Album review: John Legend and the Roots, 'Wake Up!'
2.5 stars (out of 4)
Hip-hop juggernaut the Roots have already made one of the year’s better albums with “How I Got Over,” and now only a few months later they’re back in tandem with R&B singer John Legend. “Wake Up!” (Columbia) began taking shape amid Barack Obama’s presidential campaign of 2008, a time of rising political awareness and empowerment in the African-American community. The album draws on that community’s long and rich tradition of socially conscious music; 11 of the 12 songs are covers of ‘60s and ‘70s soul, funk and reggae gems. Legend and the Roots dig deep, demonstrating a connoisseur’s feel for the music by focusing on content rather than chart position.
They mix portraits of inner-city despair (Donny Hathaway’s “Little Ghetto Boy,” Baby Huey’s “Hard Times”) with Vietnam-era protest (the old Les McCann jazz-soul hit “Compared to What,” Bill Withers’ “I Can’t Write Left Handed”) that haven’t aged a bit. These are balanced by songs of determination, resilience and urgent uplift: Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes’ “Wake Up Everybody,” Prince Lincoln’s sweet reggae anthem “Humanity,” Ernie Hines’ “Our Generation.”
Not everything works. The challenges posed by Mike James Kirkland’s drifting “Hang on In There” and Marvin Gaye’s meditative “Wholy Holy” aren’t met by ill-defined arrangements, and Legend’s “Shine” sounds tepid next to the best of these tracks. On the rest, Legend sings with more grit than usual, and the Roots crackle with energy: bass bravado on “Compared to What,” acid-dipped guitar on “I Can’t Write Left Handed” and lean, percussive funk on “Our Generation.”
This well-intentioned collection never surpasses the strong originals from which it draws. But in pointing young listeners back to the work of fine if mostly forgotten artists such as Baby Huey and Prince Lincoln, “Wake Up!” serves a worthy purpose.
greg@gregkot.com