AMG Review of Praises

Rosalind Cummings-Yeates
All Music Guide

A versatile artist who croons and deejays with equal skill, Shinehead can take any hit and put his silky stamp on it. Praises is a showcase for this talent, as he delves into '70s and '80s pop and R&B classics and transforms them. The opening track, "Never Make a Promise" is a sizzling take onDru Hill's 1997 R&B hit, accented with a killer rhythm by the Roots Radics. It's followed by interpretations of Seals & Crofts '70s classic "Summer Breeze," changed into "Collie Weed" in the essential ode to marijuana, the Whispers' '80s hit, "Olivia," topped with a spicy bass rhythm, and Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw You Face," perked up with Shinehead's bongo playing. The covers don't always work, however, as witnessed by lackluster treatment of Heatwave's "Mind Blowing Decisions" and the Beatles "My Love." Ironically, it's the original tunes, "Pay Me" and the politically aware "Their Plan" that shine the most.