Album Reviews : ** Pebbles, “Straight From My Heart,” MCA.
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In pop music, only Paula Abdul has a wispier voice than Pebbles. Put that voice in the proper framework, though, and it matters not one whit. Pebbles, 30, has grown in the years following “Girlfriend” and “Mercedes Boy,” fluffy hits that initially jump-started her career. While her marriage to record mogul L.A. Reid has hit the skids and she no longer has a hand in managing the ever-rising TLC, she seems to have rebounded nicely on her new album.
There is a deliciously relaxed and loose texture to such tracks as “Happy” and “Like the Last Time.” Conversely, the politically driven black-pride message of “Soul Replacement” is miles away from the breezy groove of “Mercedes Boy.”
In urban circles, Pebbles just might be one of the most intriguing musical figures of ’95 this side of Snoop Doggy Dogg and Michael Jackson. Her dreamy, soul-tinged cover of Jackson’s “I Can’t Help It” shows that it may have been foolhardy to dismiss her artistry as lightweight. Beneath the fluff lies some substance after all.
Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (e x cellent).
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