TGT – ‘Sex Never Felt Better’

I had hoped that the union of Tyrese, Ginuwine and Tank might approximate this:

Instead we get this:

The union of these three men should blow you away like “The Best Man I Can Be” did. But this faceless song does nothing to make good on the promise of hearing Tyrese, Ginuwine and Tank singing together. I’m not entirely sure why they decided to blend their vocals with a vocoder effect, but it destroys the ability to hear what these brothers are doing. They don’t even need it. It’s not like any of them are Teddy Riley and know how to use it to accentuate what the others are doing. Tyrese and Ginuwine – so memorable together on the second verse of “The Best Man I Can Be” – in particular are completely buried. Tank is the only one who stands out, approaching his bridge with his characteristic delicacy and precision.

Man, listen: Tyrese is one of the most gifted vocalists of his generation. Tank is so gifted with the pen – giving us one of the finest male R&B debut albums in a really long time – that people often sleep on how powerful a vocalist he is. And Ginuwine’s tone, power and phrasing is so unique and dynamic that you marvel at his read on a song.

Very little of that is evident here.

When Gerald Levert, Johnny Gill and Keith Sweat created LSG, it ended up sounding exactly like what you’d expect: the best elements of all three men united to create something greater than the sum of each part. “Sex Never Felt Better” doesn’t give me the individual greatness of these three men working to create something that is a cohesive whole of sheer dopeness.

And yet, it’s not really bad. It’s just mediocre. Just. Not. Good. Enough. And I think that’s worse.