R Kelly Happy People/U Saved Me CD

2cds-Feat:Kelly Price,Syleena Johnson,Michelle Williams

Personnel: R. Kelly (vocals); Kelly Price (vocals); Donnie Lyle (guitar, bass instrument, background vocals); Rodney East, Kendall D. Nesbitt (keyboards); Abel Garibaldi, Nathan Wheeler (programming, background vocals); Steve Bearsley, Andy Gallas, Ian Mereness, Jason Mlodzinski (programming); Uncle Life (background vocals).
On his follow-up to 2003's successful Chocolate Factory, scandal-plagued R. Kelly spins his notoriety for sympathy, acknowledging that he's a flawed man and a sinner, but he believes in God and is just looking for love and peace. That, in a nutshell, is the theme of Happy People/U Saved Me, a double disc containing two distinct albums (just like OutKast's Speakerboxx/The Love Below). The first, Happy People, is a seductive, late-night album about positivity and love, the second all about salvation and God. Taken as a whole, the album presents Kelly as a saved sinner who still struggles with temptation -- struggles that are chronicled joyfully on Happy People and remorsefully on U Saved Me. Since Happy People/U Saved Me delivers two distinct and cohesive albums, it offers further ammunition for those defenders of Kelly who claim that he's made the best music of his career when under fire. There's validity to that argument. Kelly has shrugged off the celeb cameos that littered his earlier work and he's backed away from any contemporary beats, relying on the classic '70s soul that has always been at the core of his best music. He's turned inward, and that insularity has helped focus him, giving Happy People the feel of an old-school loverman record. At its core, Happy People is a seduction record, and seduction has always been Kelly's strength, so it shouldn't be a huge surprise that it, overall, is the more successful album of the two, the one that sustains its romantic mood and delivers it with stylish economy. As a record, it's assured and coherent, with little flab and a consistent vision; it's one of his strongest efforts. But U Saved Me isn't far behind as a cohesive work either, perhaps lacking the hooks of its companion but never deviating from its religious spirit. Overall, Happy People/U Saved Me captures Kelly at the top of his game as a record-maker, which makes it a definitive work of sorts. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Defenders of R. Kelly implore listeners to separate the music from the man, which is a good rule to follow in general, but the specifics of his case make it a little harder to do. If the child pornography allegations leveled against him weren't so heinous (not to mention detailed and allegedly supported by videotapes), and if he weren't so quick to paint himself as a martyr -- highlighted by, but not limited to, him bizarrely empathizing with Osama Bin Laden in a 2003 interview with Blender Magazine -- it might be easier to ignore his trials and tribulations and focus on the art. Of course, a whirlwind of similar charges, including an annulled marriage to the teenage Aaliyah, doesn't exactly help matters either, nor does his music. His catalog is soaked in sex and gleefully shallow, celebrating the pleasures of the moment, whether it's carnal ("Bump n' Grind") or corny ("I Believe I Can Fly"). The heightened graphic sexuality of his oeuvre feeds suspicions that the allegations, even if they can't be proved, have weight, which makes it very hard for some listeners to hear Kelly's music without thinking of the scandals.
And, when it comes down to it, Kelly doesn't really want you to forget those scandals either. Without them, he can't play the martyr, which he eagerly does, both directly and indirectly, on the music he's made since the scandal. Instead of getting defiant -- as did Michael Jackson, when he attacked prosecutor Tom Sneddon in the embarrassing, barely veiled "D.S." -- Kelly spins his notoriety for sympathy, acknowledging that he's a flawed man and a sinner, but he believes in God and he's just looking for loRolling Stone (p.140) - 3 stars out of 5 - "HAPPY PEOPLE aims for dancing and romancing, while U SAVED ME calls for fervent prayer....Kelly is the master of the ultra-slow groove, and the songs on U SAVED ME take their time, then use gospel's strategic buildups to sweep Kelly towards faith."
Entertainment Weekly (p.122) - "Kelly knows record making. The songs, all of which he wrote and produced, have a clean and fluid directness." - Grade: B+
Uncut (p.120) - 4 stars out of 5 - "HAPPY PEOPLE is an extraordinarily buoyant record giving off irresistible party vibes..."