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[Lazarus]

Review: Back from the past, TLC still sounds great on new CD

TLC, ?TLC? (852 Musiq)

TLC, the iconic ?90s-era girl group, is back after 15 years away and these women are clearly not wasting anymore time. ?We don?t need no introduction,? they boast on the first song of their new self-titled CD. ?No, we don?t need no instructions/We already paved the way.?

They?re right. For those of you who have no idea whom TLC is, we?ll wait while you go to the closest older person who can explain how important ?No Scrubs,? ??Waterfalls? and ?Creep? were for a generation raised on the band?s mix of female empowerment and socially conscious lyrics. (Ed Sheeran is clearly a fan ? he had to credit the band?s ?No Scrubs? for his hit ?Shape of You.?)

Back? OK. The self-titled album is from the surviving members, Tionne ?T-Boz? Watkins and Rozonda ?Chilli? Thomas. Lisa ?Left-Eye? Lopes died in a 2002 car crash. The new album heartbreakingly includes an old recording of Lopes? voice as an interlude, a nice way to include her in 2017.

As for the album, funded in part by Kickstarter, it?s a kaleidoscope of different sounds and moods, befitting an album with some 20 different songwriters. It?s executive-produced by Ron Fair, who has worked with Vanessa Carlton and the Pussycat Dolls, while Watkins had a hand in almost every song.

It veers from the stripped-down acoustic of ?Perfect Girls? ? a sort of updated ?Unpretty? ? to the R&B-flavored ?Joy Ride.? There?s a techno-touched ?Scandalous? and a ?70s-disco boogie ?It?s Sunny,? which samples Earth Wind & Fire.

Watkins and Thomas look back a few times ? they take a nostalgia tour with Snoop Dogg on ?Way Back? that name-checks Prince and Marvin Gaye ? and forward with the electro-poppy ?Haters.? They get serious on the haunting protest song ?American Gold.?

You want coherence? Well, it?s overrated. This is TLC, after all. It?s just a joy to hear them again and to have it be with a new, strong joyous album seems even better. We?ve waited long enough. What are you waiting for?

The Washington Post

REVIEW: TLC Closes Out A Musical Period In All Our Lives With Self-Titled Final Album

As someone who vividly recalls purchasing the cassette single of ?Baby, Baby, Baby,? from Sam Goody, and when The Box used to play ?Creep? regularly, I was ecstatic to learn of a final TLC studio project. 15 years in the making, the group is etched in my childhood. A combination of soul that is seductive and smooth, and giddy pop, the girl group is regularly recognized as being influential not just for 90?s female groups, but for creating a template by which soul bands from that point on would subsequently follow. The album, simply titled TLC, is their fifth and is quite different in how it began when viewed within the lens of previous albums.

TLC is result of a Kickstarter campaign, which obtained its initial goal of $150,000 in less than 48 hours and raised more than $400,000 when it was all said and done. It seems that fans were aching to hear something from the group, despite the ebb and flow TLC went through in the early 2000s, after the passing of Lisa ?Left Eye? Lopes. The album features ten songs, each testifying to the legacy the group has within the musical entertainment playground.

The opener, ?No Introduction,? aptly calls attention in an overt way, to the fact that in spite of the span of time between their last album and this one, their group name still carries an intensity and depth, which is unmatched by other bands, who have similarly taken time off due to life circumstances and experiences. The song blares itself into the speakers in a comparable stance to ?Kick Your Game,? from 1994?s CrazySexyCool, but steps it up a notch with a rousing chorus of T-Boz and Chili.

?Way Back,? the first single from the collection, finds them engineering a cool-tempered rhythm with Snoop Dogg offering a few nostalgic bars. The beat immediately pulls the listener in and on first listen could create the appearance that the 15-year hiatus has been nothing but a dream.

TLC offers more up-tempo pieces than many may be used to from the group?s repertoire. This is especially evident on ?It?s Sunny,? which infuses elements from Earth, Wind, and Fire?s ?September,? Bobby Hebb?s ?Sunny,? and a gospel toe-tapping. The result is ear tickling and high energized pop. On ?Haters,? the album?s second single, TLC pens an anthemic ode to opinionated doubters and naysayers not only of the group ? but in general; while ?Perfect Girls,? mirrors ?Unpretty,? from 1999?s FanMail, in its introspective musings and gives a nod to cherishing the beauty within rather than anything pertaining to the exterior.

Several recordings of Left Eye are strung together for an interlude midway through the album, which powerfully conjures to mind what might have been had she not been tragically taken from the group and its effusive dynamics.

Where TLC has often spectacularly shined from a radio standpoint in their sultry and alluring songs, this project does lack these. The mid-tempo ?Scandalous? and guitar-heavy ?Start a Fire,? breeze by without making a heavy impact like a ?Red Light Special,? ?Hands Up? or ?Something You Wanna Know.? Yet, the main theme of TLC is not to retread what has been done before per se, but to close out a musical period in all of our lives.

?Joy Ride,? the album?s swan song strolls down memory lane back to the group?s start and unveiling to the world, and moves to the current status quo. Although the song is upbeat in its presentation, the mood is bittersweet and sentimental.

Both T-Boz and Chili have commented that while TLC is their curtain call studio wise, it is not the last that critics, fans, and general listeners have heard of them. The group plans to perform as TLC and enjoy the legacy they have effectively and successfully carved out since their emergence in the spotlight back in 1991. TLC is not a classic album and doesn?t pretend to be. It does however, give proper closure and adds to their collection in a poignant way.

Parle Mag

[Myron]

Hmm

[Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In]

n

[Opposites Attract.]

The album sucks but hopefully it does well. I'm rooting for a Top 3 debut.

[Lazarus]

The album sucks but hopefully it does well. I'm rooting for a Top 3 debut.

You've heard it ? 

[Cowboy Nine]

n

So it's terrible basically

[MelMel]

n

So it's terrible basically

well Chilli is on it

[Cowboy Nine]

n

So it's terrible basically

is that ur review
or a line from one of fas's poems

My bad

That was Tron's review of Chilli's pussy

[Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In]

i'll yank 'ni hun

Excuse me curly curls?

[Cowboy Nine]

Get him Jay

[Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In]

n

So it's terrible basically

well Chilli is on it

It's terrible either way bby

[MelMel]

n

So it's terrible basically

well Chilli is on it

It's terrible either way bby

definitely. But definitely because of Chilli.

[Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In]

Get him Jay

I'm going to yank those curls out of his scalp

[Cowboy Nine]

Get him Jay

I'm going to yank those curls out of his scalp

Lemme know if you need back up

[Opposites Attract.]

The album sucks but hopefully it does well. I'm rooting for a Top 3 debut.

You've heard it ? 

Yeah and it's not good at all. It's corny asf and lacks what made TLC, TLC.