Jonathan Butler - Do You Love Me?

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:59
Size: 121,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:10)  1. Song for Elizabeth
(4:34)  2. Do You Love Me?
(4:33)  3. The Other Side of the World
(4:43)  4. Life After You
(4:05)  5. New Life
(4:16)  6. Dancing on the Shore
(4:29)  7. You Don't Belong To Me
(3:54)  8. The Way You Look Tonight
(4:18)  9. Amen
(4:01) 10. A Kiss
(5:26) 11. Lost to Love
(4:23) 12. My Only Joy

On Jonathan Butler's N2K Encoded Music debut, Do You Love Me, he continues his jack-of-two-trades approach, balancing R&B-based vocal tunes with easy, acoustic guitar-based instrumentals. While it's a friendly enough listen, Butler here doesn't display a powerful enough mastery of either format. His guttural, heartfelt vocal style reminiscent of Jon Secada can make even the most Lionel Richie-esque lyric seem deeper than it is (even a new song with a title like "The Way You Look Tonight"), but few of the adult-oriented vocal tunes here are as memorable or hooky as his best-known hit, "Sarah Sarah." "Do You Love Me?," for instance, should be a deep, emotional moment, but comes off as a pleasant, easily dismissed conversation. Fortunately, "You Don't Belong to Me" has more lyrical bite, nicely underscored with a percussive guitar line underneath his angry tone. Butler should put more of that pointed energy into his play-it-safe instrumentals, which generally gallop along smoothly without building much steam. The best one can do with this sort of album is like Butler a lot. ~ Jonathan Widran https://www.allmusic.com/album/do-you-love-me-mw0000595283

Personnel: Jonathan Butler (vocals, guitar, programming); Tom Scott (soprano saxophone, synthesizer); Kirk Whalum (tenor saxophone); Dave Grusin (Fender Rhodes); Larry Kimpel (bass, fretless bass, background vocals); Portia Griffin, Yvonne Williams, Earl Buffington (background vocals).           

Do You Love Me?

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