Amerie
All I Have
Rise / Columbia
Debut album from 22-year-old Amerie, written, played and produced by Rich Harrison, whose former credentials include working with Mary J. Blige. Amerie has a good voice and rarely succumbs to the ever-tempting “soulful” wail, but the songs are mainly dull and indifferent R&B numbers, and the arrangements conventional and anonymous. “I Just Died” does skips and glitches around a bit, but it’s all done in a very polite manner – Timbaland this isn’t – and Harrison seems more concerned about reproducing winning formulas than coming up with something honest or challenging. The charting first single “Why Don’t We Fall in Love” is one of the few remotely good things on here, which is saying a lot, with “Talkin’ To Me” and the subdued title track marking a few other notable exceptions on an otherwise anemic album.
Columbia Records: http://www.columbiarecords.com
