The Way I See It
Released
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If Raphael Saadiq’s contributions to R&B were cut off after 1/1/2000, we’d still have Tony! Toni! Toné!, a litany of excellent solo singles, and the co-creation of “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” with D’Angelo to argue for his case as a top-tier soul controller. But after the self-released 2004 album Ray Ray gave him license to take a turn for the old-school, his 2008 major-label return The Way I See It re-established him at the forefront of the decade’s classic-soul creatives. Playing spot-the-influence with this album is a good enough time — waxing sitar-drenched Stylistic on the Thom Bell-rocking “Oh Girl,” filtering the beautiful sorrow of late ’60s Motown through New Orleans brass on “Big Easy,” embodying the sheer joy of pre-synth Stevie on “Staying in Love” before harmonizing with the man himself on “Never Give You Up” — but no mere pastiche artist could ever nail the Jamerson bass grooves and R&B-polymath vocals like Saadiq did here.