Details
Track Listing
1. Hey Blue
2. Nobody Knows
3. Like a Woman
4. Grass Is Green
5. Ghost
6. Leavin'
7. Billy Goat
8. Under Her Spell
9. Little Ones
10. Missin' You
| Details | | Producer: | Tony Rich | | Distributor: | BMG (distributor) | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
The Tony Rich Project: Tony Rich (vocals, various instruments, programming); Nuri (vocals); Peter Moore, John Frye (acoustic guitar); Reggie Griffin (electric guitar); Joe Rich (keyboards); Colin Wolfe (bass).
Engineers include: Neal H. Pogue, Blake Eisman, Shy Boy.
Recorded at Studio LaCoCo and Doppler Studios, Atlanta, Georgia.
WORDS includes a poem written by Tony Rich in memory of his father, Jose B. Jeffries.
WORDS won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. The album earned three additional Grammy nominations: "Nobody Knows" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance; "Like A Woman" was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance; and The Tony Rich Project was nominated for Best New Artist.
The grooves are quiet, contemplative. The sound is subdued. The songs are masterful, loosely woven patterns. Call it "stream-of-consciousness soul" (Tony Rich, we are told, doesn't start composing until the tape machine starts running), and the final result is a compelling, potentially groundbreaking debut from this young, Atlanta-based artist. L.A. and Babyface gave Rich his first big break as a writer/producer for their LaFace label, but this gifted musician shines brightest as a performer. Often, his songs break down into simple, strummed acoustic guitar parts, layers of harmonized vocals, and raw, real lyrics--no syrup or false emotions here. Rich, who grew up in Detroit with a father who also sang and wrote music, favors a subtle, almost whispered approach, borne out in songs like "The Grass Is Green," and the single, "Nobody Knows." Add a welcome gospel touch on the hypnotic "Leavin'," and you've got one of 1996's strongest R&B records.
Industry Reviews
Ranked #10 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the `Top 10 Albums And Singles Of 1996.'
...Rich crafts sharp and elegant songs, not just beats....the emphasis is so much on the melodies that even when he's bathing the songs in his own multitracked harmonies, the results remain intimate... - Rating: A
3 stars out of 5 - ...exudes a subtle quality that sets Rich apart from so many of the lyrically explicit R&B pack and makes for an album that still stands up 4 years on.
Q (04/01/2000)
...Without deviating from the slick, smooth standards of today's pop, he manages to find his own sound, a mostly acoustic groove topped with laid-back, free-flowing vocals about love, street life and spirituality...
New York Times (02/11/1996)
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