Marques Houston Naked CD

Personnel: Marques Houston (vocals); Dame, Joe Budden, Rufus Blaq, Young Rome (rap vocals); Cory Bold (various instruments); The Corna Boys (keyboards, programming); Adonis Stropshire, RaRa, Tank, Durrell Babbs, Pierre Medor (background vocals).
Whenever an album is titled Naked, the odds are pretty strong that it's the second or third release from a young solo artist who wants to get personal: "I wanted to give my fans a more intimate look at who I am"; "I called this album Naked because I'm not ashamed of my emotions"; "I just went through a lot of drama, and I'm an adult now, so these songs are very deep as a result." In Marques Houston's case -- a solo artist with a debut behind him -- the odds are pretty strong that he means "naked" in the physical sense, not the emotional sense. Naked is no deeper than 2003's MH, which most of his fans will find perfectly acceptable. It offers a similar mix of earnest slow jams and sexually frank club tracks. The best moments involve adequate production facsimiles of Just Blaze ("12 O'Clock"'s marching band punch), Kanye West (the blissful "All Because of You," laced with a smart Whispers sample), and the Neptunes ("Something Else," where Houston's falsetto is more Michael Jackson than Pharrell Williams). Another thing that works to Houston's benefit is the shorter running time: Naked's 11 songs are a lot easier to digest than MH's 17, which also means that there's better quality control. ~ Andy Kellman
On "All Because of You," the opening track and first single from Marques Houston's sophomore solo album, NAKED, the youthful R&B singer portrays the ultimate image of the sensitive man, earnestly imploring his love for her hand in matrimony. Two tracks later, "Marriage" finds Houston confessing he's unready for commitment, that the sacrament changes "nothing but your name." These contradictory feelings shine through Houston's impassioned, powerful vocals, inviting the listener into his conflicted heart.
Such soul-bearing is the norm with the aptly titled NAKED, on which the former Immature singer explores his thoughts in an absolutely exposed manner. A majority of the tracks find Houston in a mellow mood, with one thing on his mind--love. Throughout the album, he glorifies love ("All Because of You"), worries about its effects ("Marriage"), and regrets his wrongdoing ("Cheat"). In the rare moments he kicks into energetic mode, as on "12 O'Clock" (featuring Joe Budden), the results are equally appealing. NAKED reveals a maturing vocalist in touch with his emotions.