Recorded after a move from his native City of Big Shoulders to Los Angeles (in his birth state of California) and featuring extensive assistance from three significant Detroiters -- beatmaker
Waajeed and vocalists
Ayro and
Terry Dexter -- this album is titled, naturally enough,
Chicago Forever. A divorce and the death of his mother put music-making on the back burner for
Roy Davis, Jr.; as you would expect, those two events had a profound impact on him, and yet there are no signs of any emotional wear or tear in this album.
Davis delivers an update of what he's been doing throughout his career, in the form of songful deep house grooves that manage to be both elegant and tough at the same time. It'll yield easy comparisons to
Water for Thirsty Children, an R&B-oriented album recorded well before this but released just a few weeks prior.
Chicago Forever is not quite as remarkable as that album. This one is significantly slicker and sounds more like the result of a labored process, whereas
Water for Thirsty Children could've merely happened -- with little in the way of planning or afterthought. It's also to the album's detriment that it seems, ironically enough, less personal. The guest vocalists provide plenty of personality, but the lack of vocal turns from
Davis -- even if they wouldn't be quite as skilled as those from his associates -- means that there's less of his touch to be heard. To be fair, the criticisms are just further testaments to
Water for Thirsty Children's exceptional strengths; there's no mistaking that
Chicago Forever is another solid
Roy Davis, Jr. album.
Common drops by, if only to leave a phone message, and
Davis' son Caleb provides an interlude late into the album with a perfectly succinct endorsement: "My dad makes soul music, so get down."