Mint Condition

Related Content

• Hot Wax: A Musical History of 1968
  November 9, 2011
• Year in Music: More of Minnesota's best 2011 releases
  December 13, 2011
• Weekend Checklist: Jack's Mannequin, Black Church Service, Mint Condition, TC Hip-hop Awards
  January 20, 2012
• The Rocky Horror Show
  September 14, 2011
• Mint Condition perform "Walk On" for Jimmy Fallon
  June 22, 2011

More About

• Mint Condition (Band)
• Paris Bennett
• D'Angelo (Musician)
• Anthony Hamilton
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Like all Mint Condition albums, E-Life (Image) starts and ends strong, with a gooey center—the authors of 1991's "Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes)" would disappoint fans if they didn't include at least one or five bedroom-R&B showcases for Stokley's sharp and graceful melisma. I wouldn't have picked or guessed "Nothing Left to Say" to be a single, but as of this writing it hovers in the Billboard "Hot Adult R&B Airplay" Top Ten, so what do I know? Still, skip to track 10, past the experimental drum-n-Prince misfire featuring Ali Shaheed Muhammad (which at least shows ambition intact), and hear what Minnesota's greatest R&B band does best without seeming to half-try: "Back and Forth" is handsomely mounted art-R&B but with hooks, like the peaks of 1999's Life's Aquarium (Elektra) and most of 2005's slept-on indie Livin' the Luxury Brown (Image)—what some of us hope D'Angelo will deliver when he's through worrying about being a genius. Then start at the top again, and notice how the lead cuts—one with Anthony Hamilton, the other with Phonte from Little Brother—could be hits, too, and are just as rich. This "live" group doesn't age at all, even if the conceit of the title and the band-on-a-BlackBerry cover art seem sweetly trying-to-keep-up. It's a rare Thanksgiving treat to have them home for the holidays. With America Idol finalist Paris Bennett. 21+. $25. 8 p.m. 107 Third Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612.465.0440.
Fri., Nov. 28, 8 p.m., 2008