Pushes Buttons In Places... (Mahogany Soul - Angie Stone)

Member Name: Cwej1

Product:	Mahogany Soul - Angie Stone
Date:	16/02/02 (135 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Smooth and rousing, Strong messages in lyrics, Doesn't oversing, gets the vocals just right

Disadvantages: Some controversial messages

...some of the lyrics of Angie Stone's 'Mahogany Soul' might push a few buttons. She tells teenagers who feel like committing suicide over their young love affairs that they are 'stupid', perhaps not the best advice to such delicate souls, whilst she also proclaims that to all black brothas 'behind bars, you know that Angie loves ya'. She tells people who haven't got soul in their music to get out of the music scene totally - (Too many of y'all riding in the same boat, gettin' too heavy and the boat can't float) - and whinges about men who are always annoyed with life - (Nigga you so ticked off, can't let up long enough to get over it, brotha can I live, can a sister live goddamn?).

Owners of Ms Stone's first album 'Black Diamond' will no doubt be a little surprised at the overt aggression in her lyrics this time out as in the first she is clearly mild-mannered and subtle. Well there are still the mild-manners and subtlety present in this album and the woman is clearly still enjoying to sing about love. In the fantastically inviting duets, 'More Than A Woman' with Calvin and 'The Ingredients Of Love' with Musiq Soulchild, Angie displays her less aggressive side. These songs with their powerful basslines and subtle melodies really exploit Angie's potential as a sensual singer and her voice works brilliantly with the featured singers.

Similarly, 'Bottles And Cans' has got to be one of the most relaxing songs I've ever heard. I can just see Angie sitting down and just casually singing the words and lulling an audience to sleep. Not because the song is bad, but because it is SO good that it relaxes and chills you out completely. The lyrics are perfectly evocative and loving: 'I'd rather be picking up bottles and cans, if you can't be my man, I'd rather be homeless in the streets with no food to eat, I'd rather be facing twenty to life, if I c
an't be your wife, Now I know that it seems that I'm crazy for you, that's what love can do'.

But the best track on the album comes in the form of a looped sample of a track called 'Backstabbers' (don't know the original artist sorry)... the song is called 'Wish I SDidn't Miss You' and is due to be the second single from 'Mahogany Soul'. Like 'Bottles And Cans' it is about a woman in love - but this time the love seems unrequited: 'I can't eat I can't sleep anymore, waiting for love to walk through the door, I wish I didn't miss you anymore'. The song with its powerful backing track and gorgeous strings and guitars is probably the pinnacle of Ms Stone's career thus far.

Only when the tune becomes a little lost behind the soul does Angie's album really grate, particular examples definitely being the 'distinctly average' (in thw words of Simon Cowell) 'Easier Said Than Done' and 'Life Goes On'.

Another slight irritation (and maybe this is unfair of me) is the constant black references. The first single 'Brotha', is the main annoyance. Angie tells all 'black brothas behind bars that Angie loves ya'. Now if a white woman sung the same thing to white men behind bars there would be an outrage. Slightly unfair and almost racist in its intonation.

This is a minor gripe. I prefer someone to say something that I don't particularly agree with than to say nothing at all in their music. 'Mahogany Soul' by far surpasses Angie's debut album 'Black Diamond', because it crosses more barriers, is more daring, pushes more buttons for the listener. You can chill to it or you can listen to the sweet tune of Angie's calming voice to admire the beauty lying within it. Up there with India.Arie's 'Acoustic Soul' for the best two soul albums of 2001.

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