Special Occasion [Bonus Track] – Bobby Valentino

After releasing his debut solo album in the spring of 2005 and then a stint as part of the collaboration Disturbing the Peace Presents Bobby Valentino, Valentino released another solo album, Special Occasion, in the middle of 2007, a slice of modern urban R&B with enough confidence to credit it simply to his first name, Bobby (assuming that everybody would know who it was). The opening track, "Anonymous," featured the talents of Timberland, who appeared to pop up somewhere on just about every R&B album from the mid-2000s, but this set the scene for the whole album which was a series of 17 songs with Bobby making love to the microphone over a sensual beat and even more sexual strings. Especially indicative of this was the title track, which was a live get together with Valentino and one of his female fans. It was just as well the song was only two minutes long for the erotica (and hero worship) was building nicely into a crescendo. Coming from very different worlds, one could be fairly sure that Bobby Valentino had not listened or deliberately copied the vocal style of Craig David, but in some of the vocals, there was more than a passing similarity, although he strayed into Stevie Wonder territory on the track "I Was Wrong." [The CD was also released with a bonus track.] ~ Sharon Mawer, All Music Guide