For what it’s worth, this writer was never convinced by Joss Stone. Folk eulogised about old soul in a young body, but I always thought she was playing dress-up, in R&B clothes that didn’t fit yet.
One listen to Joss Stone is enough to make you believe in reincarnation. This 17-year-old sounds un-nervingly like the rebirth of a 70s soul or Motown diva.
Stone has a truly great voice but there’s little or no truth in these songs. When she sings over these well crafted Philly, Miami and Detroit soul grooves, she’s not really singing from the heart.
For years major labels have been scratching their heads asking themselves how they could shift serious units in unfashionable genres but now they’ve finally cracked it.
At 26, Leeds-born Bailey Rae is already being groomed for success in America. Even her name has an American sound to it. Taking her cue from Natasha Bedingfield, Joss Stone and Nelly Furtardo, ‘Put Your Records On’ is urban soul, ripe for chick flicks and a safe bet to dominate airwaves over the coming months. As to its quality, a different, arguably better, producer would have preserved Bailey Rae’s raw undertones rather then pop produce with a glisten and a twinkle to seal every gap.
Although Real Girl is too inconsistent to have you rushing down the bookies, nonetheless it’s a steely attempt at spirited urban R’n’B pop, with nods to Mary J. Blige, Macy Gray, Joss Stone and even Jamelia.
Keyboardist Herbie Hancock achieved legendary status through his adventures with Miles Davis and a myriad other jazz outfits, although his profile as an innovator has been lower since his jazz fusion activities in the '70s.
Bedingfield’s second album is essentially more of the same, at times inspired (the suitably off-kilter ‘I Wanna Have Your Babies’), too often ploughing the safe middle ground.
Throughout the pioneering events of Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8, Bob Geldof has repeatedly achieved the impossible, twisting the arms and consciences of self-absorbed rock stars to get them to think beyond their egos and stimulating recalcitrant politicians and a jaded media into doing things that are not really difficult at all but thinking makes them so.
They may profess disdain for the CD:UK world of glamour and hype, but with a recent appearance on the show and a support slot with The Darkness to their credit, it looks like nine-piece rock sensation Do Me Bad Things are going to have to get used to being in the limelight.
Discussing her private life has become a national pastime, but it hasn’t stopped Charlotte Church from developing some very commendable rock’n’roll habits. Ed Power forgives the 19-year-old for standing him up, and discovers a young woman very much in control of her own destiny.
Never mind figgy puddings and partridges in pear trees, there’s some serious seasonal business to be done as the annual HP-7 summit gathers in the crucible of cultural discourse that is The Central Hotel’s Library Bar.
Carlos Santana is not afraid to share the spotlight. On his 38th album, the Latino virtuoso adopts a revolving door policy, roping in collaborators as though in mortal terror of being left alone. What results sounds like a sprawling salsa jam, frantic yet fatally devoid of a unifying mood or style.
Corinne Bailey Rae's self titled album displays the singers talent for mixing soul, funk, hippychick winsomeness, and edge, producing nothing less than a successful debut.
Things are hotting up for Dublin songstress Shelley with the 25-year-old being taken on by ex-Madonna, Joss Stone, Paula Abdul, Ricky Martin and Jessica Simpson manager Caresse Henry.
