Eddie Murphy Sings

I recently became the proud owner of the 1993 Eddie Murphy album Love's Alright.  I won't bore you with the details of exactly how this happened.  It happened and that's all you really need to know. 

When I first saw this CD I wasn't sure if it was a joke or not.  The cover features Murphy in an unbuttoned white shirt and sunglasses looking very serious against a backdrop of clouds and blue sky and little cartoon hearts with wings.  Hmm.  Well, I guess it was 1993...

Listening to the tracks didn't exactly clear things up right away either.  I approached the liner notes with caution.  The first song, "Yeah", didn't have any lyrics to read, so I will print them for you here, in their etirety:
Yeah, oh yah, well all right, yeah
Yeah, yeah, all the people say yeah
Just say yeah, come on, yeah
y-to-the-e-to-the-s, everybody say yeah
[repeat]

Oh, and did I mention this song is a slow jam?  It is.  And not only is it a nineties slow jam, it's a nineties slow jam that features a dozen other recording artists.  Babyface, Bon Jovi, Garth Brooks, En Vogue, Amy Grant, MC Hammer, Heavy D, Michael and Janet Jackson, Julio Iglesias, Elton John, Patti LaBelle, Paul McCartny, Barry White, and Stevie Wonder all got together and said "Hey, let's all sing the same word over and over again on Eddie Murphy's new album.  That will be fun!"  I have one question - How did Amy Grant end up in there?

As the CD slowly and quietly whirred to a stop eleven songs later, I was left with one conclusion.  Love's Alright was surprisingly innocuous.  It wasn't great, but it wasn't the worst thing I'd ever heard in my life.  There were a few moments that I thought, "Well, that was an interesting choice.  Not sure I would have gone that way...", but for the most part the lyrics and general vibe were your typical R&B fare.  Murphy called some of the songs "psychedelic psoul" and a revewier once likened the sound to "Prince meets I Am The Walrus."  Okay.

Remember when everyone bought a keyboard?  Remember how fun it was to try out all of the different buttons?  Harpsichord?  Yes, please!  Cymbals?  Bring them on!  Oboe?  Why not!  Yah, I'm pretty sure they used one of those keyboards on this album.  But you know what, I can't actually say anything outrightly bad about this somewhat bland contribution to the music world.  It may have bombed (royally) when it came out, but a lot of the songs are about love and it's hard to find fault in that.

You're right, Eddie Murphy, love is alright.

Well heck, I wasn't expecting not to be able to make fun of this CD.  I don't know whether I should be disappointed or not.  And now I have to get on YouTube because I heard E.M. has some new songs out and I can't not listen to them. 

And I wonder what happens to my weekends...

Leave a comment after you look this album up on the internet!