Lionel Richie Album: “Coming Home”

This album is a nice adult contemporary album. Several songs lean towards mature R&B and mature pop and there are also a few songs with an element of soft rock ("Reason to Believe," "I Love You") and reggae/calypso ("Stand Down"). I am a Generation Y-er, so my parents came up during the time Lionel was successful with the Commodores and are more familiar with him than I am, but I am familiar with some of his past work due to old school R&B and soft rock stations. I think this is a solid album that can fit in with today's music without straying too far from his old style of music. Perhaps it might not be very inventive compared to his older stuff, but looking at it from the view of the whole album, it is very listenable, and compared to today's music it sounds nice to me. There was only one song I didn't really care for too much. And I don't feel there are any songs that are as fun and upbeat like "All Night Long." But I feel this album is a great effort. I hope this album does well enough to bring him back up on the charts and in the spotlight.

This is an excellent new cd by Lional Richie. He has gone back to his roots to give us old style R & B at its best.

Yes, I gave this CD 5 stars because the songwriting, production, performances, and various arrangements (Brazilian, reggae, etal) bear recognition. But, you know, Lionel is such a fantasic pianist that you have to sometimes wonder why he doesn't showcase it more (see: Stevie Wonder's 'A Time 2 Love' or Elton John's 'The Captain & The Kid'. An artist like Lionel could definitely teach these new jacks, or young bucks as the case may be, a thing or two about real talent - music that makes musical sense. Lionel, you go boy!

R & B, latin rhythm, touch of country, a little funk, slow jam too, there is something on this CD for anyone who loves music. I was pleasantly surprised.

Lionel Ritchie had a ton of hits during the 1980's. After splitting from his group The Commodores, Ritchie was one of the biggest names in music during the 1980's. Ritchie's biggest hits include "All Night Long," "Hello," "Dancing On The Ceiling," and "Running With The Night."

In recent years Ritchie has found his name in the tabloids not so much for his music but because of a divorce scandal and due to the tabloids fascination with his adopted daughter Nicole Ritchie. Ritchie obviously aware of Nicole's popularity with a young audience employed his daughter as the lead in the video for his first single from his 2006 release "Coming Home." The video and song for Ritchie's latest single "Call It Love," have been well received.

Coming Home has a very mellow laid back sound to it. Songs such as "Sweet Vacation" and "Why" are very adult contemporary in nature. "Up All Night" is an up-tempo song. For the most part the album is comprised of ballads and mid-tempo songs. "All Around The World" is a up-tempo song with a slight salsa feel to it.

Overall, Coming Home is just kind of there. Few tracks stand out to the point where you can remember them enough to want to listen to them again. It's a decent album but one of the weaker albums in his catalogue. I do commend him for not just going with the trend and sticking a hip-hop artists on every track.