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Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak 'An Evening with Silk Sonic' Fan Review: Short on songs

Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s first joint album 'An Evening with Silk Sonic' draws on the 70’s disco era but keeps alive R&B and funk traditions

As promised by the "Silk Sonic" duo — Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak — their debut album 'An Evening with Silk Sonic' is out. The brand new record, which dropped on Friday, November 12, competed against new Friday releases i.e. Taylor Swift’s re-recorded album ‘Red’, Beyonce’s new single ‘Be Alive’ from Will Smith’s movie ‘King Richard’, and Juice WRLD’s new single ‘Already Dead’ from his second posthumous album 'Fighting Demons'.

Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s first joint album was first announced in February 2021. Soon after, they released the single ‘Leave The Door Open’. After its major success, the Silk Sonic duo dropped two more singles called ‘Skate’ and 'Smokin Out the Window'. Now, they have released the full album, including these three songs, titled 'An Evening with Silk Sonic.' The songs on this album draw from the 70’s disco era sounds and nostalgia while keeping alive the tradition of R&B and funk.
 
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Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak's first collab album

Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s debut collaborative effort was released under the banner of Aftermath Entertainment and Atlantic Records. The fresh Friday release has been stacked with an inro track along with eight new singles- three of which were already released earlier. 'An Evening with Silk Sonic' gets contributions from “special guest host” Bootsy Collins. Artistes like Thundercat, drummer Homer Steinweiss of the Dap-Kings, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, James Fauntleroy, and D’Mile along with few others have too contributed to the album. Mars and Paak also held a listening party right before the release of the album in Los Angeles.

'An Evening with Silk Sonic' was earlier supposed to release in January 2022 with an extended tracklist. However, it was later revealed that Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak decided to drop their debut joint album a bit early for the fans. In an interview with Rolling Stone in August 2021, .Paak shared that Silk Sonic almost did not happen. “I’m not sure we would have done it if it wasn’t for the pandemic. It was tragic for so many people, but Bruno would have probably been on the road, me too but we had to be here (in the recording studio).” He added, “So we’d just come here every night, have a drink, and we play what we love.” Fans can stream the full album here.  Fans can stream the full album here.

Tracklist

‘Silk Sonic Intro’
‘Leave The Door Open’
‘Fly as Me
‘After Last Night’ featuring Bootsy Collins & Thundercat
‘Smokin Out The Window’
‘Put on a Smile’
‘777’
‘Skate’
‘Blast Off’ 

‘We need like 6 more songs’

The fans of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak absolutely loved the album but complained about its short length. “And the most disappointing album of 2021 goes to “Silk Sonic”. Could’ve left that door closed honey”, said one user as another posted, “So Chris Brown's albums are too long & Silk Sonic's is too short. Just be appreciative that we're getting this art bc there's been pee in the R&B pool here there. Chill.” The next one praised the new full-length project saying, “I swear Silk Sonic got me allllll the way f**ked up with this album. Who do they think they are?!?! Amazing a** album. Ugh, they understood the assignment completely from start to finish.”
 
One fan tweeted, “Silk Sonic just released an amazing album! It's too short!! We need more!” Meanwhile, another added, “That was such a tease of an album Silk Sonic! We need like 6 more songs.” On similar lines, one person shared, “I wish it was more than 9 songs on this silk sonic album lol.” Another posted, “An Evening with Silk Sonic is one of the BEST albums ever created. cant believe its only 8 tracks and an intro long. i will be playing this for the next two weeks.” And, one concluded, “Silk Sonic record nice af but i am not gonna lie it is not the best album that came out today.” Some of the disappointment might stem from the fact that 3 songs from the tracklist had been released earlier, making the number of 'new' songs on the album far far less than any full-length album.