>I pulled that CD out a while back... Ray & NJ beats could have >been a disaster but he played it more from the smooth end and >it kinda worked. As you said it didn't sell much but I don't >think he embarrassed himself either (he waited until 2006 to >do that) That album was closer to his Raydio days than just >about every other solo album he dropped. Life is so Strange is >still one of my favorite Ray tracks.
I think Ray did good on that record, derivative tracks be damned I guess his heart wasn't really in it, by his own account, but he had some good songs on there.
"Love Is So Strange" has this weird Prince-in-the-1999 era opening but goes into some "Quiet Storm" joint that sounded like a '90s take on a Raydio mid-tempo jam. The lyrics on the title track made me laugh... he was doing the Johnny Gill but from an angle you didn't really hear in R&B too often. Listening to Ray in that mode gives me the impression that he was spitting game to music sometimes.
"And you know how I feel about you wearing makeup... the same way I think about you wearing clothes"