Album Review: Calling All Hearts by Keyshia Cole

This is the first review of 2011 that is actually about an album.  Keyshia Cole has managed to put together a group of songs that carries a theme and a vibe throughout. 

She manages to do this despite being thrown a myriad of producers and songwriters.  I complain about the machine behind R&B a lot and you can see in an album like this the problem faced by artists like Cole.  It is very hard to create an album that has an overall feel to it when you have a revolving door of producers and songwriters being ushered in by the studio.  For reasons I don't understand the big R&B studios have become convinced this is how you produce a hit record.  Oh that and having to feature every other artist on the label in one song or another. 

Despite all of these issues Cole holds this album together with her singing and choice in songs.  The album has a dark, love lorn feel that fits dreary winter days well.

This would be a good album to listen to while walking around town after a breakup. 

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 2 out of 5 stars for Not Bad.