Special Company : Josh Kelley : Review : Rolling Stone

"She's so damn pretty" — got it. "She's unbelievably sexy" — right. "Moonlight loves the shape of her body/As shadows dance on the sheets below me" — enough already, Sex Panther. That's just the first few minutes of the title track of Josh Kelley's new album, his first since becoming Mr. Katherine Heigl — just another heartwarming tale of a folkie dork and the Hollywood leading lady who loves him. Best wishes to the newlyweds and all, but these sensitive musking-up ballads might be better left behind closed doors, since all of them capture the essence of "ick." "Special Company" may be the grodiest, with a melody nicked from the White Stripes' "Blue Orchid" and a rap interlude at the end. But it has stiff competition from "Two Cups of Coffee" ("This ship is sailing/One more night till I collide into my lady") and "Masterpiece" ("Kissin' those lips got me feeling freaky inside"). Kelley's better at the faux-Eddie Vedder moments than the faux-Al Green moments, but in either mode, he sure does hambone it up, never failing to let you know he's touching a special, special lady in the right, right way. Not since Dave Matthews urged you to pull up your skirt and show him your world has there been such egregious seductive vocalizing, though even Matthews could do better than "Cheers to you, honey, because you look so money."