Guy Albums (3)
What The Critics Say
More than ten years after their sophomore album -- titled, ironically, Future -- appeared to draw the curtain on urban forerunners Guy, Teddy Riley, Aaron Hall, and Damion Hall came back for their third album. In the interim, both Hall brothers released solo albums, and Riley continued his hit-making success by producing Bobby Brown, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and SWV (among others), and by appearing in yet another superstar group, Blackstreet. After Blackstreet's third album Finally failed to chart as high as its predecessor, Riley and the Halls re-formed. Guy was always more than just an above-average soul group, and though Riley's production schedule slowed slightly during the late '90s, he was still one of the biggest names in contemporary R&B. Guy III equals the extraordinary expectations that any new material from Guy provokes, occasionally exceeding their work in the past. ~ Keith Farley, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
One of the most seminal and influential releases of late '80s, Guy's self-titled debut album did more than its part to popularize new jack swing, a style that would soon become inescapable on urban contemporary radio. Teddy Riley didn't actually invent new jack swing with Guy -- he'd already gotten the ball rolling on Keith Sweat's 1987 debut Make It Last Forever -- but this album did more than any other to make it so incredibly popular in the R&B world. With their tough blend of hip-hop, R&B, and Gap Band-influenced funk, hits like "Groove Me" and "Teddy's Jam" defined new jack swing and served as the blueprint for countless new jack recordings in the late '80s and early to mid-'90s. One shameless Guy clone after another would pop up on urban radio, the vast majority of whom weren't even a fraction as inventive as Riley's distinctive trio. For anyone with even a casual interest in new jack, this CD is absolutely essential. [MCA issued a two-disc edition of the album in 2007.] ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
New jack swing, a hard-edged, high-tech blend of funk, R&B, and rap/hip-hop, has been milked for all it's worth and run into the ground by Guy's numerous imitators in the late '80s and early- to mid-'90s. But in the hands of its highly influential originators, Guy, it sounds fresh and inspired. Though not as strong as the debut album of 1988, The Future is one of the more appealing -- and certainly more authentic -- examples of "new jack swing." Lead by the ubiquitous producer/songwriter Teddy Riley, the trio brings a definite urgency to grinding, forceful funk like "Teddy's Jam 2" and "Her," and to such slow jams as "Do Me Right" and "Tease Me Tonight" (both of which recall the Gap Band à la "Outstanding"). Especially riveting is the all-rap number "Total Control," a brutally honest commentary on exploitation in the music business. It's important to absorb Guy's music and realize that it is proof, against the understandable complaints about the glut of faceless "new jack swing" artists saturating the market, that it wasn't always cheap and formulaic. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
