LOST & FOUND
RAW
ALYSON WILLIAMS
New York soul singer Alyson Williams was already an established backing vocalist across North America by the time she released her debut album Raw in 1989. An album of two halves on the urban Def Jam label, it combines low-tempo jazz and R&B ballads, often with co-singers, with a more satisfying sequence of hip-house and New Jack Swing tracks. Opening ballad Just Call My Name has a free-forming Williams beginning a regrettable dual theme of fighting the dominant backing vocals while making the most of an ordinary melody. Aside from the stirring quiet-storm classic, I Need Your Lovin’, (a No.8 hit in the UK), the strongest love song is Masquerade, in which Williams’ rich voice wastes no time becoming the main focus. Generally the slower stuff is difficult, indulgent and repetitive, but there’s a marked improvement when the pace suddenly rises. Her collaboration on the Top 40 hit and near-title track My Love Is So Raw, with rapper Nikki D, broadens the album’s horizons almost entirely by itself, while On The Rocks and Still My No.1 have killer beats and great vocals. Sleep Talk, a Top 20 success, is an undeservedly forgotten dancefloor gem.