Welcome to the 1A Record Club, a new monthly series from 1A where we’ll dig into a new album release and celebrate an influential album anniversary.
First up: “An Evening with Silk Sonic,” the debut record from Silk Sonic, the collaboration from Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars.
Silk Sonic’s first single, “Leave the Door Open,” was an instant commercial success when it was released in March. It hit the top spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and has been certified two times platinum.
“Leave The Door Open” left fans eager for more from the duo. The full album, released Nov. 12, has received mostly positive reviews from critics like Jon Pareles with The New York Times:
Anderson .Paak was born in 1986. Bruno Mars was born in 1985. The sound of their new collaborative album, “An Evening With Silk Sonic,” comes from a decade earlier, the 1970s, when the grit and funk of 1960s soul made way for a new embrace of sophisticated luxury.
Singers promised sensual pleasures, sharing ardent come-ons and velvety harmonies in opulent tracks, backed by bountiful strings and horns. Working together as Silk Sonic, Mars and Paak revisit that bygone analog era in a hybrid of homage, parody, throwback and meticulous reverse engineering, tossing in some cheerfully knowing anachronisms. They flaunt skill, effort and scholarship, like teacher’s pets winning a science-fair prize; they also sound like they’re having a great time.
This month also marks some anniversaries of several influential albums including “Achtung Baby” by U2, “Hard Core” by Lil’ Kim, and “Take Care” by Drake.
If you want to keep up with what we’re listening to, bookmark this playlist where we’ll be saving all the albums we discuss on the 1A Record Club:
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