Timeless Journey is a studio album by American singer Patti LaBelle. Her first release with Def Soul Classics, it was released on May 4, 2004 in the United States. One of her most commercially successful albums, it reached number five on the US BillboardTop R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, also hitting the top 20 on the Billboard 200. Timeless Journey produced the singles "New Day" and "2 Steps Away".
By 2002, Patti LaBelle had been with MCA Records for seventeen years. The label had helped to increase LaBelle's popularity with both pop and R&B audiences resulting in a platinum album and four subsequent gold-selling follow-ups. However, LaBelle's last album with the label, 2000's solemnly-produced When a Woman Loves failed to generate a hit record or even go gold. In 2003, MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records. As a result, LaBelle signed with The Island Def Jam Music Group's Def Soul Classics division, joining The Isley Brothers as the two first acts on Antonio "L.A." Reid's new Def Jam imprint. LaBelle went to work on her new album in 2003 and by 2004, LaBelle and Def Jam released Timeless Journey.
Promotion
Fueled by the release of LaBelle's first hit single in seven years, "New Day", the album eventually did well on the pop and R&B charts reaching number 18 on the former and number 5 on the latter. However, LaBelle and Def Jam fell into problems immediately after its release. Shortly after releasing 2005's Classic Moments, LaBelle told reporters that she was "unceremoniously" kicked out of the label by Reid. After a public spat, Reid renegotiated a new contract with LaBelle in 2007 releasing a Christmas album. Though the album did not go gold, it did receive some popularity. Five years later, the ballad "2 Steps Away", written by Philadelphia songwriter and friend Jon DeLise, was featured on Dancing with the Stars. "2 Steps Away" featured the Philadelphia Studio Strings, arranged and conducted by Louis Anthony deLise. The song aired multiple times on "So you think you can dance" among other network shows and was re-released on the Care for Haiti compilation with notable artists such as Wyclef Jean and Natasha Beddingfield. The success of the song eventually helped it reach Billboard's Digital Singles chart, her first charted single on that chart. "New Day" topped the Billboard Hot Dance Songs chart in 2004.
AllMusic felt that "there could be no truer title for her umpteenth album; Timeless Journey mines epochs of soul music and mixes them together, letting LaBelle's unique, wavering-yet-commanding voice carry each song. LaBelle has always personified the ultimate empowered woman, in charge of her world and herself, a spirit suffused through her music. Timeless Journey positively exudes this attitude, opening with the anthemic "More Than Material." [...] Although [she] earned her legendary status a long time ago, [the album] finds her far from retiring.[1] Steve Jones from USA Today found that LaBelle "shines with songs that match the emotional depth of her vocals. It's nice to see a veteran of her stature doing what she does best instead of compromising to compete with younger singers who are not in her league, anyway. When you're timeless, you never go out of style."[4]
Entertainment Weekly's Kristina Feliciano noted that the album was a "makeover" for LaBelle but "her guests maintain a respectful distance, discreetly deepening the grooviness dormant in [her] since "Lady Marmalade." Timeless Journey glimmers with acid-jazz and neo-soul rhythms, and LaBelle is given sassy lyrics worthy of her diva self."[2]People found that "while the R&B godmother does collaborate with hip-hop duo Floetry and samples Nelly Furtado's "Turn Off the Light", she mostly displays the same old attitude she has had since the mid-'80s. The result is sophisticated but unspectacular soul that won't soon make you forget "Lady Marmalade." Of course, with her vocal heroics, LaBelle can rescue even the most mundane material. Undiminished by the years, her peerless instrument remains a force of nature."[3]
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