The Soul Sessions

by

Joss Stone

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Those of you who have heard this amazing talent probably know that Joss Stone is a 16-year old blonde hailing from Great Britain and that she allegedly is the real thing, blah, blah, blah..

Guess what? She is more that the real thing. Yes her voice is amazing as is her interpretation of songs that no one in her peer group (or older comporaries for that matter) could touch. No over the top hystrionics to "prove" the she can sing (hello, Mariah, Celine, early Christina, and almost every "American Idol" contestant who manages to carry a tune.

This debut is on fire! Playing up the old-school R&B flavor in her music, Stone was signed by S-Curve Records and brought to the US to work with Betty Wright, best known for her 1972 hit "The Clean Up Woman". Wright recruited key musicians to rekindle the fire of old school soul with an amazing collection of REVAMPED covers that Stone immediately makes her own.

I was very skeptical before buying this CD (which by the way is a bargain almost everywhere selling for half the $ of most current releases) as critics tend to want to find the next best thing and hype a good thing into something that it is not. This is not about hype as Stone has a smoky voice that reeks of a hard-lived life, which only shows that a great interpreter need to not have experienced what she sings about to make you feel it all the way down to your soul.

Stone's record company felt that it was best to drop this release of covers over a formal debut album of original material and I could not agree with their decision any more than if I had made it himself. There are many established artists releasing CDs of standards right now (some are great, most are not), but the magic here is in the ecclectic yet cohesive song selection, a voice from the center of the soul, and a production effort that is second to none. Betty Wright has stripped the music in such a way that it seems effortless.

In a nutshell, but this release now if you love music over tired hystrionics or every neo-soul artist that is heralded as the next best thing. The next best thing is here and I wish her a great career. Also Betty Wright is obviously a producing talent to be reckoned with. No tricks, no veils, just the dance between a singer and music that together make this one, if not the best release of 2003.

I think Ms. Stone has an outstanding voice. I also really enjoyed a return to more soulful music; she could have very easily made a crappy pop album sound good. I found, however, that on several of the tracks she wasn't moving me. And I was wanting to be moved. It just wasn't happening for me. It's like her great pipes weren't really connecting with the nuance of the lyrical content. She can belt out a tune beautifully, but what use is that if she doesn't have the ability to tell the story with any kind of depth? At least not yet. And considering how young she was when this was recorded, I am quite impressed. That said, I can't wait until this young lady matures into a fierce, powerhouse of a woman. This is an impressive debut that only hints at the real deal yet to come.