King's strong, deep-voiced stylings and sensitive edge are the saving graces on her first album of the '80s. Despite overall sturdy production, many of the melodies simply linger on and on and the arrangements don't have much chance to take off. Besides the sassy "Let's Get Funky Tonight" and the warm, understated "Just a Little Bit of Love," there aren't any particularly memorable moments. The title track is a stale midtempo romp with an embarrassing guest vocal by producer
T. Life; "Bedroom Eyes" is accordingly sleepy; and "Talk Don't Hurt Nobody" has a decent lyrical theme, but lacks the musical energy needed to get the lyric across. Whereas the previous year's
Music Box relied on formulaic disco tracks,
Call on Me tries to establish
King in a funkier vein. But the material itself is so arid that the album quickly becomes musically ineffective. ~ Justin M. Kantor