Jeffrey Osborne
Both Bailey, 33, and Osborne, 34, got their starts as singers for funk-pop groups, Bailey for Earth, Wind & Fire, Osborne for LTD. This is Bailey's second solo LP, Osborne's third. Bailey's was produced by another group member turned soloist, Phil Collins (of Genesis), whose sure if occasionally stifling hand is pervasive, nowhere more so than on the hit single, Easy Lover. Chinese Wall is a bright pop record with lots of attractive synthesizer figures curling around the melodies, but Bailey sounds whitewashed. Even the toned-down soul of EW&F rarely breaks through the Collins sheen. Although Bailey's roots are evident musically on I Go Crazy and lyrically on Children of the Ghetto, this all too often seems to be much more a Collins-Bailey project than the other way around. Osborne's Don't Stop seems more consistent with his background. It was produced by George Duke, the fusion Keyboardist who produced Bailey's first album. Duke also adds a surprisingly bluesy acoustic piano solo on Let Me Know. Osborne has a rich, penetrating voice, and his style reflects a lot of the rhythmic urgency that is one of the trademarks of LTD. The material, from Daniel Sembello and David Batteau's simmering Don't Stop to the Osborne-Hawk Wolinski tune Is It Right, reflects a nice balance between heat and cool. (Bailey: Columbia; Osborne: A&M)
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