Coming Home

1	I Call It Love 3:18
2	Sweet Vacation 3:54
3	Why 4:00
4	What You Are 4:12
5	Up All Night 3:35
6	I'm Coming Home 4:17
7	All Around the World 3:33
8	Out of My Head 3:14
9	Reason to Believe 4:45
10	Stand Down 4:01
11	I Love You 4:12

Barnes & Noble

Lionel Richie may have tapped an array of contemporary hitmakers for this 2006 studio outing -- including Jermaine Dupri, Raphael Saadiq, and Dallas Austin -- but the essence of Coming Home is pure Richie. Here, the beloved swooner offers well-crafted songs about affairs of the heart, delivered in his smooth, endearing voice. Love songs remain Richie's bread-and-butter, so it's not surprising that some of the most effective tracks are slow jams. Cuts like the Dupri-produced Valentine "What You Are," with its dramatic piano accompaniment, effectively pluck the heartstrings, as does the poignant "I'm Coming Home." That said, Richie vies to attract a younger audience by dabbling in more upbeat fare ranging from "All Around the World," a Brazilian-flavored number reminiscent of his 1984 smash "All Night Long," to the smooth jazz-flavored nugget "Sweet Vacation" to the reggae anthem "Stand Down." Whether you've followed Richie's career since he fronted the Commodores or are just discovering that Nicole's Dad can sing, Coming Home marks the welcome return of this talented soul singer-songwriter. Dave Gil de Rubio

All Music Guide

Lionel Richie's eighth studio album as a solo artist is led by "I Call It Love," a lightly buoyant and bittersweet single produced by Swedish hitmakers Stargate, the same team that helped boost Ne-Yo's In My Own Words. It's an ideal match, one that should've been made more than once. Too much of Coming Home is merely pleasant -- particularly the adult contemporary fare, with the exception of "I Love You" -- or too conscious of remaining with the times. While the likes of "Why" and "Up All Night" involved Richie's songwriting in some capacity, just about any twentysomething vocalist could be fronting them; the same goes for the Jermaine Dupri-produced "What You Are." The stab at emotionally cleansing reggae of the Bob Marley variety, "Stand Down," comes up short as well. That said, at least half the album should satisfy Richie's longtime followers. Andy Kellman

Washington Post

Richie remains a likable, eternally laid-back presence, the calming center of a series of increasingly dervish-like tracks. Allison Stewart