Search - Marcus Miller :: Marcus

Zzzzz...Marcus has officially put me to sleep.

20to20K | Maryland | 04/27/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Obviously I'm going to be in the minority here but it's my opinion and I'm gonna express it.



Marcus Miller is one of my favorite musicians of all-time. That perhaps explains why I'm so hard on him. My expectations of him is so high that when he puts out this unrelentless stream of cookie-cutter funk jams CD's I just wince in discomfort.



Hard to believe that this guy was the architect behind the best works of Sanborn, Luther, Cheryl Lynn, Joe Sample and the last decent music made by Aretha and Miles.



His first solo CD, The Sun Don't Lie was outstanding, the next two (Tales

and M-squared) were flawed, but good overall. His last two, Silver Rain and this snooze fest has him falling off the table completely. Even with his so-so CD's...his playing was always engaging. Now I'm even starting to find his bass playing boring and repetitive.



Track 4 is nice and the take on "What is Hip" is excellent (however that's more because of Sanborns playing than Marcus') but overall this CD is completely forgettable. Same stuff can be heard on his previous disks. In fact I have to listen really hard to tell the difference.



Sorry Marcus. You my homey from Queens and all...but I'm just not feelin' your music lately."

Suck the consumer!

Dieter Funke | 06/08/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Hi Marcus Miller, isn't it nice to produce two releases with 10 same songs?

Last year there came out the CD " FREE" and now with all the same songs + 4 extra songs a CD called " Marcus".

Dear Marcus, I feel a bit abused!!

The music on Marcus is as good or bad as on Free!

I can't understand the proceeding."

Slammin it !!!

Torquemada | Atlanta, Georgia USA / Madrid, Spain. | 11/12/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I decided to get this cd with mixed emotions : hope and fear.



Hope because of the undeniable quality of Marcus Miller, as a musician, as a producer, as a showman on stage, and because of incredible releases such as The Sun Don't Lie andTales, which are two marvelous collections of tracks.



Fear because of the general trend of music, the contagious effect of "smooth jazz" which is more than ever a middle of the road "I wanna be played on background music FM station" (and thus have to be very conventional), and Marcus Miller himself with two releases, M², and Silver Rain that were going south, south-south.



Well, I love Miller !!! Many years ago, I kept on telling my friends and acquaintances that my three favourite bass players were Stanley Clarke (when he was aggressive enough), Mark King (Level 42), and Marcus Miller. The first two are practically silent now, Marcus Miller has this masterpiece out ! As the title of the review suggests it, we have Marcus hitting hard on his instrument ("Higher ground", or the funky "Milky way", "Pluck" and "Ooh", and the fast paced "What is hip"), with enough diversity of rhythms and styles to satisfy his longtime fans and new followers. "Cause I want you " is a beautiful melody, where Marcus shows his virtuosity and shades almost completely the singers.



As to the traditional cover versions, as mentioned by another reviewer, "Free" is just all right, not great (but yet again, who can reach the level of quality of Deniece Williams in her album This Is Niecy, produced by the great Maurice White ? Not even Chante Moore, although she came close with A Love Supreme. "Higher Ground" is good enough because played with energy and it doesn't slaughter the original Stevie Wonder version. By the way Gregoire Maret does an acceptable play on harmonica on this one (non initiated people could almost be fooled into thinking it is Stevie Wonder himself playing). And "Jean Pierre", from Miles Davis, is marvelous.

I don't care too much for "When I fall in love", although Marcus shows a complete control of the clavinet, like he already did in his album TALES (see above).



Al in all, a superb release, with practically no time out during this 71 minutes journey (you get your money's worth) from one of my favourite players. Thanks Marcus, YOU are HIP, and keep slammin the bass !



Oh, and if you like Marcus, go to listen Level 42 and Mark King !





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