This Is Jill Scott (Who Is Jill Scott? - Jill Scott)

Member Name: stoffy

Product:	Who Is Jill Scott? - Jill Scott
Date:	31/01/03 (181 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: laid-back and easy to listen too, the petry is a refreshing change to bland lyrics, great constistency amongst the tracks

Disadvantages: a few more generic RnB tracks

Dull RnB divas are ten-a-penny these days, so when someone comes out of the woodwork with something a little bit more innovative and witty to talk about than female empowerment and bling-bling, it comes as welcome refreshment.

Philidelphian Jill Scott managed to breakthrough into the mainstream thanks to her 'Who Is Jill Scott?' album, which received huge critical acclaim when it was released in 2000. Previously, she had gained prominence as a Grammy Award winning songwriter, for 'You Got Me', performed by the Roots and Erykah Badu and as an actress in the stage-show 'Rent'.

The album led in turn to Grammy nomination for her as an artist, and although she returned empty-handed, it marked her out as being one of the bright new faces of the American music-scene.

After an funky intro to 'Who Is Jill Scott?' which sees her demonstrate her penchant for poetry, we drift into the mellow and laid-back nostalgia trip of 'Do You Remember'. Reminiscing about her childhood love, its subtle grooves are perfectly complimented by Scott's tender, caramel voice.

'Exclusively' tells the tale of Scott's trip to the supermarket following some pre-noon rumpy-pumpy upon where she discovers that the checkout girl seems a little bit too familiar with her post-coital breakfast plans to be sure of her lover's fidelity?

The single 'Getting In The Way' comes up next. A lazy, funky track, it once again demonstrates the poetic and uncliched manner of her songs. This story sees Scott confront her boyfriend's ex, who's been telling porkie-pies about him around the neighbourhood. Accompanied by a fantastic video which sees a verbal public spat between the two, culminating in Jill ripping her rival's wig off and hurling it towards the baying crowd, it features the gloriously bitchy line 'I'm gonna take you out in the middle of the street and whoop your ass for all
it's worth. $5.99 or something like that'. An absolute classic that seemed to be overlooked a little at the time.

Another single that seemed to be passed over for some unknown reason was 'A Long Walk'. Laid-back, it has a gorgeous melody and is a perfect summer tune. Quoting the bible verses that her and her man can analyse, and all the other arty things that they could be up to, it's happy, positive and loving without descending into bland saccherine.

'I Think It's Better' documents the difficulty of breaking up a relationship for no tangible reason. Starting off with barely more than an a cappella, it moves into 'He Loves Me', which is essentially 'I Think It's Better' part two as it moves on to talking about her new relationship.

One of the best songs off this fine album is 'It's Love'. A jazzy RnB number, it has a fabulous crescendo at the end where she sings her heart out. Bizarrely, this song is her biggest hit, although not in the same form as the album version. It was in fact re-recorded and remixed by Goldtrix, with Jill's vocals replaced by Andrea Brown's. Making #6 in the UK Charts, it's light-years ahead of what Scott's achieved commercially. However, the version that appears here remains the best, purely because any song which features lyrics containing the words 'pickled beet' has got to be a winner.

'Way' is perhaps the album's only lapse into generic RnB music, which whilst being competent enough, isn't as exciting as some of the other things on here. We then move into silky and sexy mode with 'Honey Molasses. Her lyrics are almost rambly in that they seem like they have been reeled off spontaneously straight onto record without alteration. This is nicely set-off by some understated instrumentation and is yet another example of how Scott tends not to stick to the rules that other singers religio
usly abide by.

'Love Rain' is another demonstration of how she is at her most dynamic when she has her poet hat on. With some modern and edgy piano noises which sounds delightfully different to the Neptunes style that seems to dominate so many records of the current day, it also has some saucy lyrics and a slinky hook.

After the more uptempo 'Slowly Surely', we arrive at 'One Is The Magic Number', which has Spanish influences smothered all over it. Even rhyming a little in Spanish, and with the atmosphere of a flamenco, Scott desends into another mesmeric song that oozes quality and class.

'Watching Me' is possible one of the funniest songs ever written about Big Brother (in the Orwellian rather than McCallian sense). Refusing to give her personal details to the shop assistant because she only wants to buy a few batteries and thinking that there are transmitters in her dollars, it characterises paranoia about being watched fantastically. If only she had made a video to accompany it, it may have been the song that could have broken her in the singles chart.

Another soulful and sassy track comes in the form of 'Brotha', who's finger-clicking chorus and jangly rhythm make for extremely easy listening. Saldy, the riff was plundered by Smash Hits TV to provide the backing to Gareth Gates, Darius Danesh and a smorgasbord of other teenyboppers signing the camera and jigging around.

The final track of 'Show Me' is competent without being exceptional amongst this company, but shows that Scott can also turn in a 'song' rather than a poem to music.

In essence, this is a marvellously relaxed album, essentially about love in its various forms and stages. Singing in a confident and intelligent manner, there are no real weaknesses and sounds great whether its in the background, in the car or in the bedroom. Her poetic style is full of wit and her lyrical style
can't really be faulted.

After releasing her 'Experience' album, which failed to make much of an impact due to its lack of promotion and failure of singles to be released from it, she seems to have faded away a little. However, she remains one of the shining lights in the music biz in comparison to her many contemporaries, who are reliant on production rather than talent. If you don't know who Jill Scott is yet, you're definitely recommended to find out!

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