When it comes down to it, there are basically two kinds of people in this world. Republicans or Democrats? PC or Mac? Prince or Michael Jackson? Star Wars or Star Trek? Rakim or KRS-One? With the release of John Legend’s latest, arguments will be fought, wars will be waged, and families will be split up, over the latest debate: Get Lifted or Once Again? After being nominated for 8 Grammy Awards and taking home 3 of them for Get Lifted, naturally there’s a lot of pressure on Legend for his sophomore release. While he could have easily followed up his debut by following the same formula, Legend takes things in slightly different directions for Once Again.

     Serving as a much more mature effort, Legend rebukes the heavy gospel roots and mainly piano driven tracks found on Get Lifted, for a more polished studio sound – one that focuses more on his vocal chops than his finger skills. The groovy “Save Room” finds Legend over an organ-driven Will.I.Am track, as he woos the ladies with romantically penned lyrics. The Kanye West produced “Heaven” is an excellent minimalist, mellow jam not terribly indicative of the producer, while the Devo Springstein helmed “Stereo” packs a rawness more likely to be found on a classic Mobb Deep track, as Legend sings about a material girl. 

      Midway through the album, Legend deliberately slows things down, such as on “Show Me”, a dreamy, Raphael Saadiq produced track, backed by relaxing rock guitars. “P.D.A. (We Just Don’t Care)” finally lets John flex his piano skills, with wonderfully seductive lyrics about kissing in the park, under the stars, and what have you. But the crown jewel? Try “Again” on for size, which reuses the “Ordinary People” formula – that is, burning verses about broken / forbidden relationships, as he takes center-stage pounding his piano keys with furious passion. He follows this again later with “Another Again”, similarly titled, yet totally different song. Delving back into his cheating heart roots, you almost feel tempted by his devilish behavior, as he puts things so eloquently. Here again, he lets loose on the piano, but now assisted by snapping snares, raining flute notes, and sultry bass guitars. But no doubt, people will forget all about his bad side after the last note of “Coming Home” hits, a heartfelt solo piano song written from the perspective of a solider overseas, a prisoner locked up, or whatever the listener chooses, really. This will definitely strike a chord with the listeners and perhaps even secure him more Grammy love. 

     If you are looking for an album to put on with a loved one, this is definitely it, much more so than Get Lifted. But at the same time, Get Lifted was a concept record – one that told the story of the ups and downs of a relationship, this goes in all different directions. Once Again also has a wide palette of sounds and styles at its disposal, but arguably that lends to a less cohesive sound than Get Lifted. And then of course, which album you as a fan will like better, depends on whether you prefer more piano driven style of Get Lifted or the studio sound of Once Again. Nevertheless, John Legend still delivers equal satisfaction on both LP’s.