I don't know about the production though.

As usual...his songwriting misses the character that Steve Nieve (keys), Bruce Thomas (bass) & Pete Thomas (drums) added to HIM & HIS SONGWRITING.

I'm not crazy about the drums...might be a little too "sloppy" for the concise narratives that Declan usually shadow boxes his narratives against:

(see: strict time, shabby doll, black & white world, uncomplicated, etc.)

The Roots...(read that ?uestlove on drums) employ the same brilliant box of earth toned crayons that they've been quietly riding in the right lane of the music industry since day one.

James Poyser is ?uestloves most important collaborator next to Black Thought.

The problem here is...unless challenged by a producer/collaborator like Jay Dee or an artist like D'angelo who's artistic vision always meets at a crossroads with ?uestlove's musical comfort zone, the outcome always seems to go flat (for me) around the 3rd or 4th song when you realize that the drums throughout the album aren't really going to change much...meaning the mid-tempo tracks end up blurring together in the snap and crunch of hi-hats and snares (see the last couple of albums by the Roots.

Am I hating?

#NAW_DOGG

This unfortunately ends up in that pile of things ?uestlove does while trying with all his might to make the things that really matter to him (D'angelo's return) matter.

(see: Betty Wright, Al Green, John Legend albums)

This record could've been recorded in a marathon session between tapings of Fallon...illustrating how ?uestlove is the musical production version of Hank from "Breaking Bad", forensically reconstructing each artists career ethos and flavoring it with his own Hip Hop Band/DEA/Tonight Show/Soulquarian/Jay-Z musical director position.

This album would've been more interesting as a straight duo project between ?uest and Elvis, forcing Elvis to inject more of his playing alongside ?uestlove's "groove merchant" repurposed breakbeat science.

But like I said...I'm not mad.

s.blak
Maybe Folks Will Explore Elvis Costello's Catalogue Now