Brian Mcknight Back At One CD

Personnel: Brian McKnight (vocals, keboards, bass, programming); McNoche (acoustic & electric guitars); Derek "Hot Sauce" Cumming (guitar); Greg Leisz (pedal steel guitar); Anthony Nance (keyboards, programming); Harvey Mason Jr. (programming); Wayne S. Rodrigues Jr. (scratches).
Producers: Brian McKnight, Lashawn Daniels, Rodney "Darkchild" Jenkins, Anthony Nance.
Engineers include: Chris Wood, Harvey Mason Jr., Jean-Marie Horvat.
Recorded at Backroom Studios, Glendale, California; Capitol Studios, Hollywood, California; EMI Studios, Santa Monica, California; Darkchild Studios, Pleasantville, New Jersey.
BACK AT ONE was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.
"Stay Or Let It Go was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and "6, 8, 12" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
Brian McKnight backs away ever so slightly from the streetwise rhythms Puff Daddy injected into Anytime with his fifth album, Back at One. That's not to say that the album doesn't sound contemporary or fresh -- quite the opposite. McKnight has figured out a way to make his gospel-flavored contemporary urban soul sound fresh, mainly by keeping the focus on the songs. There's nothing extraneous on Back at One: all 13 songs are given clean presentations, and he blesses them with impassioned performances. At times, the material itself is not particularly interesting, but most albums have filler; what counts is the good stuff, and there's enough of it on Back at One to make it another solid effort from McKnight. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Singer/songwriter Brian McKnight brought his brand of smooth R&B to the top of the pop charts with BACK AT ONE. McKnight not only contributed his writing skills to each song, but wound up producing the entire record as well. Guest producers Rodney Jerkins, Harvey Mason Jr., Lashawn Daniels, and Fred Jerkins III add their signature finishing touches to such tracks as "Stay or Let It Go" and "Played Yourself." Standout cuts on this all-around excellent album include the "6,8,12," "You Could Be the One," the Latin-flavored "Can You Read My Mind," and the title track, which was McKnight's biggest hit to this point.Q (4/00, p.96) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...he sets standard romantic themes, plus occasional anguish at an on/off relationship, to programmed beats, synthesizers and harmonies, plus a hint of jazz....what he does, he does very well."