Melinda Doolittle
Coming Back To You (Hi Fi)
Melinda Doolittle was one of American Idol’s most technically gifted singers, but nitpickers complained she lacked the kind of effervescent personality to court Idol’s teen-heavy audience. Yet it is precisely Doolittle’s personality - sweet, modest with occasional outbursts of exuberance - that defines her debut. Coming Back To You, is soul music for grown folk and Doolittle showcases how much growing she’s done since her time in the TV spotlight.
Coming Back To You is mostly covers but not obviously - only hardcore Macy Gray fans are likely to realize Gray originally recorded the album’s title track. Though the span of material runs from the Mississippi Delta up to Manhattan’s Broadway, Doolittle and producer Mike Mangini run much of the material through classic R&B traditions but don’t go the full retro route of Raphael Saadiq or Solange Knowles’ recent albums. Instead, on the best songs, such as “Wonderful” or “The Best of Everything,” deceptively simple sound beds of heavy backbeats, showers of strings, and brushes of piano melodies unfold while Doolittle is allowed to play with the full range of her voice, which can go from playful to powerful with ease.
Doolittle is surprisingly effective on the show tune material, including the slow-building “I’ll Never Stop Loving You.” Less successful is “Walkin’ Blues,” a Robert Johnson cover, which suffers from too many “fonky blues” cliches strung together. Overall too, the album could have benefited from stronger melodic hooks to help make some songs more memorable. Arguably, Coming Back To You is a bit too much like Doolittle’s persona - pleasant but not always arresting. Yet, unlike other albums maniacally programmed to target every pop niche (hello Jennifer Hudson!), Doolittle delivers one of the rarer qualities you’ll find in a contemporary album: a clear sense of who she is.
Melinda Doolittle's album hit stores 2/10/09
Tracklisting for Coming Back To You1. Fundamental Things
2. It's Your Love
3. Coming Back to You
4. Declaration of Love
5. The Best of Everything
6. Wonderful
7. Dust My Broom
8. I'll Never Stop Loving You
9. I Will Be
10. If I'm Not in Love
11. Walkin' Blues
12. We Will Find a Way
13. Wonder Why
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