Playlist
However, Playlist is Babyface's first release for Mercury, following 2005's Grown & Sexy, and he put a lot of heart and soul into the material, all of which connected with him as a youngster listening to '70s AM radio. Most of the sources are anything but cool: James Taylor, Jim Croce, Dan Fogelberg, Dave Loggins, and Bread. (Then again, Bread were sort of like the Coldplay of their day.) Apart from Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," everything is suited for Babyface, often to the point where the songs don't sound tremendously different from what he has written during the last several years.
He may have been the most successful songwriter and producer of the '90s, but the 21st century has not yet been kind to Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds.