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John Legend
GET LIFTED
(Columbia)
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It’s tempting to dismiss neo-soul singer John Legend for the ridiculous last name . . . but not that easy. Legend cut his teeth playing keyboards for Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys. And his major-label debut is sweetened with production from the ubiquitous Kanye West. The former leader of a church choir in Philly, Legend has a full-bodied voice with a soulfully raspy edge. On Get Lifted, that voice strains heavenward on the gospel-inflected "So High" and the slow burner "Stay with You." Yet he also brings a fresh perspective to more-secular R&B tales of love and betrayal as his sinewy melodies trace the flip sides of cheating on the seductive "She Don’t Have To Know" and the dryly frank "Used To Love You." But it’s during the album’s quieter moments — alone with the piano on "Ordinary People" — that he reveals the true soul of his music with a voice that is at once knowing, familiar, and, yes, possibly even worthy of the name Legend.
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