Rebounding from the mess of his divorce from Halle Berry -- and the ensuing
Hurricane of an album --
Eric Benet returns to what he does best on
Love & Life: making music for love-making. Slow and sultry and steeped in
Stevie,
Marvin,
Luther, and especially
Quincy Jones-produced
Michael Jackson and
Prince's forays into quiet storm,
Love & Life is a consolidation of
Benet's strengths as a seduction artist. Arriving after the turgid turmoil of
Hurricane, this is frankly a relief, as
Benet demonstrates a lighter touch throughout
Love & Life, shedding any suggestion of personal revelation in favor of courting clichés without blushing. For some artists, this might sound like a retreat, but
Benet delivers this slinky romantic music with conviction, as if he doesn't quite realize that what he's singing is essentially boudoir boilerplate. Such quiet determination turns
Love & Life into effective mood music -- something that might fall apart under close listening, but it was never intended for such scrutiny anyway. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine