Kenny Loggins - Vox Humana: read my falsetto singing lips…
Written: Sep 05 '04
Product Rating:
Pros: The good songs are GOOD, spelled S-U-P-E-R
Cons: the whole mid-eighties falsetto male voice thing was SCARY. El De Barge led the charge
The Bottom Line: Kenny Loggins set aside his pop-rock roots, giving in to post-Footloose superstardom to record an album of stereotypically eighties synth-pop dance tunes. But then, there are these three songs…
bob_tomato's Full Review: Vox Humana by Kenny Loggins
Vox Humana – the human voice.
An instrument of wide range, exquisite nuance, a magnificent channel for the expression of the soul.
but in the hands of a greedy music industry, a potentially devastating tool of evil… (OK, I've obviously OD'ed on coverage of the Republican National Convention, but go with me here)
I suppose that it started innocently enough – Kenny Loggins was fresh off his success with two smash hits from the enormously popular Footloose soundtrack, and he was looking to capitalize on his fame. The two singles came ready for prime time, aired constantly on MTV, blaring from dance club speakers nationwide. The movie had inspired a new dance craze, and the pressure must have been on Kenny to maintain the madness. And so we have 1985's Vox Humana - a synth heavy, dance pop recording featuring several very typical songs for the genre, with guest performers equally typical for the form at the time. Sheila E, the Pointer Sisters, Philip Bailey and Bunny and El De Barge all joined Kenny and his usual cast of super studio musicians (among them Steve Porcaro, Steve Lukather, Nathan East, David Foster, Greg Philliganes and others) to create an album that would be top-heavy with the human voice.
The title song Vox Humana opens the album and is probably the most obvious tip of the hat to Loggins' back-catalog at this point, an extrapolation of an earlier soundtrack hit, I'm All Right which appeared in the movie Caddyshack. Both I'm All Right and Vox Humana are studio engineered vocal complexities, sporting a mixture of vocal effects and doo-wop harmonies. Vox Humana would seem a great song to me, if it wasn't for the fact that it had already been done in I'm All Right.
The second track No Lookin' Back is another of those Loggins songs where his songwriting skills exceed the genre and make the song really good. This one is a logical extension of his songs he crafted for the Doobie Brothers – while this one definitely bops like the rest of the recording, it has something of that unique Doobie feel to it too, and it works well. Listen to it a few times, because things generally don't get any better until the end of the album…
Four of the next five songs are merely average eighties dance pop – it's very possible that the entire project was rushed out to take advantage of the Footloose bounce (there's that post-RNC terminology again). This is also where the vocals begin to go into overdrive, forging ahead into falsettos previously unheard of, and this time, it's not primarily Loggins stellar tenor providing the false fireworks. While Loggins and Steve Perry had dueled for the top note in the previous album High Adventure, he has veteran super tenor Philip Bailey and upstart El De Barge fighting over high note honors this time around.
You know, there's falsetto (the kind Loggins performs so very well), and then there's FALSETTO (the kind that should only be attainable by tenore castrati). Bailey and De Barge are just inhuman – these notes go beyond any reasonable vox humana. These four songs are all built around the falsetto male sound, and they just don't work for me. Of course, since they were written by Loggins, they aren't bad in their intial form, but the final product is just way overdone. At least there's a ballad thrown into the middle of all this intense falsetto, and while Forever is also somewhat overdone, it comes off as much better than it really is in comparison to the songs that surround it. Six foot seven drummer Tris Imboden starts the song with a huge drum intro, and maintains that intensity in the chorus and subsequent verses. If you've got the vocal chops, it's a great karaoke challenge (one I'd love to try at some point), and you don't need a lot of falsetto – yay.
The last two songs of Vox Humana are excellent tunes - Lorraine is a fabulously catchy bit of uber-cool eighties dance pop, and is one of my all time favorite Kenny Loggins songs. It's one of those songs that you find yourself signing along with in full voice, full choreography in full swing – until your fellow rush hour commuters start to stare at you with that weird look they usually reserve for clandestine nose-picking – umm, maybe I should stick with the post-RNC metaphors. But it IS a great song. It has a terrific groove, and the bridge/key change/final chorus transitions are marvelous – I can't listen to it just once.
The final song on the album is inexplicably missing from The Essential Kenny Loggins collection. Love Will Follow rises above everything else on Vox Humana and most of the rest of Loggins' song catalog. Saxophonist David Sanborn breathes passion into this very sexy slow jam, and in this setting, the falsetto vocal really works. Loggins' scintillating falsetto, when presented properly, sets the mood as well as the best Luther Vandross ballads, and this song positively sizzles. If there is any single reason to own this album, this is it.
Make no mistake about it, Vox Humana cannot be counted among Kenny Loggins best albums. This recording strays too far into a very misguided vocal concept, and barely redeems itself with two good dance pop numbers and one really really HOT jazz ballad. If this is not what you're looking for, you should check out Loggins' earlier albums – that's where his really good songs are to be found. In the meantime, I'll be performing Lorraine in my minivan, weekday mornings, 7:40 to 8 am –
if you want it
You got it
I promise you…
See? Even Lorraine sounds like a campaign promise…
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Kenny Loggins - Vox Humana
Originally released in March, 1985 by Columbia Records
All lyrics quoted here are the copyrighted property of Kenny Loggins Original Track Listing
Vox Humana / No Lookin' Back / Let There Be Love / I'll Be There / I'm Gonna Do It Right / Forever / At Last / Loraine / Love Will Follow
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
FALSETTO ALERT SYSTEM
MAGENTA: Severe
CORAL: High
SAFFRON: Elevated
TEAL: Guarded
SAGE: Low
This is an urgent alert – falsetto terrorist mastermind El-DeBarge has been identified in this vicinity and is to be considered armed and dangerous. Police and military authorities have put a wide ranging dragnet in place and will apprehend this threat with all possible speed.
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Related Links High Adventure The Essential Kenny Loggins
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