Light Up the Darkness (2011)
Collette “Colie” Williams starts her debut CD Light Up The Darkness by calling on her musical ancestors – Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald. That song, “Ol Soul For A New Day,” allows Williams’ listeners to know where she’s coming from spiritually, musically and stylistically. Williams’ vocals have a mature, confident sound that recalls […]
The Story (EP) (2011)
At only three songs, it’s not even quite an EP, but it’s the best $2.98 a vibe-loving, progressive soul fan will spend this year. The LA-based KING is an almost extinct creation in R&B, an all-girl trio with an even rarer female producer in Paris Strother. On the strongest cuts, “Supernatural” and “Hey,” Minneapolis born […]
Hello Fear (2011)
While whipping up dialogue addressing those pesky insecurities we often times call fear, Kirk Franklin’s background singers give Satan a nice-nasty ultimatum: “See, I’m tired of being brokenhearted/So, I made a list and you’re on it/All my hopes and my dreams/You took from me/I want those back before you leave.” On paper, those words sound […]
7 (2011)
Five band members, over a dozen charting hit singles and twenty years of classically-composed, contemporarily-rendered melodies and musicality. They were part of an emerging trend of male R&B acts when they hit the scene in the early 90s (Boyz II Men, Blackstreet and Jodeci, to name a few), but as of today, the quintet stands […]
Soul Talk (2011)
There’s nothing like a good soul band. Listeners get a deep appreciation for an outfit like Soul Talk because the self-contained band has gone the way of the dinosaur on modern R&B radio. More than one person has said that modern R&B/Soul fans don’t want to hear bands. They just want singers, the argument goes. […]
I Remember Me (2011)
Before Jennifer Hudson stepped into the studio to belt her musical debut album, she racked up enough major ups and downs to cache her soul singing into cruise control. Take into consideration the spirited singer-turned-actress taking home an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her 2006 film debut in Dreamgirls, only to then face gut-wrenching […]
Something Big (2011)
There’s a troubling irony that often comes into play where God is concerned: in spite of the fact that He’s considered the Alpha and Omega who represents the truth in many forms to many people, some want to limit how He’s praised and witnessed about to others (???). Ray Charles was one of the first […]
Unspoken (2011)
Milton “Bigg Milt” Creagh learned the power of words at an early age. When he was a boy growing up in Chicago, his father brought a new stereo system (it was the 1970s, so it was probably one of those console units). At any rate, Creagh’s father was proud of this stereo, and he did […]
Outflow (2011)
If there is one theme that runs through Sharon Musgrave’s career, it’s diversity. Musgrave came to the public’s attention in the early 1990s with the dance track “Fascinating Rhythm.” Her 2001 album, Selah, featured spoken word songs like the title track and acid jazz jams like “Down by the Water” and the jazz/acoustic soul torch […]
(S)Cream (2011)
Saidah Baba Talibah has music in her blood. Her mother is the Tony and Grammy-nominated singer Salome Bey, and her uncle, Andy Bey, is also a Grammy-nominated musician. This album is the Toronto soul-rocker’s first, and she chose to come out screaming (literally). (S)Cream doesn’t sound like a full-length debut. It sounds like the album […]
