December 10, 2004 @ 8:29 am
Joss Stone - Mind, Body & Soul (S-Curve)
Like drinking ice-cold freshsqueezed lemonade on a hot summer day, Joss Stone’s willfully retro sophomore effort is deeply refreshing.
Like drinking ice-cold freshsqueezed lemonade on a hot summer day, Joss Stone’s willfully retro sophomore effort is deeply refreshing. Her capacity to summon a glorious, earthy past never feels like a nostalgia trip. While her love for all things old school is clear, her enthusiasm makes it all feel new. Punctuated by barbs of electric guitar and bluesy piano, “Right to Be Wrong” bristles with Memphis soul, while in the fiercely funky “You Had Me” Stone stomps her way through upbeat R&B in a style perfected years before she was born. Steady slow-mo funk nuggets like “Jet Lag” find her getting hot and bothered while wahwah flickers like a candle in the background. Stone’s voice has been much remarked on, not because she actually sounds like Aretha or Mavis, but because she’s a 17-year-old English girl who can actually get her Southern-fried gospel swerve on. There’s nothing new here— ’60s soul label Stax/Volt built an entire catalog on this sound—but if your ears are inured to the dense, overly polished production of contemporary R&B, Stone’s simplicity and rawness will come as revelation: less really can be more.
Page printed from:
http://www.vibe.com/music/revolutions/2004/12/joss_stone_mind_body_soul_scurve/
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