LEDISI SOULSINGER
US LeSun Music, 2000
1) Get Outta My Kitchen 2)
Soulsinger 3) Take Time 4) Stop Livin' in Ya Head
5) Coffee 6) You Are My Friend 7) Hotel 8)
Dreaming Interlude 9) Free Again 10) Groove on
11) I Want'cha Babe 12) I Want'cha Babe Interlude
13) Papa Loved to Love Me 14) In My Life 15) My
Prayers 16) Good Lovin' 17) Snoring Soulsinger is an apt tag for Ledisi's
album. Although young, no crass street flavours
or hippity-hoppity arrangements have any truck
with this lady! The mood of the album falls into
the "Neo Classic Soul" bag and is of
similar proportions to Erykah Badu,
Grenique and Maxwell,
amongst others. This is, as you know, no bad
thing. As well as this, this album is very much
an independent effort: "home-grown
soul" is really coming into its own now -
the technological revolution has really kicked
into soul music and before too long releases such
as this will be the bread and butter of our
column - mark my words!
A decade or so ago this lady would have been
snapped up by a major company - her voice is very
strong and can be heard in full glory on the
MONSTER retro sounding Take Time which
is STUNNING to say the least. The soul-jazz
backing with the warm Fender Rhodes keyboards
cannot be beaten. Stop Livin' in Ya Head is a straight
message on reality - using real instruments to
boot! Move over Ms. Badu - Ledisi takes centre
stage with this tour de force soul music.
Talking of such extraordinary quality I have to
highlight I Am Your Friend which has me
thinking that this lady is one of the strongest
female vocalists to arrive on the scene since Juanita
Dailey, and that is no easy feat.
If any more proof is needed, Free Again
should convince you of the mighty talent on not
only Ledisi but also her producer, Sun.
This is a consistently good set and one that I
guarantee will be a choice collectable in years
to come. UNMISSABLE.
- Barry Towler
