''House of Music'' is the fourth and final

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

by American R&B band

Tony! Toni! Toné! Tony! Toni! Toné! was an American soul/ R&B band from Oakland, California, popular during the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s. During the band's heyday, it was composed of D'wayne Wiggins on lead vocals and guitar, his brother Raphael Saadiq ...

, released on November 19, 1996, by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it ...

. It follows the success of the band's 1993 album '' Sons of Soul'' and a hiatus during which each member pursued individual musical projects. For ''House of Music'', Tony! Toni! Toné! regrouped in 1995 and worked at studios in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Sacramento. Bassist-vocalist

Raphael Saadiq Raphael Saadiq (; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! In addition to his solo and group ...

, guitarist-vocalist

D'wayne Wiggins D'wayne Patrice Wiggins (born February 14, 1961) is an American singer, guitarist, and record producer best known as the founding member of the 1990s soul/R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné! Early life Wiggins was born in Oakland, California; spec ...

, and percussionist-keyboardist Timothy Christian Riley worked on songs for the album independently before recording them together as a group. Most of the album was produced by the band; the only song to feature outside production was " Let's Get Down", produced by Saadiq with rapper-producer

DJ Quik David Marvin Blake (born January 18, 1970), better known by his stage names DJ Quik or Da Quiksta, is an American rapper and producer, known for his production in the G-funk style of West Coast hip-hop. Blake has collaborated with Snoop Dogg, ...

and G-One. Tony! Toni! Toné! sought to emphasize musicianship rather than production technique during the sessions for ''House of Music''. Expanding on their previous work's traditional R&B influences with live instrumentation and balladry, the album features both contemporary and older musical sensibilities alongside witty, sensitive lyrics informed by the spirit of romantic love and seduction. Tony! Toni! Toné! named the album after a small

record store A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record shops sold the new formats that were ...

in the band's native city of Oakland, which Wiggins said they were reminded of after listening to the finished music. ''House of Music'' charted for 31 weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200, peaking at number 32, and was certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

(RIAA). Critics widely praised Tony! Toni! Toné!'s musicianship and songwriting, later deeming the album a masterpiece of 1990s R&B. An international tour promoting ''House of Music'' was planned but did not materialize amid growing tensions within the group stemming from creative differences and Mercury's management. They disbanded shortly after the album's release to pursue separate music careers.

Background

Tony! Toni! Toné! took a hiatus as a group after the commercial and critical success of their third album '' Sons of Soul'' (1993). According to vocalist and bassist Raphael Wiggins, each member had pursued individual music projects, and "the group was trying to figure out where everybody's time, space and head was at." He,

, and Timothy Christian Riley worked on songwriting and production for other recording artists during the band's hiatus, including

D'Angelo Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" ...

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the single ...

Karyn White Karyn Layvonne White (born October 14, 1965) is an American singer who was popular during the late 1980s and early 1990s. She is known for several hit singles including "Superwoman" (1988), " Secret Rendezvous" (1989), " The Way You Love Me" (19 ...

Tevin Campbell Tevin Jermod Campbell (born November 12, 1976) is an American singer and songwriter. He performed gospel in his local church from an early age. Following an audition for jazz musician Bobbi Humphrey in 1988, Campbell was signed to Warner Bros. R ...

, and

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

. Raphael Wiggins adopted the surname "Saadiq" for his professional name in 1994—meaning "man of his word" in Arabic—and released his solo single "

Ask of You "Ask of You" is a song by American singer Raphael Saadiq, released as a single from the ''Higher Learning'' soundtrack. It was Saadiq's biggest solo hit, peaking at number 19 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 2 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' H ...

" in 1995. Their work outside the band led to rumors of a break-up during the time between albums, before regrouping to record ''House of Music''.

Recording and production

''House of Music'' was recorded in sessions that began in September 1995 and took place at the following California-based studios: Brilliant Studios and Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco; Coda Studios and Grass Roots Studios in Oakland; Encore Studios, Image Recording, and

Westlake Recording Studios Westlake Recording Studios is a music recording studio in West Hollywood, California. History Westlake Recording Studios was founded in the early 1970s by the American audio engineer Tom Hidley under the name Westlake Audio. Hidley was experienc ...

in Los Angeles; and Pookie Labs and Woodshed Studios in Sacramento. Tony! Toni! Toné! used vintage recording equipment and, for certain tracks, a 40-piece orchestra. Some songs also featured guest musicians, including rapper and producer

, percussionist Sheila E., and the

Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted th ...

horn section. Saadiq worked with DJ Quik on the song "Let's Get Down" and said the collaboration proved very "natural" because of the producer's affinity for

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

music. Tony! Toni! Toné! wanted to record the album with an emphasis on musicianship rather than production flair. Wiggins felt that the absence of their once prominent

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s made the resulting music sound more distinctive. "On a lot of the songs, you can just imagine a five-piece band performing", he later told ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

''. Unlike the group's previous albums, each member arranged, composed, and produced songs on their own before putting the finished recordings together for ''House of Music''. According to Saadiq, "what I did was write a lot of stuff and rehearse it for about a month, then recorded it live. Then iggins and Rileywould add their parts separately." He worked with his own recording crew for ''House of Music'', featuring guitarist Chalmers "Spanky" Alford, drummer Tommy Branford, and keyboardists Kelvin Wooten and Cedric Draper. Wiggins believed the band's hiatus benefited the recording of ''House of Music'', making them less likely to produce an album derivative of ''Sons of Soul''. The album's opening track, the

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...

-styled "Thinking of You", was one the group conceived and recorded together at 3:00 a.m. in Saadiq's Pookie Labs studio. As he remembered it, "I was just playing around and started singing off the top of my head. I never wrote anything down, it was just what came out." "Annie May", one of Wiggins' songs for ''House of Music'', had Saadiq's backing vocals pre-recorded and then

overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

to the track's final mix. Tony! Toni! Toné! completed recording ''House of Music'' in September 1996. The album was then

mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance- ...

at the

Bernie Grundman Mastering Bernie Grundman is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chris Bellman, Patricia Sullivan, and Mi ...

studio in Hollywood. One of Saadiq's songs for the album, "Me and the Blind Man", was excluded from the final mix because, as Saadiq told ''

Yahoo! Music Yahoo! Music was a brand under which Yahoo! provided a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming. Previously, users with Yahoo! accounts could gain access to hundreds o ...

'', "they didn't want anybody playing favorites, so one of my songs had to come off." The recording was a moody blues piece with surrealistic lyrics about lust, longing, and a fictitious blind man's secret powers. Saadiq wanted to show "a darker side ... some depth" to listeners with the song. "To me, songs like 'Blind Man' make the whole sound, the ''House of Music''", he remarked. It was featured on an album sampler sent by the group's label to music journalists. Saadiq later recorded a version of "Blind Man" for his 2002 solo album ''

Instant Vintage ''Instant Vintage'' is the 2002 debut album by American R&B singer and record producer Raphael Saadiq. It was his first full-length solo album after spending much of his post- Tony! Toni! Toné! career as a session player and producer. The record ...

''.

Music and lyrics

''House of Music'' expands on the traditional R&B influences of Tony! Toni! Toné!'s previous work, emphasizing live instrumentation and ballads. In the opinion of '' Daily Herald'' writer Dan Kening, the album is a continuation of the band's mix of contemporary R&B and old-fashioned soul, resulting in "half a tribute to their '60s and '70s soul music roots and half a masterful blend of modern smooth balladeering and danceable funk." ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...

'' critic Jennie Yabroff believed ''House of Music'' mostly features ballads in the form of "slow, emotional numbers with muted beats" that accentuate the lyrics. According to ''

Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

'' magazine, mid-tempo songs such as "Thinking of You" and "Still a Man" rely strongly on 1960s R&B/soul "given a contemporary face", while up-tempo songs such as "Lovin' You", "Don't Fall in Love", and " Let's Get Down" have elements of funk. The lyrics on ''House of Music'' are described by several journalists as witty and sensitive. Michaelangelo Matos of the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...

'' characterizes Saadiq's songwriting as playful and quirky, while comparing his

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

singing voice to that of a young

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

. Of Wiggins, Matos says his melodies and rhythms are subtler than those of Saadiq and observes "burnished obbligatos, hushed burr, and starry-eyed falsetto" in his singing. Saadiq alternates with Wiggins as lead vocalist throughout the album. Richard Torres of ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and fo ...

'' attributes the group's lyrics on the album to their " eliefin the power of

love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

and the lure of

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

". According to Saadiq, the opening track "Thinking of You" is "a really soul, southern, funky song" inspired by Al Green. It has light guitar strokes and is sung in a Southern twang by Saadiq, while "Top Notch" features

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

elements and the vocalist's playful promise of a trip to

Denny's Denny's (also known as Denny's Diner on some of the locations' signage) is an American table service diner-style restaurant chain. It operates over 1,700 restaurants in many countries. Description Originally opened as a coffee shop under t ...

for "the most expensive dinner we can find". On "Still a Man", he sings from the perspective of a man who was left by his wife to raise their children alone. The backing vocalists sing the meditative

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

, "Have you ever loved somebody / Who loves you so much it hurts you to hurt them so bad?" On "Holy Smokes & Gee Whiz", Saadiq's older brother Randall Wiggins sings lead. It is described by ''

Washington City Paper The ''Washington City Paper'' is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The ''City Paper'' is distributed on Thursdays; its average circulation in 2006 was 85,588. The paper's editorial mix is focu ...

'' journalist Rickey Wright as a modernized version of

the Stylistics The Stylistics are an American, Philadelphia soul group that achieved their greatest chart success in the 1970s. They formed in 1968, with a lineup of singers Russell Thompkins Jr., Herb Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith and James Dunn. All ...

' 1972 song "

Betcha by Golly, Wow "Betcha by Golly, Wow" is a song written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed, originally titled "Keep Growing Strong" and recorded by Connie Stevens under the Bell label in 1970. Stevens' recording runs two minutes and thirty seconds. The composition l ...

", featuring "a dead-on impression of Russell Thompkins' unmistakable

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentou ...

and precise diction". "Annie May", written by Wiggins, is a story about a " good girl next door" who becomes an

exotic dancer A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at a bachelor party or other private event. M ...

, while "Let Me Know" is a love song with

Wall of Sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of sessio ...

elements. According to Nick Krewen of ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'', "Wild Child" is "a ballad in the grand sense" of the 1977

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million reco ...

song "Be Ever Wonderful". "Party Don't Cry", a meditation on mortality with jazzy, philosophical overtones, is said by Wright to convey "an overt spirituality unheard in the Tonyies' past songs". The album's closing track is a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

-influenced instrumental and variation of "Lovin' You" composed by Saadiq. Its sole lyric, according to Wright, is a universalist platitude.

Title and packaging

''House of Music'' was named after a

in the band's native Oakland, which had closed several years prior to the album's release. Wiggins explained in October 1996 to ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'': "We title all our albums at the end of the project. We sat back and listened to everything, and it reminded us of this mom-and-pop store around our way in Oakland." "We grew up in a house of music", Wiggins continued, remarking how their father was a blues guitarist and music had a unifying effect on people. According to ''Billboard''s Shawnee Smith, the album's title describes a varied, complete work distinct from a contemporary music market oversaturated by "retro-soul groups". The album's cover and booklet photos were taken by photographer William Claxton, who captured Tony! Toni! Toné! dressed in casual and formal, retro clothing. This departure from the more outré wardrobe of the band's past was interpreted by journalist Brandon Ousley as an effort to promote "the elegance of 1960s-era Black America and legendary

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

acts to a modern generation".

Marketing and sales

''House of Music'' was released on November 19, 1996, by

. The label planned the release date to coincide with the peak holiday shopping period and ran ad campaigns scheduled for network cable, syndicated television shows, and radio stations. Tony! Toni! Toné! inaugurated its release with a satellite press conference and in-store performance at a small retail outlet in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...

. They also embarked on a tour of

historically black college Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

s and Black Independent Coalition record shops after "Let's Get Down" had been sent to R&B and

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

radio on October 28 as the album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

; its

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

was released to outlets such as

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

, The Box, and

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. Tony! Toni! Toné! performed the song on the sketch comedy show ''

All That ''All That'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by Brian Robbins and Mike Tollin. The series originally aired on Nickelodeon from April 16, 1994, to October 22, 2005, lasting ten seasons, and was produced by Tollin/Robbins ...

''; on the music variety program ''

Soul Train ''Soul Train'' is an American musical variety television show. It aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. Across its 35-year history the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists. The series ...

'', they performed "Let's Get Down" and "Annie May". In its first eight weeks, ''House of Music'' sold 318,502 copies in the US. It peaked at number 32 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and spent 31 weeks on the chart. "Thinking of You" was released as the second single on March 11, 1997, by which time ''House of Music'' had sold 514,000 copies, according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

. On August 6, the album was certified

by the

(RIAA). During the album's marketing campaign, Tony! Toni! Toné! experienced growing tensions stemming from creative differences, business-related problems, and Saadiq's interest in a solo career. "There's a quiet stress between us that no one really talks about", Saadiq told ''

Vibe ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down producti ...

'' in February 1997. "And what's sad about the whole thing is the fact that our friendship is disintegrating. Who knows, ''House of Music'' could be the last Tony Toni Toné album." According to Mercury vice president Marty Maidenberg, an international tour for the album had been planned by October 1996, with concert dates in Japan and the United Kingdom, but it never materialized. The band remained committed to promoting the record into 1997, including a February 28 taped performance at VH1's ''Hard Rock Live'' special. Later that year, Mercury released the group's greatest hits album ''

Hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album s ...

'' (1997), prompting Saadiq to explain in a November interview for the ''

Philadelphia Daily News ''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. The ''Da ...

'' that Tony! Toni! Toné! had experienced "a little turmoil" but are still together: "We're family. We all love each other and support each other. If we don't do any more records together, it doesn't matter." When asked about the status of ''House of Music''s campaign, he suggested that it had ended and Mercury was at fault. The group disbanded shortly afterward, and each member went on to pursue an individual music career.

Critical reception and legacy

''House of Music'' was met with positive reviews. Writing for ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' in November 1996,

Ken Tucker Kenneth Tucker is an American arts, music and television critic, magazine editor, and non-fiction book writer. Early life and education Tucker was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. He earned a ...

found Tony! Toni! Toné!'s imitations of classic sounds "intelligent, sometimes brilliant", "witty", and "tremendously likable", with "a new recurring theme: what makes a man a man and a woman a woman, explored with both frankness and slyness". Sonia Murray of ''

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'' hailed it as the band's most effectual and multifaceted record yet, while ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' critic

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the '' Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busine ...

said, "they find rapture that is steeped in reality rather than in the

upwardly mobile Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given society ...

fantasy concocted by many of today's less tradition-conscious R&B crooners." "The Tonies serve as a sort of stylistic missing link", J. D. Considine wrote in ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by T ...

'', "suggesting what would have happened had the soul styles of the '70s continued to evolve, instead of being tossed aside by the synth-driven sound of the '80s". Michael A. Gonzales from ''

'' said the album "glows a vision of blackness that is superbad, mad smooth, and crazy sexy". He described it as "a wonderland of harmonic delights, softcore jollies, and slow-jam fever floating on the tip of

Cupid In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupīdō , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, lust, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus (mythology), Venus and the god of war Mar ...

's arrow", showing the group "exploring the sensuality of

black pop Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...

without sounding like boulevard bullies stalking their objects of desire". At the end of 1996, ''House of Music'' was voted the 30th best album of the year in ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

''s annual Pazz & Jop poll, which polled 236 American critics nationwide.

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

, the poll's supervisor, ranked it 10th on his own year-end list. In his review for the newspaper, he deemed "Thinking of You" a "hilariously gutsy" and spot-on Al Green homage while writing of the album overall: In retrospect, Christgau attributed the album's success to Saadiq's lead role in Tony! Toni! Toné! He contended that "only with ''House of Music'' did they become true sons of the soul revival, the most accomplished r&b act of the '90s. That's still the album to remember them by."; .

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

editor Leo Stanley later remarked that the group "successfully accomplish their fusion of the traditional and contemporary ... within the framework of memorable, catchy songs" indebted to both old and modern R&B songwriting virtues. According to Stanley, the record had an influence on contemporary

neo soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contempo ...

artists such as

Tony Rich Antonio Jeffries (born November 19, 1971), better known as Tony Rich and The Tony Rich Project, is an American Grammy-award-winning Contemporary singer-songwriter best known for his hit single "Nobody Knows". Early career Rich was born in Det ...

and Maxwell. In Matos' opinion, the album showcased the increasing artistic contrast between Saadiq and Wiggins, which "had grown so pronounced that the tension only enhanced what was already the group's best batch of songs". Rashod Ollison of ''

The Virginian-Pilot ''The Virginian-Pilot'' is the daily newspaper for Norfolk, Virginia. Commonly known as ''The Pilot'', it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virginia ...

'' regarded the record as "a flawless gem" on which the band's "amalgamation of traditional and contemporary styles coalesced beautifully". In ''

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' (2004), Fred Schruers said "''House of Music'' consolidates the triumph of ''Sons of Soul'' for a masterpiece of 1990s R&B, an album that is as steeped in soul tradition as anything by Maxwell or D'Angelo, but that mixes the homage with humor and deft contemporary touches, thereby creating a new space all its own."

Track listing

Information is taken from the album's liner notes.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.

Tony! Toni! Toné!

* Timothy Christian Riley –

acoustic piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

, drums,

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

Hammond B-3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, production *

– bass, guitar, keyboards, production, vocals *

– guitar, production, vocals

Additional musicians

* Greg Adams – trumpet * Spanky Alford – guitar * George Archie – musician * Johnny Bamont – saxophone * Sue Ann Carwell –

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

* Tommy Bradford – drums *

– production,

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three Edge (geometry), edges and three Vertex (geometry), vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, an ...

, vocals on "Let's Get Down" *

Pete Escovedo Peter Michael Escovedo (born July 13, 1935 in Pittsburg, California) is an American percussionist. "Pete Escovedo Biography & Awards" With his two brothers, Pete formed Escovedo Bros Latin Jazz Sextet, before Carlos Santana hired Pete and Coke ...

– percussion *

Clare Fischer Douglas Clare Fischer (October 22, 1928 – January 26, 2012) was an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. After graduating from Michigan State University (from which, five decades later, he would receive an honorary doctorate ...

– string arrangements * Mic Gillette –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

* Elijah Baker Hassan – bass guitar * Bobette Jamison-Harrison – background vocals * Vince Lars – saxophone * Marvin McFadden – trumpet * Nick Moroch – guitar * Bill Ortiz – trumpet * Conesha Owens – background vocals * Brenda Roy – background vocals *

Sheila E. Sheila Cecilia Escovedo (born December 12, 1957) better known under the stage name Sheila E., is an American percussionist and singer. She began her career in the mid-1970s as a percussionist and singer for The George Duke Band. After leaving t ...

– percussion * Jackie Simley – background vocals * Joel Smith – bass guitar, drums * Charles Veal –

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...

* Carl Wheeler – background vocals, engineering, keyboards * Randall Wiggins – background vocals, vocals * Kelvin Wooten – keyboards, string arrangements *

Benjamin Wright Benjamin Wright (October 10, 1770 – August 24, 1842) was an American civil engineer who was chief engineer of the Erie Canal and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. In 1969, the American Society of Civil Engineers declared him the "Father of America ...

– string arrangements

Production

* Danny Alonso –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Mike Bogus – assistant engineering, engineering *

Gerry Brown Gerry “The Gov.” Brown is a recording engineer, mixer and music producer based in Los Angeles, best known for his work with artists including Whitney Houston, John Legend, Earth, Wind & Fire, Madonna, Sting, Prince, Phil Collins, Marcu ...

– engineering, mixing * Milton Chan – assistant engineering * William Claxton – photography * Jim Danis – assistant engineering * Tim Donovan – mixing assistance * Maureen Droney – production coordination * Steve Durkey – mixing assistance *

– mastering * Danny Goldberg – executive production * Margery Greenspan – art direction * Darrin Harris – engineering * Carter Humphrey – mixing assistance * Richard Huredia – mixing assistance * Wes Johnson – assistant engineering * Booker T. Jones III – mixing * Ken Kessie – engineering, mixing * Brian Kinkel – engineering * Marty Main – assistant engineer, engineering * Bill Malina –

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

, engineering, mixing * Jason Mauza – mixing assistance * Marty Ogden – engineering * Chris Puram – mixing * Tracy Riley – production coordination * Skip Saylor – engineering * Joey Swails – engineering, programming * Raymond Taylor-Smith – mixing assistance * Tulio Torrinello, Jr. – engineering * Terri Wong – assistant engineer * Brian Young – assistant engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{Authority control 1996 albums Albums produced by DJ Quik Albums produced by G-One Albums produced by Raphael Saadiq Mercury Records albums Tony! Toni! Toné! albums