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Artist:
India.Arie
India.Arie's Acoustic Soul is just as advertised: grooving soul music with an acoustic bent. Arie herself plays guitar, supplemented by strings (instead of synthesizers) and drums (instead of drum machines). The first single, "Video", is a calm, confident ode to self-love, comparing the dreadlocked, petite Arie to the average girl in a video. Arie is indeed anything but average: her debut marks the auspicious return of the black female singer-songwriter, in the vein of Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Tracy Chapman and Dionne Farris. If you like their music, with thoughtful lyrics and layers of instrumentation, you'll love this album. "Video" is fabulous, but other high point...
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List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £4.51
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Artist:
Erykah Badu
Badu and her large turban appeared out of nowhere in early 1997, on a murmuring, romantic album that trod the median between old-school soul and contemporary electronic R&B. Badu's songs, especially the hit "On & On" and the catchy "Certainly", recall Sade in their polished, subtle sexiness. Badu almost never raises her voice--save the occasional "ooh-wee!" exultation--but she skilfully uses repetition and chanting to empower her words. Later portraying a beautiful swamp queen, she was one of the only good things about the movie Blues Brothers 2000. --Steve Knopper
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List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £3.20
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Artist:
D'Angelo
Sexy D'Angelo kisses goodbye to the mainstream with his eagerly awaited follow-up to his raw, rootsy R&B debut, Brown Sugar. Voodoo's mission is to electrify and revolutionise B-boy R&B through a synthesis of urban blues and funk--hand-clap snares, seething seven string jazzy guitar and beats so dirty that your mother wouldn't have them in the house. He's helped no end by an immensely stark production courtesy of Amir "?Questlove" Thompson from The Roots (Do You Want More ) and DJ Premier (Gang Starr) which lets the music breathe. However, his multi-tracked, gorgeous voice is the star attraction here, evoking vintage Prince, Marvin Gaye and Curtis May...
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List Price: £8.99
Our Price: £2.87
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Artist:
Mary J. Blige
During one of the "interludes" on My Life, Keith Murray is rapping about "Grab your cranium for my ultimatum", when someone in the studio control booth asks producer Chucky Thompson, "Hey, Chuck, put on some of that smooth [stuff]". Murray disappears; the dreamy synth chords of Blige's title track emerge, and her sultry voice moans with a combination of weary loneliness and unslaked desire. The ballad which follows is "smooth" but never slick, for the singer's sinuous, extended notes confess the blues even as they yearn for something better. It's tempting to see this little scenario--the rapper being turned off in favour of the soul diva--as a repudiation of hip-ho...
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List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £3.84
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Artist:
Angie Stone
Mahogany Soul perfectly describes the rich, deep, and lived-in music Angie Stone makes. This veteran singer/songwriter, who was one-third of rap trio Sequence, led acid-jazz combo Vertical Hold, and had a major hand in creating D'Angelo's Brown Sugar, follows up 1999's critically acclaimed Black Diamond with another collection of grown-up R&B that's sexy, satisfying, and smart. Along with (wo)manning the helm herself, Stone links up with like-minded visionaries. Chief among them are Raphael Saadiq, who produced the single "Brotha" which moves with a purposeful, rugged, old-soul swagger, and Andrea Martin, co-producer with Swizz Beatz on the vibrant an...
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List Price: £5.99
Our Price: £2.98
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Artist:
Jill Scott
Like most of R&B's finest talents (D'Angelo, Lynden David Hall, Erykah Badu, Chico Debarge, The Roots and Macy Gray--before she became a combined living legend and household name), Jill Scott doesn't fit neatly into any marketing game plan. The exquisitely chilled sounds of her aptly titled debut, Who Is Jill Scott?--one part jazzy-funk mixed with two parts slow and sexy hip-hop-inspired soul--defy tidy pigeonholes. Made from the same mould as Erykah Badu and Meshell Ndegéocello, Scott is blessed with a voice that flits between intimate spoken word love poetry and stirring melodies. Like D'Angelo, her grooves are a subtle blend of funked soul and sensual jazz. And...
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List Price: £11.99
Our Price: £16.44
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Artist:
Jaheim
Jaheim's Ghetto Love should give fans of tried-and-true gutbucket R&B much cause for joy in 2001. Signed to ex-Naughty By Nature DJ Kay-Gee's Divine Mill imprint (and with production mainly by Mr. "Hip Hop Hooray"), the New Jersey-born Jaheim's tender-but-tough sound harks back to Teddy Pendergrass: just listen to the sexy moan that kicks off "Could It Be". Not even remotely shabby. As this debut's title indicates, Ghetto Love overflows with rough-hewn odes to romance on the raw side of town. In this case, that means songs about giving as much love to one's niggas as to one's bitches, denying paternity and rhymes about Hennessey. It might look clichéd on pa...
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List Price: £8.99
Our Price: £3.39
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Artist:
Donell Jones
There's a whole slew of R&B fans who fiend for D'Angelo, because he doesn't sound like your run-of-the-mill soul smoothie, and flashes of uniqueness are what keeps many of the slew from slitting their throats in frustration over the everyday ho-hum state of affairs. Enter singer-songwriter Donell Jones, whose second effort asks the question "What makes a hit?" The answer is his single "U Know What's Up": hooks upon hooks, a catchy melody and a sexy but low-key vibe, put together in a way that's more than just retro-trendy. The rest of the Where I Wanna Be is classy and idiosyncratic without being too artsy--a perfect buy if you need a break from all the preening an...
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List Price: £5.99
Our Price: £2.98
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Artist:
D'Angelo
D'Angelo is obviously inspired by the progressive soul of the early 1970s, but he has also borrowed carefully from the hip-hop of his own generation. Like many of his contemporaries, he has recorded a tribute to marijuana--the album's title--but it's far wittier than most. It takes the form of a conventional love song ("Brown sugar babe, I gets high off your love ... that's why my eyes are a shade blood burgundy") and mimics intoxication in its throbbing bass lines and reverb-heavy organ. Another song, with a title too profane to print, is a blunt tale of infidelity and murder, but in contrast to most rap fantasies, D'Angelo's blues-like narrative acknowledges such acts h...
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List Price: £8.99
Our Price: £3.31
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Artist:
Maxwell
Handsome in his designer clothes and angelic, nappy dreads, Maxwell styles himself a modern-day urban love prophet in the tradition of Marvin Gaye. He concocts a conceptual music suite that purports to tell a fully rounded tale of meaningful love set in the tough but misunderstood inner city. What he delivers, however, contains only the faintest hints of what he promises. Instead we get a whole lot of the same tired R&B elevator slush and lyrics like "Gonna take you in the room suga'/ Lock you up and love for days." Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite is significant only in that it recasts the same old same old as something monumental, and nearly pulls it off. Initially,...
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List Price: £4.99
Our Price: £2.69
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