Time, Love & Tenderness

For the 1991 song, see Time, Love and Tenderness (song).
Time, Love & Tenderness
Studio album by Michael Bolton
Released April 23, 1991 (1991-04-23)
Recorded 1990-1991
Genre AOR, pop rock, soft rock
adult contemporary
Length 44:45
Label Columbia
46771
Producer Walter Afanasieff, Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton chronology
Soul Provider
(1989)		 Time, Love & Tenderness
(1991)		 Timeless: The Classics
(1992)
Singles from Time, Love & Tenderness
  1. "Love Is a Wonderful Thing"
    Released: April 1991
  2. "Time, Love and Tenderness"
    Released: July 1991
  3. "When a Man Loves a Woman"
    Released: October 1991
  4. "Missing You Now"
    Released: December 1991
  5. "Steel Bars"
    Released: February 1992

Time, Love & Tenderness is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Michael Bolton. The album was released on April 23, 1991 by Columbia Records; it was produced by Walter Afanasieff and Michael Bolton. The album topped the Billboard 200 chart and produced four Top 40 singles: a cover of Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" reached No. 4, "Time, Love and Tenderness" reached No. 7, and "Missing You Now" reached No. 12. All four singles reached the Top 40 in the UK as well, as did a fifth single released only in the UK, "Steel Bars".[1] This is the only album from Bolton's "hit period" that is out of print, due to legal issues surrounding the song "Love Is a Wonderful Thing." The album has since been released on iTunes and other digital music services, with "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" available as an "album-only" download.

After reaching the top spot, the album enjoyed a steady stay on the charts, eventually selling over 8 million copies in the US. Worldwide, the album has sold approximately 16 million copies and is his best-selling album to date.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Chicago Tribune[3]
Entertainment WeeklyD−[4]
Los Angeles Times[5]
Robert Christgau[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]

The massive commercial success of Time, Love & Tenderness is sharply contrasted with its critical reception, marked by mostly negative reviews.

In one of the album's few positive reviews, AllMusic criticized the album as a clone of its predecessor, Soul Provider, particularly deriding the cover of "When a Man Loves a Woman" as the album's "obligatory R&B carbon copy". However, they praised the songwriting of Diane Warren, as well as Bolton's singing and his songwriting on the track "Steel Bars".[2]

The Chicago Tribune gave it one of its few mixed reviews, saying that Bolton's talent as a vocalist is generally outweighed by the mediocre material, but that "When a Man Loves a Woman", "We're Not Makin' Love Anymore", "Missing You Now", and "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" are all strong moments.[3] Los Angeles Times also gave a mixed review, calling the album "commercial" and "glitzy", but praising it as containing Bolton's strongest material to date.[5]

However, Entertainment Weekly thoroughly panned the album, declaring that "Bolton's singing amounts to gimmicks ... that replicate soul mannerisms without a hint of that music's power for re-creating human feeling." They derided the album's R&B covers as lacking sensitivity and the original cuts as being formulaic.[4]

The Rolling Stone Album Guide was also mostly negative, criticizing Bolton's vocals on the album for the same reasons as Entertainment Weekly did.[7]

In his Consumer Guide, Robert Christgau gave the album a "dud" rating,[6] calling it "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought."[8]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Love Is a Wonderful Thing"  Michael Bolton, Andrew Goldmark4:43
2."Time, Love and Tenderness"  Diane Warren5:31
3."Missing You Now" (featuring Kenny G)Bolton, Walter Afanasieff, Warren4:33
4."Forever Isn't Long Enough"  Bolton, Warren, Desmond Child4:32
5."Now That I Found You"  Bolton, Warren4:32
6."When a Man Loves a Woman" (Originally recorded by Percy Sledge)Calvin Lewis, Andrew Wright3:52
7."We're Not Makin' Love Anymore" (featuring Patti LaBelle)Bolton, Warren4:41
8."New Love"  Bolton, Warren, Child4:32
9."Save Me"  Bolton, Afanasieff, Goldmark4:21
10."Steel Bars"  Bolton, Bob Dylan3:28
Total length:44:45

Credits

Personnel

Controversy

In 1964, the American R&B group The Isley Brothers recorded a song titled "Love Is a Wonderful Thing". Not included on an Isley Brothers album until years later, the song was released as a single in 1966 on a 45rpm vinyl record, and it "bubbled under" on the Billboard chart, meaning that it peaked between #101 and #125 on the Hot 100. Bolton's song contained similarities to the song by the Isleys that exceeded the title: in 1994, a jury found songwriters Bolton and Goldmark, along with Sony Music Entertainment (the parent company of Bolton's label, Columbia Records), liable for copyright infringement due to multiple similarities between the two songs and ordered them to pay the Isleys all profits earned from the single plus 28% of the album profits, which amounted to over US$5 millions. On May 9, 2000, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, an appellate court covering the western regions of the U.S., affirmed the jury's decision, which is one of the largest monetary sums to be awarded in a case such as this. On January 22, 2001, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to review the decision of the appellate court despite Bolton's claims that he had never heard the Isley Brothers recording (although he was a fan of their music) and that he was exercising his right to "independent creation". The decision by the Supreme Court not to hear the case resulted in the original verdict remaining valid.

Chart positions

Chart (1991) Peak
position
US Billboard 200 1
Finnish Albums Chart[9] 3
UK Albums Chart[10] 2

Decade charts

Chart (1990–1999) Position
US Billboard 200[11] 36

Certifications

Organization Level Date
RIAA - USA[12] Gold June 19, 1991
Platinum June 19, 1991
2× Platinum September 5, 1991
3× Platinum November 13, 1991
4× Platinum December 19, 1991
5× Platinum March 16, 1992
6× Platinum January 5, 1993
7× Platinum September 27, 1994
8× Platinum November 21, 1994

References

  1. ↑ Michael Bolton UK chart history, The Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  2. 1 2 AllMusic review
  3. 1 2 Chicago Tribune review
  4. 1 2 Entertainment Weekly review
  5. 1 2 Los Angeles Times review
  6. 1 2 Robert Christgau Consumer Guide
  7. 1 2 Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 90. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  8. ↑ Christgau, Robert (2000). "CG 90s: Key to Icons". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  9. ↑ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 105. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  10. ↑ EveryHit.com
  11. ↑ Geoff Mayfield (December 25, 1999). 1999 The Year in Music Totally 1990s: Diary of a Decade - The listing of Top Pop Albums of the 1990s & Hot 100 Singles of the 1990s. Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  12. ↑ RIAA
Preceded by
Out of Time by R.E.M.		 Billboard 200 number-one album
May 25–31, 1991 		Succeeded by
Out of Time by R.E.M.
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