Ricky Fanté is a young kid whose style harks back to the days of classic soul. He has a thick and rich voice with plenty of grit and soul. His debut EP for Virgin,
Introducing...Ricky Fanté, contains four songs that aim for the sound of Stax with a modern feel.
Fanté's wonderfully rough-and-ready vocals hold up his end of the bargain and he shows a great deal of restraint, almost never going for two notes when one will suffice. The songs are good enough: "I Let You Go" is a fine slow-strutting ballad; "Smile" is an uptempo groover that sounds like a solid
Al Green album track. What disappoints is the sterile and buffed-to-a-sheen sound of the music. It is lush, full, and rich, and sounds like it was programmed by a robot to be as desirable to the
Norah Jones-loving crowd as possible (
Jones collaborator
Jesse Harris is all over this record and schlocky
Arif Mardin shows up too). It sounds very safe, very smooth, and very predictable. That's too bad, because
Fanté is a very promising singer (check out his
Otis Redding-like breakdowns at the end of "It's Over Now") who deserves to work with some people who will give him something to shout about. Send him down to
Willie Mitchell. Or do like
Joss Stone and hook up with
Betty Wright. Anyone but the boring producers and musicians who are currently pinning his wings. ~ Tim Sendra