Post Description

Playing with Fire is a very misleading title for this album. That title implies risk-taking and gambling with inspiration, but in fact, Riney pretty much plays it safe -- very safe -- on this weak album. The saxman/flutist wasn't about to jeopardize his position at NAC radio, which tended to favor artists like Kenny G, Najee, Dave Koz, and David Benoit and had been receptive to Riney as well. Like his previous albums Lay It on the Line and At Last, Playing with Fire finds him blending pop, jazz and R&B with forgettable results and drawing heavily on the influence of David Sanborn. Whether he's on the alto, tenor or soprano, Riney makes his debt to Sanborn obvious. There's nothing wrong with being Sanborn-influenced -- Sanborn is a superb alto man -- but Riney doesn't have to emulate his writing and playing in such a formulaic, knee-jerk, by-the-book fashion. Riney might be Sanborn-minded on forgettable tunes like "Tell Me What's on your Mind," "Dream Land," and "Every Time We Kiss," but he doesn't play with even a tenth of Sanborn's conviction. The CD's only worthwhile offerings are the mysterious "Botswana" and "Nowhere to Run," a soul/funk tune that features singer Eugene Van Buren and laments the troubled state of the world in 1990. But apart from those items, Playing with Fire has nothing going for it.  ~ www.allmusic.com

Tracklist:

1 Everytime We Kiss    
 2 Tell Me What's On Your Mind    
 3 Playing with Fire    
 4 Our Love    
 5 Dreamland    
 6 Nowhere to Run    
 7 Why Don't We?    
 8 Gonna Be Alright    
 9 Conservatory    
 10 Botswana