Let's Get to What's Real

The first half of the opening cut, “Gather Round,” reveals that fifth-season American Idol runner-up Elliott Yamin is still obsessed with '70s soul. Yet the rhythms on his third studio album groove with a bounce that has more in common with current retro-soul trends. The title track is a slower jam that simmers on seductive rhythms, vintage jazz piano tones, windchimes, and a horn section mixed to recall AM radio gold. Throughout, Yamin’s confident crooning takes center stage. Over a strolling strut that recalls early Hall & Oates moments, his voice breaks up in the higher registers with a near–Stevie Wonder timbre. Had Bell Biv DeVoe grown up on old Donnie Hathaway and Bobby Starr vinyl, its “Poison” might have sounded a lot more like Yamin’s. If the wah-wah pedal becomes the new cowbell, it will have been Yamin’s fault. There’s plenty of it in the funky “Downtown,” providing a flared denim strut, while “Enough Love” wah-wahs like the Shaft theme song.