Just as his 2023 album
On & On wasn't a straightforward
Erykah Badu tribute,
José James' 2024 follow-up,
1978, isn't merely a throwback to the year of the singer's birth. In essence, a little over half of the set achieves release on the dancefloor and in the bedroom, and the remainder is more reflective and sonically adventurous. Sensuality fuels the first side and seeps into the second side, beginning with a pair of caressing ballads frictionized by
Jharis Yokley's twists on
Dilla-style drunken drums. The next two songs, rhapsodic, slick, and as seductive as what precedes them, evoke prime
Heatwave and
Off the Wall-era
Michael Jackson -- from
Chad Selph's driving low-end synthesizer to
Marcus Machado's wriggling rhythm guitar -- distinguished by
James' buttery vocals and casual swagger. "Black Orpheus (Don't Look Back)" reverts to ballad mode with a philosophical look at companionship.
James cited
Leon Ware as an inspiration for the album, and the low-profile
Motown legend's work, particularly on
Marvin Gaye's
I Want You and his own
Musical Massage -- landmarks of quiet storm eroticism issued months apart in 1976 -- is especially felt in the love ballads.
1978's sound and vision open up with "Dark Side of the Sun" ("a prayer for broken-hearted people") and "Place of Worship," global gospel-folk fusions with respective featured appearances from stern Congolese-Belgian rapper
Baloji and comforting Brazilian singer/songwriter
Xênia França. The last two songs are among
James' heaviest. Backed by only piano and strings, he delivers a poised outpouring of grief on "For Trayvon," masterfully switching in one early line from solemn baritone to despairing falsetto, and staying in the latter range until fadeout.
James then returns to his hometown of Minneapolis for "38th & Chicago," the site of George Floyd's murder. The energy increases for this second song written in response to a racist killing. It's a rolling groove that, in a way, reimagines
Marvin Gaye's
What's Going On with
Ware involved to apply some Afro-Brazilian influence. The breeziness is certainly at odds with
James' feelings of terror, anger, and frustration, but its steady propulsion, combined with a burning
Machado solo and a
Pedrito Martínez conga break, signify resolve, defiance, and power. ~ Andy Kellman