Gino Vannelli - Brother To Brother (2012) [SHM-CD]

By this point, Vannelli has pared away the often-bizarre edges of his sound and became more mainstream. That's not a bad thing. This album's predecessor, A Pauper in Paradise, seemed to blow up his pretensions to skyscraper size with only the melodic and gorgeous "The Surest Things Can Change" coming out unscathed. The good news is that Brother to Brother seems to pick up from that point. The big hit here, the sexy and confident "I Just Want to Stop," gets a great vocal from Vannelli and the backing vocalists. Throughout, this one gets the sense that Vannelli finally got what made him special vocally and lyrically. "Love and Emotion" and "Feel Like Flying" have a maturity that he couldn't have pulled off two albums before. That is also true of the pensive "Wheels of Life," a song that's so melodically rich and thought-provoking, it's surprising that Peabo Bryson didn't cover it on one of his albums. Gino Vannelli's often more personal than more artists, and the final track proves it. The sleek and well-arranged "People I Belong To" has Vannelli examining the lives of his parents and brothers in a way that can't help but be affecting. After a few years of successful albums for A&M, Brother to Brother coalesced the sound and is recommended to fans of pop and R&B. -- Jason Elias