An Evening With Silk Sonic, by Silk Sonic

Silk Sonic is a musical group made up of Anderson.Paak and Bruno Mars, along with significant contributions by Bootsy Collins and others who share a love and appreciation of retro funk. Having at least mildly enjoyed the first two singles from the album, which were released prior to the album’s release, I thought it would be worthwhile to give this album a listen and see what it provided as far as enjoyment. Is an album of 70’s throwbacks like this one too much of a good thing or just right?

This is a short album of only 9 songs, and it can be said that it doesn’t overstay its welcome. The first song is a short and entertaining intro that does its purpose and leaves 8 songs for the mini-album. “Leave The Door Open” is the second track, and it works just as well in the context of the album as it does as a hit single. “Fly As Me” is pretty obvious flexing, but it is done in a lighthearted way so as to not be offensive. “After Last Night” is the sort of sexy track that one would expect from this effort and it too is an enjoyable listen. “Smokin Out The Window,” the current single, is a moving song about a troubled relationship. “Put On A Smile” is a song that sounds happy but is actually quite sad when it comes to pretending happiness. “777” reflects a confident feeling about gambling and the lure of easy money to solve one’s problems. “Skate” has an effervescent charm about it about the joys of love. The album ends with “Blast Off,” which has a feeling of enjoying the space age that fits just right for the vibe of this album.

The contemporary age of albums tends to have two tendencies, either to stream troll with bloated track lists or to craft meaningful and enjoyable shorter albums that sometimes even veer towards the mini-album that focus on quality rather than quantity. This is an album that definitely does not overstay its welcome. One would have wanted more good songs, but better 8 good songs with an enjoyable intro than 30 songs that are relentlessly mediocre. If you have a fondness for 70’s funk and soul, this album is certainly a pleasant one. I’m not sure the extent to which I think that the members of Silk Sonic transcend their influences, but if someone went back in this time with this album to the original time, it would still slap and be likely to have hits, and that is enough to be enjoyable for my tastes.