Home Read Classic Album Review: Craig David | Born to Do It

Classic Album Review: Craig David | Born to Do It

The soul sensation aims for Next Big Thing status with his inconsistent debut.

This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):

 


Craig David, we are told by the U.K. press and American publicists, is going to be the Next Big Thing From England. Guaranteed. Like we haven’t heard that one before.

The soul sensation’s drawing card, as ably displayed on his U.K. chart-topping debut Born To Do It, is a distinctive sound that seamlessly stitches together his silky-smooth pop vocals and the lightly insistent whump of U.K. garage two-step. At its best — like more energetic cuts such as Fill Me In and 7 Days — it suggests an updated Stevie Wonder or Terence Trent D’Arby. Trouble is, those are two cuts on an hour-long album with an unfortunate overabundance of treacly ballads. And their floridly produced saccharine and featherweight dance grooves suggest an above-average boy-band crooner embarking on an ill-advised solo career. Next …

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