L. Young - Love is a Verb

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    As they say in church, love is an action word. If that statement is true of the agapic love that is the primary topic addressed by preachers, it's also true of Eros, the main theme of R&B love men like L Young. The Louisville native uses his new album, Love is a Verb, to explore many manifestations of putting love in action.

    As they say in church, love is an action word. If that statement is true of the agapic love that is the primary topic addressed by preachers, it's also true of Eros, the main theme of R&B love men like L Young. The Louisville native uses his new album, Love is a Verb, to explore many manifestations of putting love in action.

    One thing becomes clear from the opening title track - a man content to simply regurgitate those the three magic words to his lover stands on shaky ground. On "Love is a Verb," Young sings the song from the standpoint of a man whose actions belied his utterances of those three words. "Love is a Verb" is both a story of a man's personal failure and a teaching moment for other men to put those words into action. If "Love is a Verb" is a song about the risk of taking a lover for granted, "RSVP," is all about the redemptive and transformative power of the love of a good woman. On "RSVP," Young has a dream that he must defend his life's work in order to be allowed in heaven. He tells the story of how a woman, ironically named Grace, transformed him from a wretched man who stole, cheated and killed into a good man worthy of passing through the Pearly Gates into Glory.

    On the ballad "Fairytales," Young works to convince a love-scarred woman not to close the book on love. He cleverly uses the imagery of the fairy tell that ladies have heard in countless children's stories and Disney movies to restore the object of his desire's belief in "happily ever after." "Fairytales" sports a memorable hook that a that will likely be repeated by brothers trying to show their sensitive sides: "I wanna be the reason that you believe in fairy tales/I wanna be the reason you place your dreams in wishing wells/from the first to the very last chapter we'll be living life happily ever after."

    The album is not all sweet ballads because Young understands that a man's gotta be about the action in the bedroom as well. A bedroom anthems like "Sandwiches" shows that Young can appeal to the young crowd with his stories of working his bedroom magic so well that it inspires his lover to hop out of bed and whip up some grub. The song is risqué, but it doesn't venture into R. Kelly territory. Admittedly, this is one for the youngsters and some of the old heads may wag fingers - forgetting that the blues and early R&B was all about clever word play and double entendres. "Sandwiches" works better than the other two erotic ballads where Young gets just a little bit too descriptive.

    Young doesn't limit himself to love songs on Love is a Verb. A veteran of the music industry who worked artists such as EnVogue, Ke Ke Wyatt Nicole Sherzinger, Young is an artist who recognizes game - and the lack thereof. That comes through on "SHITONME," Young's bitter critique of our style over substance culture. This powerful anthem that fuses rock, funk and hip hop finds Young dismissing a popular but less talented rival and a social network busybody looking for dirt by telling both that that don't have, well, you know.

    Love is a Verb contains a few misses - especially when Young tries to make radio ballads for the ‘young and sexy' crowd - but he's a solid storyteller and creative lyricist who can sing sweet ballads and then flip it and give you an angry anthem and the bedroom fantasies. That kind of schizophrenia gets you committed on the streets. In the music world, having a split personality gets your work buy recommendations. Recommended

     

    By Howard Dukes



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