Marc Anthony is one of the new breed of young, soulful singers to come out recently, along with artistes like the Iglesias brothers. In this album, he manages to make a semi-decent impact.
Anthony is very smooth and uses his voice to good effect and the control he has while singing is reminiscent of Gloria Estefan. He comes off very well in the romantic numbers but is average on the more danceable ones. There are a few good tracks on the album like the chart-topper “I Need To Know”, which has a good drum beat. There is also “That’s Okay” - where he pushes his vocal chords to the limit - and “The One”.
The songs are very hummable and soft on the ears, but there is a dreadful monotony to the quality of the songs.
The reason - the guy seems to be hung up on broken relationships. Every single song is about how good a relationship he had and how he’s in such misery because they are no more, and other such icky-sweet stuff guaranteed to please wannabe girls of ages fourteen to sixteen. However, these facts should not detract from the man’s musical abilities and if you just listen to the music and not the words, it makes for decent listenable stuff.
Hopefully, Anthony can come up with something more meaningful in his next album (that’s hoping he gets a girlfriend). Till then, pick up this album as soothing evening background music fare.
This article was first published on 03 Aug 2000.