By
Vanessa Francis
Grade: B-
In the spirit of "let me slip into something more comfortable" music, "The Ladies Man" soundtrack follows the sultry-song genre previously featured in such movies as "Boomerang" and "Waiting to Exhale."
The album rightly features artists such as Johnny Gill, Roberta Flack and Chaka Khan, who specialize in this type of music, but the compilation of songs is fairly mellow for a film billed as an upbeat comedy.
New York-based studio musician Marcus Miller, who has previously collaborated with Miles Davis, is featured on eight tracks with soul-based jazz ensembles which are, in a word, boring. So while his work provided a solid background for the film, musically they are nevertheless bland.
Several classic love songs from the 70s era are included on the 19-track album, including the Isley Brothers' "That Lady" and Al Green's "Let's Stay Together."
Since the film is based on Tim Meadows' "Saturday Night Live" character Leon Phelps, a radio host who dispenses questionable love advice, samples of Meadow's dialogue from the movie are included, but the unfunny snippets add little to the enjoyment of the soundtrack.
The most upbeat tracks, by far, are the groovy dance tunes "Up for the Down Stroke," by the Parliament Funkadelics, and Grover Washington Jr.'s soulful melody "Mister Magic."
The soundtrack is largely a series of hits and misses. It falters in its inclusion of too many adult contemporary smooth jams (Miller), but makes up for it with the sultry semi-classics.
The soundtrack is crying out for the ultimate mood music of the masters - Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Ray Charles or Aretha Franklin. Or perhaps a smarter move would have been to use songs from today's musical love doctors, like D'Angelo, Blackstreet, Toni Braxton or Erykah Badu.
"The Ladies Man" soundtrack makes a good attempt at showcasing the sexy song classics, but could have done it better.
