Album Review: Kem - 'Intimacy: Album III'

Ever since 2002, singer-songwriter-musician Kem Owens has been releasing tender, gentle, hopelessly romantic jazz-R&B ballads that have made ladies from South Carolina to South Africa swoon. And his latest album, Intimacy: Album III, which released in the U.S. on Aug. 17, 2010, is no exception. The album definitely lives up to it's name: all nine songs on this hour-long release are deeply sensual tracks that will likely hit all the right notes for women the world over. In fact, instead of Intimacy, the album just as well could have been called How to Seduce a Woman, Vol. 3 and still easily lived up to its title.

There are no bad songs or even fast-forward material on Intimacy, but that being said, some of Kem's tracks stand out a little more than others. And one of the album's highlights is "Share My Life", a superbly romantic tune about a man expressing to his lady how much he wants to be with her forever: "Share my life, trust in me, you're all I want, everything I need," he sings. "Maybe I'm a dreamer, you're still my queen, your love's like a river, girl, it's runnin' right through me." The song starts of tenderly and romantically, but by the end of it, the track has evolved into a bold, soaring declaration.

Also worthy of praise is the laid back "Can You Feel It," during which Kem puts his powers of seduction to work: "For every woman that needs a man, there's a man that needs you too, maybe I'm the man for you/You feel my heart, you fill my life, you make my day, I'm more in every way, 'cause you open me, can you feel it?" Kem also has another winner in "Love Never Fails," a tender ballad about a man who has broken up with a lover but still remains hopelessly in love with and devoted to that ex-lover.

Kem also is outstanding on "Why Would You Stay," a smartly-conceived ballad about a man who feels so horrible about disappointing his woman (exactly how isn't explained) that he tells her he wouldn't blame her for leaving him - then goes about convincing her to stay with him. The song, like almost every other track on Intimacy, is very well written and epitomizes why Kem is popular; he has an amazing knack for tapping into what women feel, think and want to hear and manages to articulate this smoothly and eloquently. Not since '90s singer Babyface was on top of the charts has a man been so adept at seducing women on songs.

Although this is a solid album from top to bottom and can easily be listened to all the way through without feeling the need to hit the fast forward button, it isn't perfect. If you're not already in the bedroom when listening to Intimacy, prolonged listening just might put you to sleep. And the album's last track, "Golden Days," features a spoken word segment by neo-Soul goddess Jill Scott that doesn't quite fit in with the jazz-R&B vibe of the other eight songs. But to be honest, this is just nitpicking. All in all, this is one of the better albums of 2010, without a doubt.