Libra marks Toni Braxton's departure from Arista, her longtime label.
It was a stormy relationship that ended with the fast death of 2002's fine More Than a Woman.
Only one Neptunes-produced single was spun off from it, which peaked somewhere in the eighties of the Hot 100.
Half a year after the album's release, Braxton was off Arista and on the Universal-distributed Blackground, but Libra didn't surface until fall of 2005.
(Granted, Braxton's no stranger to protracted gaps in her release schedule.) Libra offers no surprises.
It's lean and balanced, just like all other Braxton albums, though too many songs are tepid and merely functional for background listening, so it winds up a safe distance from the likes of the self-titled debut and Secrets.
"Take This Ring," produced by Rich Harrison, adds some unexpected rambunctiousness, yet it's about one-tenth as exciting as Amerie's like-sounding "1 Thing" (also Harrison's work).
Beyond the obvious single choices -- produced by big names like Scott Storch and Bryan-Michael Cox -- two songs handled by the Underdogs' Antonio Dixon ("Sposed to Be" and "Finally") are as sublime and plush as any other pair in Braxton's catalog.
Although this is her spottiest album to date, her fans shouldn't have any trouble appreciating it.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PleaseVincent Herbert, Kam Houff, Makeba Riddick, Scott Storch | Toni Braxton | Play | 03:57 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 2 | Trippin' (That's the Way Love Works)Johnta Austin, Toni Braxton, Kasseem Dean | Toni Braxton | Play | 04:05 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 3 | What's GoodJohnta Austin, Toni Braxton | Toni Braxton | Play | 04:13 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 4 | Take This Ring | Toni Braxton | Play | 04:35 | 10 MB | 29 MB |
| 5 | MidniteSoul Shock Remedy | Toni Braxton | Play | 04:11 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 6 | I Wanna Be (Your Baby)Kenneth Edmonds, Harvey Mason, Jr., Daryl Simmons | Toni Braxton | Play | 03:48 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 7 | Sposed to BeHarvey Mason, Jr. | Toni Braxton | Play | 04:07 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 8 | StupidToni Braxton, Keri Lewis | Toni Braxton | Play | 03:36 | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| 9 | FinallyHarvey Mason, Jr. | Toni Braxton | Play | 03:30 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 10 | Shadowless | Toni Braxton | Play | 03:56 | 9 MB | 22 MB |
| 40 mins | 91 MB | |||||
| 40 mins | 257 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johnta Austin | Composer, Vocals (Background) |
| 2 | Babyface | Composer, Guest Artist, Producer, Vocals (Background) |
| 3 | Nuno Bettencourt | Guitar |
| 4 | Paul Boutin | Editing, Engineer |
| 5 | Tamar Braxton | Vocals (Background) |
| 6 | Toni Braxton | Composer, Executive Producer, Primary Artist, Vocals (Background) |
| 7 | Marie Brown | Hair Stylist |
| 8 | Terrence Cash | Assistant Engineer |
| 9 | Fran Cooper | Make-Up |
| 10 | Bryan-Michael Cox | Producer |
| 11 | Eric Dawkins | Vocal Producer, Vocals (Background) |
| 12 | Kasseem Dean | Composer |
| 13 | Kendrick Dean | Producer, Strings |
| 14 | Kendrick "Wyldcard" Dean | Producer, Strings |
| 15 | Rick DeVarona | Mixdown Producer |
| 16 | Antonio Dixon | Composer, Performer, Producer |
| 17 | Gerard Dure | Hair Stylist |
| 18 | Kenneth Edmonds | Composer |
| 19 | Daniela Federici | Photography |
| 20 | Paul Foley | Engineer |
| 21 | Morgan Garcia | Assistant Engineer, Engineer |
| 22 | Chris Gehringer | Mastering |
| 23 | Gene Grimaldi | Mastering |
| 24 | Mike Guidotti | Assistant Engineer |
| 25 | Barry Hankerson | Executive Producer |
| 26 | Heather Hankerson | Creative Director |
| 27 | Jomo Hankerson | Executive Producer |
| 28 | Rich Harrison | Instrumentation, Producer |
| 29 | Dabling Harward | Editing, Engineer |
| 30 | Vincent Herbert | Composer, Executive Producer |
| 31 | Keri Hilson | Vocals (Background) |
| 32 | Kam Houff | Composer |
| 33 | Kameron Houff | Engineer |
| 34 | Tavia Ivey | Vocals (Background) |
| 35 | Kim Moore Johnson | Vocals (Background) |
| 36 | Karlin | Arranger, Instrumentation, Producer |
| 37 | Tom Kelly | Editing, Engineer |
| 38 | Thom "TK" Kidd | Editing, Engineer |
| 39 | Saro Lyn Killian | Assistant Engineer, Mixing |
| 40 | Keri Lewis | Composer, Executive Producer, Keyboards, Mixing, Producer, Programming, Vocal Producer |
| 41 | Jonathan Mannion | Photography |
| 42 | Manny Marroquin | Mixing |
| 43 | Harvey Mason, Jr. | Composer |
| 44 | Michael Muller | Photography |
| 45 | Greg Phillinganes | Guest Artist, Piano |
| 46 | John Ricard | Photography |
| 47 | Makeba Riddick | Composer, Vocals (Background) |
| 48 | Corey Rooney | Arranger, Piano, Producer, Programming |
| 49 | Dave Russell | Editing, Engineer, Mixing |
| 50 | Dan Shea | Guitar, Piano, Producer, Programming |
| 51 | Daryl Simmons | Composer |
| 52 | Latrell Simmons | Vocals (Background) |
| 53 | Rob Skipworth | Assistant Engineer, Editing Assistant |
| 54 | Soul Shock Remedy | Composer |
| 55 | Soulshock | Arranger, Instrumentation, Producer |
| 56 | Sean Spellman | Stylist |
| 57 | Scott Storch | Composer, Producer |
| 58 | Anthony Terrebonne | Assistant Engineer |
| 59 | Tony Terrebonne | Mixing Assistant |
| 60 | Sam Thomas | Engineer, Mixing |
| 61 | The Underdogs | Composer, Producer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |