Timeless

As an urbane soundtrack for sucking venti lattes, this Starbucks-sponsored set of gentle samba-jazz-rap is a pleasant surprise. [24 Feb 2006, p.64]

An intriguing change of pace. [18 Feb 2006]

Timeless is a step up for will.i.am and a step down for Sergio Mendes, somewhere between decency and exceptionality.

Though sometimes bordering on earnest kitsch... the bulk of material plays out as inventive reconstruction. [Mar 2006, p.114]

At its best, Timeless has an airy, effervescent quality, a beguiling smoothness. At its worst, it sounds like a lackluster Will.I.Am solo album that just happens to have Sergio Mendes sitting in on keys.

When Timeless succeeds, it's beautiful, boundary-breaking music.

Timeless is a mixed bag, but it's not because of Mendes. His own playing and arranging is utterly elegant.

Someone mistakenly told Will that his talent deserved to be showcased more than the other guest artists on this album, and it winds up turning what could have been a fantastic genre cross-pollination experiment into a slightly better than average album almost ruined by a guy who needs someone to tell him to stay on the other side of the microphone a little more.

When samba's beat is uppermost, the music takes off. [May 2006, p.129]

A solo album with not enough of the soloist. [Jun 2006, p.102]

It's a well-produced disc, but the cavalcade of stars and cartoonish beats make the songs sound more dated than the originals.

Timeless sounds like a pop-charts-and-trends magazine exploded in the studio. [Apr/May 2006, p.115]

Timeless falls awkwardly between Buena Vista Social Club and Santana’s latter-day Rolodex albums, deftly combining multi-culti good intentions with the bathos of a great artist aiming squarely at commercial revival.

A predictable, oversimplified, boring mess.

The shiny new beats in "Timeless" weaken the groove that existed in songs like "Mas Que Nada," "Berimbau" and "Surfboard" even before Mr. Mendes got to them 40 years ago. [13 Feb 2006]