Editorial Review:

Amazon.com:
It takes guts, if not outright egomania, to abandon your given surname and adopt a loaded one like Legend, but the former John Stephens must have sensed that loftiness would one day be his calling card: Once Again, the follow-up to the Grammy-gobbling, platinum pile-on that was Get Lifted, surpasses expectations. Not that it bears much relation to its predecessor. Again again trots out a stable of talented, modern-minded producers--Raphael Saadiq, Legend comrade Kanye West, and the unsinkable will.i.am--but it's nowhere near as self-conscious about embracing the old-school as the knowing, R&B edge-skimming Lifted. Don't expect a derivative mash of smudgy, nostalgia-filching sounds, though, because despite its retro leanings, what's in store somehow crackles with currency. Call it neo-retro if you must, but never call it unimaginative: first single 'Save Room' coasts, drifts, and floats along a ponderous path spiked by a cool keyboard-y crescendo; second single 'Heaven' busts out a big, busy beat over a slow seduction; and a couple of selections--'Each Day Gets Better' and 'PDA'--are so bright and twirly they seem custom-made for dizzy love scenes or jaunty, sunny-day skips through the park. Maybe the most unusual track is 'Show Me,' a rock song that pilfers elements of Hendrix and finds Legend climbing a few octaves to sound, weirdly, like Jeff Buckley, but it works: so slippery is its beat and so affecting are its hope-laced lyrics that, oddness aside, it's among the disc's best. Sandwiched as it is among 14 songs that all sound like future classics, that's saying something. --Tammy La Gorce



More Legendary Music

Get Lifted

Get Lifted/Live at the House of Blues (CD/DVD)

Live at the House of Blues (DVD)

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Disc 1:

1. Save Room
2. Heaven
3. Stereo
4. Show Me
5. Each Day Gets Better
6. P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)
7. Slow Dance
8. Again
9. Maxine
10. Where Did My Baby Go
11. Maxine's Interlude
12. Another Again
13. Coming Home

Rating: - * For those that didn't like this album. ... If you didn't like this album... Go listen to T-Pain or Ne-yo or some other joker with as much talent as chris brown. This album's not for you, you would've know it had you previewed it before you bought it (common sense would have told you, but hey, excuse me for figuring that people still possessed such a simple concept). I didn't like the first album, oh sue me, I prefer an album to have a common theme running through the tracks produced thereby making a coherent album with personality more than just a mesh of tracks thrown together with nothing of substance to hold it together. The first album was a 'had to do', this album, was who he is. Substance: n. 1. Essential nature; essence. 2. heart. 3. That which is solid and practical in character, quality, or importance: This album has it. You feel it's bad, like I said, listen to Ne-yo, but keep that it moving. Feel me. Rating: - * I love this CD!!! ... John Legend has amazed me once again with his musicality. From his first cd "Get Lifted" to this one, you can see a maturity in his music. It is a unique style that sets him apart from most R&B and Hip Hop Singers. He is a very great composer and writer and I am definitely excited to see what he comes up with next! Rating: - * pretty good ... i like every track on this cd, he has a really good sound and his lyrics are great too. Rating: - * anytime, anywhere ... god i love this cd. i listen to it on weekend mornings, weekday evenings hanging in my room, i bring it to work, i love when i hear john legend at one of my usual sushi restaurants. one of my fave CDs of all time ! Rating: - * Once again, Legend fails to do himself complete justice... ... John Legend is without doubt talented; extremely talented at that. That fact is probably why it hurts me to say that `Once Again' just isn't as extraordinary as he is. While `Get Lifted' made him a household name (and rightfully so) I felt that the album fell short of the potential I saw in him, and I was really hoping that `Once Again' was going to perfect what he had started and deliver a truly flawless album. While Legend has matured in his lyrical delivery (one problem I had with `Get Lifted' was that it painted Legend in a very immature light) he has yet to really grasp the extent of his talent. The album opens very strong with `Save Room'; a simple yet commanding track that has a very dated sound; a sound that Legend exemplifies. I love this side of Legend and I wish that he would have tampered with it a little more on the balance of the album. He tackles this sound yet again, to even greater success with `Where Did My Baby Go', which pits Legend against the beautiful ivory keys and he manages to blow me away here. This is what I want to see him embrace, for this side of him is flawless. Instead Legend likes to play with the up-tempo numbers like `P.D.A.', and while he does turn out a good upbeat track here and there, they never really seem to pop like they should. I am not entirely impressed with `P.D.A.' as a song. It just doesn't have anything special. I feel no connection to the song and it comes off almost pointless. `Heaven' is a much better example of what Legend should bring to a pop track. This song is superbly done, rich with catchy beats and smooth vocals that elevate the song to excellence. After listening to `Heaven' you realize that songs like `P.D.A.' are just so far below what Legend is capable of. Even stronger still is `Stereo', one of my favorite tracks on the album. This track finds Legend vocalizing over an almost hip-hop beat, keeping up flawlessly and delivering cool and confident line after line. The track is sickly smooth and flawlessly constructed. `Each Day Gets Better' is a nice track, smooth and enjoyable, but it doesn't have the same tone and mood as `Where Did My Baby Go'. `Slow Dance' is one of the better tracks here, funky and smooth. John Legend really focuses his energies in the right direction here and pulls out an extremely effective Motown track that is a brilliant throwback to the music of yesteryear. Again, when listening to this you understand that Legend is so much better than some of the tracks here. `Maxine' plays out beautifully as well, such a nice change of pace. It almost reminds me of classic Eric Clapton for some reason, very entrancing. `Once Again' ends about as strongly as it opens, with the beautiful `Coming Home' which shows a step in the right direction for Legend, a very smart and mature song that speaks volumes for the growth he's gone through as an artist. I don't understand the use for a track like `Maxine's Interlude', for it brings nothing to the album; just merely takes up space. Then we have the two `Again's'. First up is `Again', which starts off beautifully and shows major potential, and then it falls apart. The chorus has Legend reaching a very uncomfortable note with the word "again" and it just leaves me a little cold. `Another Again' is a much better track, John's vocals much more confident and secure, and the upbeat rhythm adds to the beauty of the track. One of the tracks highlights is found in the track `Show Me', a very different vibe for Legend that has him sounding like a folk singer with Clapton / Hendrix style guitar work backing up his subdued vocals. The uniqueness of this track, especially when considering Legend's remaining tracks, helps the listener to understand all that this man is capable of. Like I've said, he is amazingly talented; I just wish that he really gave that talent full reign. In the end I can recommend this album for it is a very good album. It's just not great, and I really know that Legend can deliver `great'. He has it in him, he has proven that time and time again with tracks not only here but also on his debut. It's sad that a slew of his material sounds beneath him. He is better than the sum of his parts. Maybe his third offering will be his masterpiece (they say three times is a charm) and I will wait patiently for that. John Legend has the makings of a legend; that is for sure. His voice is gold, his style is impeccable and his musical talent is undeniable. Once he gets a firm grip on his capabilities I expect him to floor us.