What You Won't Do for Love

Album Review

Bobby Caldwell is one of only a handful of white vocalists (Van Morrison and Simply Red's Mick Hucknall, to name a couple more) who legitimately transcended the blue-eyed soul tag. Caldwell's genuine mix of R&B and jazz signatures as well as his bittersweet yet buttery vocal tones conjure up images of a smoothed-out version of Chet Baker. On this, his breakthrough album, the native New Yorker scored a hit with the timeless "What You Won't Do for Love" and also polished off another near-classic on "My Flame." While a few of the compositions echo the dying grip of disco and some of Caldwell's vocal arrangements sound more like a hipper version of Tony Bennett ("Can't Say Goodbye"), the crooner does possess the pipes to carry the offering. Caldwell even tries his hand at the experimental on the short but sweet instrumental "Kalimba Song." Time will likely render much of Bobby Caldwell disposable, but at the album's best, the songs do carry a singular sound and contain the power to place themselves in a time period, which may just be good enough for lovers. The cut "What You Won't Do for Love" will always stack up, as even hip-hop producers saw fit to sample the horn riff and bass track a number of times (listen to 2Pac's "Do for Love," for one). ~ M.F. DiBella, Rovi