Hurricane - Eric Benet - Pandora Internet Radio

Warner Bros / Wea

2005

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Eric Benet

Hurricane

About This Album

Eric Benet spent the better part of a decade carving out a niche for his laid-back loverman R&B, notching a minor hit in 1999 with "Spend My Life with You," before he hooked up with actress Halle Berry. The couple married in 2001 and things almost immediately started to unravel for the singer. He started to pursue an acting career in earnest by appearing in Mariah Carey's legendary bomb Glitter, released the very year Berry starred in the gritty Monster's Ball, a career-making role that landed her the Academy Award for Best Actress. That soul-baring performance, combined with her chest-baring performance in Swordfish, made Berry a superstar and a sex symbol, which overshadowed Benet's perfectly respectable career as a quiet storm crooner and C-level actor, resulting in a downward spiral of jealousy manifesting itself in a lot of sleeping around. All this came to light in 2003, when Berry filed for divorce from Benet. Not long afterward, Benet's serial infidelities were revealed, and while he claimed to suffer from sex addiction, he was quickly pegged as the idiot who cheated on Halle Berry by both tabloids and the public, and nothing he did, including a gloriously weepy interview on Primetime Live in the summer of 2004, erased that perception. Hurricane -- his long-gestating third album, delivered in the summer of 2005, delivered well over six years after his second, A Day in the Life -- won't rehabilitate his image, either.

Without hearing a note of "Be Myself Again," "Where Does the Love Go," "The Last Time," "In the End," "Cracks of My Broken Heart," or "I Wanna Be Loved," any casual observer will be able to deduce that Hurricane is a quintessential divorce album, where Benet spends the course of the record ruminating on what exactly went wrong in his marriage. There have been plenty of interesting, even brilliant, divorce albums in pop and soul history, and the best of them -- like Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks or Marvin Gaye's Here, My Dear -- have lyrical ambiguities and some degree of self-recrimination, a realization that both parties share some guilt in the dissolution of their relationship. While Benet may indeed be "Man Enough to Cry," he's not willing to fess up some guilt on his end anywhere on Hurricane -- the closest he comes is acknowledging "I always loved, I always cared/But there was a part of me that wasn't always there" -- preferring to wonder why his love has vanished and to wish that he weren't alone. Which is all well and good, and perhaps it would even be mildly sympathetic if the audience didn't know one crucial fact: he cheated on Halle Berry. Repeatedly. This makes it a little difficult to buy the argument that he's been wounded by a love gone wrong -- he may not admit it, but anybody listening to Hurricane knows that Benet is the guilty party in his broken marriage. Not only that, but he uses his alleged heartbreak -- as well as his love for his daughter, who has the syrupy "India" dedicated to her -- as fuel for seduction, trying to turn his tales of loneliness into a bid for romance. That's because, no matter what he sings about, Benet simply makes sultry music that's intended to be the soundtrack to a romantic evening. There are plenty of lyrics about breaking up, but Hurricane sounds as if it were designed for hooking up. About half of the album is sleepy, maudlin quiet storm, while the other half is built directly on the template Prince created with "Adore," the warm, elegant closer to his 1987 double-album Sign 'O' the Times. The quiet storm is well performed but dull, yet the Prince-styled numbers are engaging, melodic, and nimble, strong showcases for Benet's mellow skills. (Hurricane does have the best liner-note thank you of the summer of 2005: "David Foster...This album never would have seen the light of day without you. How do I ever repay you? Maybe another Grammy for your collection?") ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Continued…

Track List (try tracks 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 11)

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Lyric says:

11-12-2009

Is this guy a former writer for a tabloid or something? Why on earth wasn't there an editor smart enough to see this rant for the gossip laden trash talk that it is.Time for a re-write.

woodwind08 says:

edited on 05-07-2009

What in the world does Eric Benet's "quiet storm crooner" voice have to do with the career of his ex-wife? I agree that the critics should confine their critisim to music as one doesn't have to do with the effect of voice tone and quality of music.Those of us who are definite Eric fans are just that, despite all. Just like those of us who love the music recorded by the artists whose personal life experiences are open books..i.e. Luther, Barry White, Whitney, Michael, Aretha, Chaka, Sade

CAMECA says:

03-14-2009

Wow, I was thinking the same exact thing Michele 2001 while reading the review/write up the album.

michele2001 says:

edited on 01-29-2009

I am upset with the lack of professional i s m present in the write up. I don't care what Halle went through when I decide to look at the music career of her ex-husband. When does someone plan to change this? Stephen Thomas Erlewine obviously expressed personal interest in Benet's marriage, however, that information was not requested.

Kiwanda Renee' says:

12-19-2008

I agree the write up on Eric Benet is wrong and doesn't have anything to do with his music that is what should be the focus in regards to this album. His music is wonderful and its makes you feel good I love his sound!

Kay

bdarbeau says:

08-18-2008

Whoever does the write-up on the artists needs to be fine tuned and keep their thoughts and opinions to themselves. Eric is a great artist and I don't think fans agree with comments made regarding him. He is not the first to cheat on someone and will not be the last in this world. Keep in mind Halle was cheated on before, she is always the "victim" and "poor Halle". She dstroyed these men's reputation while she keeps her's squeaky clean. You cannot always be the victim. She holds some accou

royal555 says:

08-04-2008

I love MANNNNNN!!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
TONYA

reedtango says:

06-04-2008

He may make poor decisions in his own personal life (as we all will do at some point) but is certainly a beautiful musician and a sweet voice. I thoroughly enjoy his lyrics and sound.

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