The Love Experience

Performer: Raheem DeVaughn
Engineer: Anthony Bell
Producer: Kenny Dope; Anthony Bell
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Raheem DeVaughn (vocals); Ronald Frost, Anthony Bell (various instruments); Mike Ciro (guitar); Larry Gold (strings); Gene Perez (bass instrument); Tanzania Lateef, KI Ki Hawkins (background vocals). In the time it takes to listen to Raheem DeVaughn's The Love Experience, from start to finish, you can also cycle twice through Prince's Dirty Mind and end up somewhere in the middle of a third play of "Do It All Night." DeVaughn does it until the tape runs out. His debut is a very long album -- 70 minutes, in fact, and it would still be too lengthy without the concluding eight-minute thank-you track. So, if there's one thing DeVaughn didn't learn from his mother's record collection, it's brevity. He did, however, pick up a lot of other things from the past, most of which are far more important to have. Vocally, he's not too far from Dwele, with smooth, sweet tones that often drift into an even sweeter falsetto, though he could use a little of his peer's lyrical subtleties. His voice immediately pulls you in, so the shortcoming isn't as much of a factor as it would be with a singer of lesser skill. Most of his inspirations dwell in the '70s, favoring spare arrangements and elegant string flourishes over dramatic bombast and piercing keyboard stabs. Through numerous highlights scattered across the disc, it becomes apparent that DeVaughn is remarkably creative and talented and should be watched. One does wonder, however, if he was allowed too much creative freedom for a newcomer. His boldness also creeps into "Until," where he removes Ron Isley's voice from the Isley Brothers' "Footsteps in the Dark" (!) and sings a rather heavy-handed and self-absorbed set of verses about his hardships. Perhaps he could have learned something from a song by another (unrelated) DeVaughn -- William DeVaughn's "Be Thankful for What You Got." And furthermore, why on earth would anyone want to toy with a perfect classic? [The Love Experience was initially released as a copy-protected CD, which may not register on some computers.] ~ Andy Kellman Like Anthony Hamilton, Angie Stone, and many of the more exciting artists carelessly lumped under the banner of "neo-soul," Raheem DeVaughn has soaked up a world of musical influences (that includes, of course, the winding history of rhythm & blues) to arrive at his debut record, THE LOVE EXPERIENCE. The son of jazz cellist Abdul Wadud, Devaughn was born into music, and that heritage is far from lost on the inherently soulful singer. "Who" melds an instantly classic melody (that falls somewhere between 1970s Philly soul and 1980s Reid-Babyface) with a surreal synth hook and a wandering rock guitar, and is a perfect example of the alluring depth of THE LOVE EXPERIENCE. DeVaughn's vocals fit his compositions perfectly, whether it's the ultra-slow bedroom eyes of "Ask Yourself," the jazz-hop of "Guess Who Loves You More," or the Funkadelic-conjuring "Sweet Tooth." On THE LOVE EXPERIENCE, Raheem DeVaughn succeeds in combining an ear for the pop melodies of the past with a host of new ideas for soul music.

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