urban soul quite as engaging as this. Not that it was easy to make this record, as the head-spinning list of collaborators indicates. Almost ten producers worked on the record, all trying to replicate the easy, appealing sound of Crazysexycool. And "replicate" is the right word, since there are no new innovations on FanMail, apart from a few lifts from the Timbaland book of tricks. Nevertheless, that may be for the best, since TLC and their army of producers have spent time crafting the songs and productions, turning FanMail into a record that almost reaches the peaks of its predecessor. By the end of the record, it appears that they can do it all -- funky, hip-hop-fueled dance-pop, seductive ballads, and mid-tempo jams -- and they can do it all well. Other groups try to reach these heights, but they don't have the skills or the material to pull it off quite so well. True, the five-year wait felt interminable, and they're now standard-bearers instead of pioneers, but if takes TLC as long to make a sequel to FanMail, so be it -- they have one of the best track records in '90s urban soul. [Fanmail was also released in a "clean" edition, containing no profanities or vulgarities.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rolling Stone (3/18/99, pp.61-62) - 3 1/2 Stars (out of 5) - "...TLC's sexy moves are enhanced by the album's jittery rhythms....The effort to break away from illusions, especially the gender kind, powers the most exciting music on FAN MAIL..." Spin (5/99, pp.146-147) - 6 (out of 10) - "...The day Left Eye torched her old man's mansion may be old flames under the bridge, but it's also the new record in a flash: a burning, physical message that looks like a spectacle but reads like sexual politics. This may be FAN MAIL, but it ain't no love letter..." Q (1/00, p.87) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1999." Q (5/99, p.116) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...FAN MAIL possesses a bite every bit as sharp as their collective visage is pretty....TLC know exactly how to please all the people all of the time..." Muzik (1/00, p.69) - Ranked #2 in Muzik's "Albums Of The Year '99" Muzik (4/9, p.84) - 4 stars (out of 5) - "...Slick as you like, the feel is high-tech....A real grower of an album in every respect....compared to what else is out there [TLC] remain in a class of their own." The Source (4/99, p.212) - "...FANMAIL offers more of their trademarked cyberfunk rhythms ("Unpretty"), eclectic party jams ("My Life") and lullaby ballads ("Dear Lie")..."

This Atlanta-bred R&B trio was a hit straight out of the gate with its 1992 debut album. Role models for a generation of girls, TLC presented (and comported) themselves as strong, independent women, both sensual and powerful. Their followup album was a multi-platinum affair, but subsequent legal/financial battles nearly finished the group, delaying their third album significantly. TLC bounced back again with renewed confidence, but member Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes was tragically killed in a car accident in 2002.

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