Last year, I joined Popdose‘s Jeff Giles and Robert Cass for a column called “‘Face Time,” in which we discussed essential (and some non-essential) cuts in the catalog of Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, one of the most prolific singer/songwriters of the ’80s and ’90s. ‘Face and his partner Antonio “L.A.” Reid were one of the big 3 production teams that ruled pop and R&B during that era. There was also Teddy Riley and his New Jack Swing camp, and perhaps most notably, Minneapolis’s James “Jimmy Jam” Harris III and Terry Lewis. The former members of Prince offshoot band The Time turned out to be legends in their own right, composing and producing hits for a who’s-who of the music industry and proving to be as (if not more) influential than their purple-clad benefactor.
So in 2014, Jeff and I (along two new team members, fellow Popdose editor/Popblerd podcast co-host Michael Parr, along with badass co-conspirator Dr. Z) are back to talk all things Flyte Tyme.
Usher | “Truth Hurts” (from Confessions, 2004) (buy on Amazon MP3)
Written by: Usher Raymond IV, Jimmy “Jam” Harris III, Terry Lewis, Bobby Ross Avila and Isaiah Avila
Produced by: Jam & Lewis
MJ: Some Jam & Lewis of a (somewhat) more recent vintage…
Dr. Z: I’ve always been indifferent to Usher, which is basically how I feel about this song. Something that pops up in a lot of our discussions to date on newer Jam and Lewis productions is that they often lack a distinctive quality. That’s not to say that they’re bad (they blend in with their contemporaries quite effectively). Nor is it to say that they should be producing in the same style that the did in years past. But it’s much more difficult for me in these more recent tracks to say “Ah yes, this is obviously a Jam and Lewis joint.”
MJ: The quality of Usher’s music can be quite inconsistent (as with most pop ‘n B artists, it’s really dependent on the producer,) but this, to me, is one of his better songs.
It’s nothing special, but it’s got a good lyric, a good performance, and the production is clean and uncluttered. I kinda like the fact that it’s not obvious Jam/Lewis…nice to know they’re not milking the same sound, you know?
Z: Agreed, nice to know they’re not milking the same sound. I didn’t mean to suggest that, but rather what makes modern day Jam and Lewis songs unique among their contemporaries?
MJ: Good question.
I also feel weird calling this “modern-day” as it’s 10 (geez) years old.
Z: Good lord. In my head, Usher’s only been around for like five years. #agin’
MJ: Dude, Usher is three years older than you!
Z: I meant on the charts, smart ass! In addition to being three years older, he looks a good seven years younger!
MJ: Black don’t crack, y’all.
Jeff Giles: I’m just hearing this song for the first time now, and I like it, which I suppose offers official proof that I’m at least 10 years behind the R&B curve. I agree with Zack that there’s nothing terribly distinguished about the production here, but I also think the sum is curiously less than its parts — there’s a lot of cool stuff going on in the intro, but by the time the verse starts, it’s all congealed into a smooth, semi-memorable ball of noise. The chorus rests on a solid hook, but the melody in the verses feels like it was melisma’d up on the spot.
MJ: There are actually quite a few Jam/Lewis-composed songs that kinda don’t have verse melodies–they might’ve been the pioneers of that kinda thing. I’d certainly throw Janet’s “Nasty” and Ralph Tresvant’s “Sensitivity” up as examples.
JG: Oh, I think “Sensitivity” definitely has an identifiable melody on the verse. It’s dead simple, but it works. “Nasty” has less of one, but Jesus, with that production, it doesn’t need anything else.
MJ: Actually, that’s a good point.
“Sensitivity” only has one verse!!
JG: Don’t need a man that will give you multiple verses, MJ.
MJ: Verses are definitely not the thing I’m looking for multiples of.
JG: I feel like we’re circling back to our earlier conversation about being rubbed the right way. Is this when Parr is supposed to scream YOUNT?
Michael Parr: YOUNT!
