Stone the crows this is good (The Soul Sessions - Joss Stone)

Member Name: Lakerfanster

Product:	The Soul Sessions - Joss Stone
Date:	02/11/09 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great voice, reworking

Disadvantages: Cover album?

**Introduction**

Whilst searching for the new releases on amazon I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Joss Stone released her fourth album "Colour Me Free" today. I am a big fan of her music and thought I would review the album that started it all for her. That is of course "The Soul Sessions"

**The Soul Sessions**

This album was recorded when she was just 16 years old and led to her success since. The album was produced by legendary Miami Soul singer Betty Wright and features 10 cover versions. Released in 2003 this album received critical reception from music critics around the world. The album features Instrumentation from some well known Soul musicians including Benny Latimore, Little Beaver and Timmy Thomas. 9 of the covers are from the 1960's or 1970's and only one track is a cover from 2001.

1 Chokin' Kind
2 Super Duper Love (Are You Diggin on Me?), Pt. 1
3 Fell in Love With a Boy
4 Victim of a Foolish Heart
5 Dirty Man
6 Some Kind of Wonderful
7 I've Fallen in Love With You
8 I Had a Dream
9 All the King's Horses
10 For the Love of You, Pts. 1-2

**My View**

Waylon Jennings "The Chokin Kind" Original 1967

This is a cover of the 1967 hit, This track has a lovely soft opening with Joss' sombre vocals. The guitar comes in gently with a Bluesy understated feel and as this song develops it has a great feel. This track is about how love can hurt and the way Joss Stone sings this you really believe her. This gets the album off to a really strong start.

Sugar Billy ""Super Duper Love (Are You Diggin' on Me?) Pt. 1" 1974

This is a funk/soul track with a great flow, "Little Beaver" provides the catchy guitar melody and this is a really flowing track which showcases Joss Stone's natural almost effortless vocals. She has taken this track from the Seventies and brought it into the Noughties with a naturalness that is hard to do. Good stuff.

White Stripes "Fell in Love with a Boy" 2001

This is a reworking of The White Stripes "Fell in Love with a girl" from a female perspective, hence the changing to Boy from Girl. This is a very funky track which has some great guitar work which is very catchy and Joss showcases her great vocal flow. This track shows that you can have a whole new track from a little tweaking from a female perspective.

Bettye Swann "Victim of a Foolish Heart" 1972

This is a really beautiful track which takes the track so much further on from the original. This is a brilliant track which opens with a nice Keyboard part and then the Bluesy soul of the music and the vocals really kicks in. This is a cautionary tale about someone who is trying to get in with your partner and telling your partner to watch out for their advances. Great vocal performance and some great guitar work.

Laura Lee "Dirty Man" 1967

This track is one of three from 1967 and this is a brilliant cover of the soulful blues of Laura Lee. This is a tale of finding out that your partner has been cheating on you. Joss Stones' vocal on this is brilliant and really shows the way she emotes on her songs, The musical backing is subtle but achingly effective. Brilliant stuff.

Soul Brothers Six "Some Kind of Wonderful" 1967

This is another very flowing slice of Sixties soul. This track opens well and then keeps on getting better up to the fantastic chorus which is catchy and the key to the song. Joss is joined by some great backing vocals and "Little Beaver" shows off on the guitar again with some great soulful licks. This is a fine song that is brilliant all round.

Carla Thomas "I've Fallen in Love with You" 1968

This is another fantastic version of a Sixties Soul track. This has a great emotive feel which adds a great soulful quality. This builds beautifully and features a fantastic choir which once it has come in the track is just topped off. Brilliant track which again showcases her emotive flowing vocals to great effect. I love the choir on this.

John Sebastian "I Had A Dream" 1970

This is a really beautifully stripped down ballad which really shows off Joss Stone's vocals to great effect, It's just the vocals for the first thirty seconds until the gentle guitar and organ come in. What follows is beautifully understated and very emotive. This is a fabulously gentle track that builds brilliantly until the great climax.

Aretha Franklin "All the kings horses" 1972

This a fabulous version of one of Aretha's lesser known Gems. This opens with Jools Holland like playing and then develops with a smooth flow. You can tell this was originally done by Aretha Franklin due to the backing vocals which are very reminiscent of the type of backing vocals she had on some of her great hits. This is a fabulous version which drips with emotion.

Isley Brothers "For the love of you" 1975

This is another recent reworking of this track after Boyz II Men did a version for their 2004 Throwback album. The two versions are completely different and both are very effective. This is the stripped down version of the two and one that Joss really shows of her clear vocals on. This is a really intimate version with just Joss and a gentle keyboard backing.

**Overall**

This is a fabulous album on it's own merit but when you consider Joss was just sixteen years old at the time of this album it is all the more amazing. How could she sing with that emotion at 16?? The same questions people asked about Michael Jackson were asked about Joss Stone at that age. This is a fabulous cover album with every track having something about it which makes it a worth wile cover indeed. I will be buying her new album this week so look out for a review of that over the next couple of weeks. Most artists who release a cover album after they have been around for a while but this is a rare debut.

Summary: Great review.