Those extremes exist in the seasons of “Cold, Cold World” and “Summer Rain.” She gave me exactly what I was looking for.”Īs a whole, Emotional toys the line of romantic wordplay and agonizing lyricism, somber melodies and uplifting instrumentation. But she just went and hit it right on the spot… She made the vibe of the record for me. “ she just came by to talk about it, but when she came by she just actually went in the booth and knocked it out right then and there. She’s beginning the process of recording her album ,” Thomas said. “We’re at the Record Plant in Los Angeles recording. The recording of the song happened around the time Puffy was pushing up the deadline for Emotional following the buzz of “I Wish.” “Touching you, holding you, is all I really Wanna do,” sings both artists in the hook. Price provides accompanying background vocals on “Giving You All My Love.” The album’s sixth track rings like an ode to the ’70s duets of Peaches and Herb. In fact, one could liken Carl Thomas’s vocal delivery over the champagne-tinged production to the off-the-rift stylings of his late friend, Gerald Levert.Ī peer that Thomas had the pleasure of working with during the recording of Emotional was Kelly Price. “When I was a kid I was always in the mirror imitating my favorite artists.”Īnother cut that models that behavior is “ Hey Now ” which replicates the softer, silky vibrations of Marvin Gaye and Teddy Pendergrass. “When I’m writing ‘Supastar,’ I became the little kid who was in the mirror playing soul stars,” Thomas said. “ Supastar ” exhibits traditional serenading, matching the likes of quiet storm forefathers, The Isley Brothers and Smokey Robinson. What propels Emotional to the top tier of classic R&B albums is its homage to the old school superstars. “I want to rub your loneliness away” becomes a sensual request sung by Thomas in the hook which by song’s end turns into a borderline begging moment. “Lady Lay Your Body” would eventually find a marriage of Thomas’s enchanting vocals with laid back, cognac sipping production ahead of the trends stemming from its late ’80s conception. “And he came up with the eight-bar progression of the hook, which perfectly matched the lyrics that I had.” “I was in Brooklyn just trying to come up with some ideas for ballads with a friend of mine,” Thomas said. One of those high school records was “Lady Lay Your Body,” a sensual slow creeper that rivals any Nu-age quiet storm record. You never forget a great paragraph that you wrote. When you’re a songwriter you never forget a great line. But a selection of issues over the previous ten years or so… Bits and pieces of it in high school. “A lot of those songs weren’t about current issues. “A lot of those songs that I wrote for Emotional were songs that mentally collected in my head over the years,” Thomas said about his writing process. (That track also featured vocals from Carl Thomas.) While Puffy happens to be reliving the traumatic experience of witnessing The Notorious B.I.G.’s assassination on “Pain,” Carl Thomas is fictionally yearning for love and exclusivity on “Come To Me”. “ Come To Me ” fused both of those worlds, speeding up the melancholic keys of Roberta Flack’s cover of Al Green’s “ Let’s Stay Together.” The 1994 classic was previously sampled on “ Pain ” from Puff Daddy and The Family’s 1997 album, No Way Out. If soap opera dramatics were a cornerstone of Bad Boy branded music, so was the art of sampling. “I’m working hard/50 hours a week paying for the car/And the house we had built on the boulevard/And as soon as you get home you wanna start/With something negative/Besides physical harm, what do you give/And you make lots of noise for/someone who sits/At home all day watching One Life To Live.” On air, the singer recites the first verse of “You Ain’t Right” like a Shakespearean monologue: It’s delivered from the perspective of a man in the midst of a lover’s quarrel. The Mike City-produced song is entrenched in a hyperactive cosmopolitan-house pop beat, blended with Thomas’s slinky, soulful vocals. As Thomas sat in front of the hip-hop legend turned radio hostess, he broke down lyrics to “You Ain’t Right,” the 12th track. We talked to the singer about writing and creating his R&B classic.Įarlier this year, Carl Thomas appeared on Roxanne Shante’s Rock The Bells Sirius XM radio show Have A Nice Day to discuss his debut album Emotional. Twenty years ago, Carl Thomas released his debut album, Emotional on Bad Boys Records.
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