Motown 2.0

R&B albums rarely combine the multiple musical legacies of one given city and catch the zeitgeist of its time as masterfully as PPPโ€™s sophomore disc, Abundance (Ubiquity). As the title suggests, producer Waajeed and multi-instrumentalist Saadiqโ€”the groupโ€™s two brainiacsโ€”pack so much historical reference, so much modern perspective, so much deft musicality, so much lyrical ingenuity,…

R&B albums rarely combine the multiple musical legacies of one given city and catch the zeitgeist of its time as masterfully as PPPโ€™s sophomore disc, Abundance (Ubiquity). As the title suggests, producer Waajeed and multi-instrumentalist Saadiqโ€”the groupโ€™s two brainiacsโ€”pack so much historical reference, so much modern perspective, so much deft musicality, so much lyrical ingenuity, and so much vivacity that Abundance is full of artistic riches.

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Hailing from Detroit, it comes as no surprise that PPP (formerly Platinum Pied Pipers) bolsters much of Abundance with the epochal sounds of Motown, which celebrates its golden anniversary this year. But Motown, particularly its โ€™60s halcyon years, has informed a motherlode of recent albums, notably Amy Winehouseโ€™s 2006โ€™s breakout disc, Back to Black (Island), Solange Knowlesโ€™ nifty Sol-Angel and the Hadley Street Dreams (Music World/Geffen, 2008) and Raphael Saadiqโ€™s fawning The Way I See It. Referencing Motown now seems purely trendy if not passรฉ.

Although syncopated handclaps, snazzy snare-drum intros and soulful doo-wop harmonies rouse songs like โ€œGo Go Go,โ€ โ€œCountless Excusesโ€ and โ€œRocket Science,โ€ Abundance channels more of Norman Whitfieldโ€™s urgent soul psychadelica that he wrote for the Undisputed Truth and Edwin Starr rather than Holland-Dozier-Hollandโ€™s sweet innocence that other current Motown-inspired discs bite.

PPP also prevents Abundance from being middling Motown pastiche by drawing upon a fuller spectrum of Detroitโ€™s musical legacy. Songs, like the body-jacking โ€œSmoking Mirrors,โ€ the scalding โ€œLuv Affairโ€ and the forceful โ€œAngel,โ€ reconcile Motor Cityโ€™s Motown, P-Funk, garage rock and electronica, all at once, and still are palatable for hip-hop heads. More impressive, however, is how PPP executes its ambitions minus the irony-at-gunpoint gauche that mars so much hipster culture.

This is where genuine song craft, animated by strong vocal performances, comes in. On Abundance, PPP recruits four new powerful singers: Karma Stewart, Jamila Reagan, Coultrain and Neco Reddโ€”all destined for greatness. Coultrain, in particular, wins the MVP award for contributing the lionโ€™s share of witty lyrics and hooky melodies.

The vocalists repay in kind. Stewart infuses just the right amount of Saturday night sass and Sunday morning gospel fervor on the punchy lead single โ€œOn a Cloud,โ€ while Reagan effectively brings out the lovesick apprehension in โ€œGo Go Go.โ€ Redd plays a convincing call girl on the cabaret-driven โ€œAmerican Pimp,โ€ while Coultrain projects the free-spirited friskiness of a playa on โ€œPigeonhole.โ€ ย 

Abundance deals mostly with romance, detailing the games people play and revealing how everyone plays the fool. Coultrain reveals the ambiguities of a love affair on the spiteful โ€œRocket Scienceโ€ on which he and Stewart sing: โ€œI canโ€™t win/When you found a way to fight it every step of the way/Afraid to be afraid/it gets far more than complicated/Touchรฉ.โ€™โ€ He addresses suspicion on the thunderous ballad โ€œAinโ€™t No Ifs or Maybesโ€ opening with โ€œShe says she only wears open toes for me/Well if so then sheโ€™s a thief/cuz Iโ€™ve caught the faint scent of cologne/money comes and money goes/and when itโ€™s gone sheโ€™s out the door.โ€ Bliss occurs, too, as on the idyllic โ€œSanctuary,โ€ on which Coultrain questions the stability of a romance with the lines: โ€œHow do you know when to kiss your freedoms goodbye?/And be certain it be for the last time,โ€ amid a cloud of swooning strings and suspended cymbals.

Love may be the overarching theme of Abundance, but on several songs, PPP sneaks in a subtext dealing with self-identity, self-reinvention and self-determination. โ€œHow far are you willing to go/To work to look and breathe like somebody else,โ€ PPP asks on the galvanizing New Wave romp โ€œSmoke & Mirrorsโ€ as they critique fashion slaves with โ€œHow will you ever get to see your growth?/When you bought your style right off of the shelf.โ€ Coultrain articulates the complexities of constant reinvention, especially as he opens โ€œPigeonholeโ€ with โ€œNow letโ€™s see/ who shall I be?โ€ before warning his paramour that he can be โ€œshallow as a dry wellโ€ or โ€œnoble as a statue.โ€

PPP tackles those aforementioned themes best on the title track. Against a caffeinated boogie-woogie piano riff, Coultrain croons: โ€œDonโ€™t know who I am/Donโ€™t think I ever didโ€ to a wary lover as he explains that he once was trapped by definitions imposed upon him. Soon he delivers the boastful chorus: โ€œSee youโ€™re a slave to tradition if you donโ€™t wanna have it all/If revolution ainโ€™t your picture, then youโ€™ll cease to exist at all.โ€ Here, PPP gives us โ€œDancing in the Streets,โ€ the Motown classic that epitomized excitement of the mid-โ€™60s.

The ebullience of โ€œAbundanceโ€ recalls the fervor of late-night Nov. 4, 2008, when Barack Obama became this countryโ€™s first black president. The lyrics, while not overtly political, evoke the self-determination of Obamaโ€™s ascension and perhaps his sentiments to black naysayers, who earlier in his campaign doubted that he could reach his ultimate political goal. Both the songโ€™s lyrics and energy evoke the optimism of many black Americans reevaluating and transforming themselves, fighting long-held stereotypes and striving for, as Coultrain sings, a newfound โ€œslice of abundance.โ€

John Murph is a regular contributor to The Root.

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