When it comes to funk-and-wail R & B, there's simply no one like Chaka Khan. She's by turns raw and rangy, sometimes simultaneously on the same sustained note. Yet when she takes on a ballad, "I'll Be Around," say, the song takes on the thrill of discovery.
Her brand-new album Funk This is a vitamin B-shot of funky tunes ("Back in the Day"), unsyrupy ballads ("Angel"), and a great duet with Mary J. Blige (Chaka wins, of course).
There are a lot of manufactured, faux soul divas out there these days (we're not referring to Blige, by the way). One listen to this album and you think, "Right, this is how it's meant to sound."
written on Thursday Oct 4, 2007
there's no one like chaka khan.
