Johnny gill maybe album
Half Crazy and Because of You are decent piano ballads. But moreso than either of Gill’s two prior albums it’s rather entertaining when it is on. The Linda Creed-helmed Chemistry isn’t quite the instafix to Johnny’s problems, it shares the same questionable ’80s production values and dime-a-dozen R&B songwriting that evaporates from memory as soon as the record stops playing. Producers Freddie Perren and Naranda Michael Walden couldn’t come up with material that was either memorable or did more for Gill than showcase his excellent voice. His epynomous Freddie Perren-helmed debut had been boring as hell, as had Cotillon Records’ attempt to sell the boy to starlet Stacey Lattisaw’s audience: the far from perfect Perfect Combination. Unfortunately for Gill up until the 1988 New Edition album Heart Break, on which he replaced Bobby Brown, he had never gotten the material to unlock his potential. Gill’s husky, masculine baritone could give the likes of Luther Vandross and Teddy Pendergrass a run for their money in its sheer power, seductiveness and sultriness. A very exceptional thirty-plus year old even. Even though he was eighteen by the time Chemistry dropped he looked fifteen and had the voice of a thirty-plus year old. The voice you hear on the record does not fit the little boy on the cover. It can’t be stressed enough in reviewing a Johnny Gill album.