Had it not been for
Maxwell’s
BLACKsummers’night,
Signature would have been
Joe’s third album to top Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop chart -- further proof that
Joe’s switch to
Kedar Massenburg's Fontana-distributed label was a smart one. For
The Good, the Bad, the Sexy,
Joe’s fourth
Kedar release, the singer handed the production and songwriting duties to a handful of associates -- no big names -- and recorded at a location called Joe’s Crib. Even with the changes, the album will not surprise anybody; it’s very much a
Joe album, based in soft-hued bedroom backdrops that, for the most part, crawl and slink without getting hotter than an occasional simmer.
The Good, the Bad, the Sexy does not offer a retreat from
Signature’s carnal content, even with a promise to “stimulate your mind” and a request to “put your kids aside, let me introduce you to mine” (just prior to talk of “poppin’ bottles,” presumably not baby bottles). In fact, he goes further than ever, as on the closing “Drink Up,” where he gets graphic, verging on
Pretty Ricky territory, and (curiously) tells a moaning and groaning conquest that she should keep drinking if she wants “a better performance.” ~ Andy Kellman