……From the urgency of “It’s No Crime” to the tearjerker “Where Will You Go,” Babyface’s songs were equal levels of veracity and vulnerability that spoke on men’s wants, women’s needs and the promised land of Happily Ever After. It’s been more than 20 years (!) since Tender Lover and a decade since he’s released a CD of new material, but please believe that time has aged only his perspective as Babyface gets back into the spotlight with his 10th studio CD, Return of the Tender Lover.

It probably would’ve been simple for the superstar musician to attempt a revamp of Tender’s inescapable hits, or to jam-pack each track with a rap cameo and duet with one of today’s hot names, but Babyface is too wise to cheapen his own legacy in such a fashion. Instead, he revisits his familiar stomping grounds of love and relationships but with more perspective than platitudes (likely due to his newlywed and renewed father status after the end of his 13-year union to Tracey Edmonds). What you hear in the nine tracks is a man who may be drawn by a pretty face and a fine shape, but wise enough to know that it’s her heart and soul with which he must live and be contented day in and day out.

Babyface sings passionately about the struggles of everyday relationships from beginning to end, accompanied by other seasoned pros (Greg Phillinganes, Darryl Simmons, Nathan East and Kameron Glasper) who could care less about trendy…..(please click here to read the full review at soultracks.com)