Real soul
Nse Ette | Lagos, Nigeria | 09/28/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Aloe Blacc's CD was reccommended to me by Amazon and I'm glad for the pointer as I'd probably have missed this otherwise. I love his rich tenor voice.
With a retro Soul sound remniscent of Curtis Mayfield or Marvin Gaye, his lyrics touch mainly on social issues. Opening cut is the groovy "I need a dollar" with darting horns, an insistent piano riff, and lyrics told from the view point of someone laid off. "Green lights" is organ-driven Soul, while the guitars in the funky "Hey brother" sound like they stepped out of Shaft.
Other standouts are the lilting Reggae "Miss fortune", the falsetto-sung laid back "Life so hard" (with theatrical strings, a great echoing guitar solo, and lyrics touching on hunger, war and more), the breezy "Femme fatale", the bouncy "Loving you is killing me" (with nice layered harmonies), "If I" ("If I sang a song, would you sing with me / if I shed a tear, would you cry with me?"), and the Gospel-tinged "Momma hold my hand" (with autobiographical lyrics remniscing on his childhood).
The production is light and free, perfect for this uplifting CD. Highly reccommended!"
Absolutely THE BEST album of the year!
djg | 10/06/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The title says it all. Although a soul album (and I mean soul in the classic sense and not Hip Hop) this is modern and poignant. It just does not get any better than this."