Ginger Patterson is without question, one of the strongest recording artists in Twin Cities. A gifted throwback to the smooth fire and hard grit of true, old-school soul music. Patterson truly stands in a class pretty much by herself.
Which makes it a curious occurrence that she has taken under her wing at Midwest Magic Productions the pedestrian talent CorEsha, possessed of bright but emotionless vocals singing weak lyrics to run-of-the-mill melodies. The Crazy EP produced by Patterson, co-produced with her son, William Patterson, has material mostly written by CorEsha and him. Considering the project has all those hands on deck, it’s surprisingly less than entertaining listening experience for anyone with a particularly discerning ear.
Not that there isn’t a market for this kind of thing. What passes for today’s R&B pop field is strongly supported by a remarkably undemanding audience. In fact, since the 1980’s when most artists like Whitney, Chaka, Natalie Cole and so forth, sang with feeling in a distinct voice, the genre’s been glutted by Janet sound-alikes. There simply is no premium on originality and the people paying for CD and tickets could care less.
The Crazy EP leads with “War”, for which a whole lot of yelling is supposed to pass for passion. It’s meant to be dramatic but comes off as a dirge. The words, at the times you can hear the from the over-produced quality, are along the inane lines of “I got my hands up/’Cause I don’t want to start a war.” Still, it’s a more viable offering than what comes right behind it, the narcissistic and juvenile “On and On”, about some brain dead bimbo coming to after a night of partying, looking for her clothes. “I don’t really know what I really did because/I’m a good girl or at least I was.” Plastic fare done to a percolating turn that, in any club, will have well-oiled ditzes flouncing around on the dance floor. If you took the vintage girl group En Vogue, distilled it to flavorless pap, then simply updated the instrumentation, you’d have the feel – rather lack thereof – that characterizes this recording. Interchange any of a half-dozen singers with the same serviceable vocal range indulging paint-by-number histrionics and you’d have CorEsha.
There are sterling production values here. Otherwise, it’s your average commercial outing. Which likely will turn a buck but certainly won’t blaze an innovative trail. Much as you want to see new talent come along, you want it to be considerably more serious than CorEsha and The Crazy EP.
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