Introducing Joss Stone [Import]

Joss Stone is an original. Her gritty, visceral, sensual voice is unforgettable. It is amazing to hear a young, white British female vocalist sing R & B. I first heard Joss Stone in July 2007 during the special televised fund-raiser sponsored by Prince William and Prince Harry on behalf of Princess Diana on her birthday. Next, I heard Joss Stone sing "Put Your Hands on Me" on Jimmy Kimmel Live. It was then I knew I had to buy some of her music.

My favorite tracks on this CD are: "Tell Me 'bout It", "Put Your Hands on Me", "Baby, Baby, Baby", "Tell Me What We Gonna Do Now", "Bruised but not Broken", and "What Were We Thinking". Most of the lyrics are written by Joss Stone and Rapheal Saddiq (one of the muscians) which proves she is multi-talented and creative. Her down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is style is highly appealing. Her smoky, sultry voice is unforgettable. I deduct one star for the Intro called "Change" done by Vinnie Jones which detracts from quality of the CD. It is a turn off and does not set a good example for the contents of the CD, most of which is excellent. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]

Joss Stone is back with a transatlantic accent, in both her spoken and singing voice.
It is clear from the outset that this artist is desperate for the world to know, this is the "new" her. .
Featuring a pretentious intro by Vinnie Jones, the Devon lass is implying that she is now a ballsy soul star with a new sound. The red hair and tattoo on the front cover hammers this home, in case you didn't know already.
Her voice still has all the right moves, although she has started to do the 'Mariah thing' - in that each note is stretched to breaking point, taking the energy and replacing it with a 'hear me now' wail.
Lauryn Hill from the Fugees makes special guest appearance on one of the 14 new tracks.
So much so that a line "Watch Me Walk" sounds like "Watch me wail." The single "Tell Me Bout It" out has a touch of the old skool about it, but for all the hype - it is begged and borrowed rather than 'new'.
There is the odd gem which stirs you, like "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now" in which the soulstress is more restrained and these tracks benefit from this as they have heart.
But too often, the album tries to be all things to all people. So we end up with a little of Janis Joplin, Mariah, Whitney, Aretha and many other great female singers. Imitation is flattering for these women.
But it also means that the real Joss Stone needs to stand up.
This begs the question, if we are being introduced to this soul star for the first time, who is she?

Neo-Soul Singer Joss Stone is not like others, she's white, she's British and born in 1987 she's young enough to be the daughter or even grand-daughter of the likes of Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross. But she's a young girl with a big voice and she always tried to be faithful to the original 60's soul without alot of adcanced productions like most others do. Debut album titled "The Soul Sessions" a album with only covers was released when she was only 16 and became a smash hit. Joss powerful soulvoice seduced millions of people and she had gained an audience and a great reputation almost instantly. Second album "Mind Body and Soul" followed the same trends of her debut but didn't have any covers included. However, all of the songs had the sound of 60's music even if they were newly penned originals, some even by herself. On her third album titled "Introducing Joss Stone" she claimes this is the real Joss Stone where she can finally do what she wants without record pressure and thus introducing the real Joss Stone as an music artist. This raises an interesting question though. What was the other critically aclaimed albums? and is this really that much diffrent from the other two?. The first question is impossible to answer unless you're Joss Stone but the second is simple if you've listened to this album. No, it really isn't that diffrent then her others. What makes it diffrent is that Neo-Soul singer/producer Raphael Saadiq produced it and thus introducing advcanced studio recording equipments instead of the session musicians with live instruments she used on previous albums. The sound is diffrent and much more modern now. obviously Ms. Stone wanted to apply to a younger more contemporary audience and sound like a girl from 2007 and not 1967 and give Xstina a run for the money.

It all starts with an cameo from ex-Football player turned actor Vinnie Jones about change, it may be good promotion but to me it sounds like nonsense if you want to be taken seriously. First song, "Girl They Won't Believe It" is surprisingly good and sounds diffrent from most of the rest here with a smoother sound, more fammiliar. First single "Tell Me About It" is another strong number, but quite repetitive. "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now" feautures Common and "Musiq" feautures Lauryn Hill and further gives evidence of a more modern Joss Stone with right on the spot cameos. Both of the two are great and from time to time I get an impression of how Joss wants to record an album simular to Lauryn Hill's. Most other songs along the way sounds like a mixture of her old 60's inspired music with a fresh contemporary sound. Song number 11 "Bruised by Not Broken" a soul-ballad written by Diane Warren is diffrent and also the closer "What Were We Thinking" which is a ballad aswell.

The problem with this album is simular to what she had in the past, not too many memorable songs and too much oversinging. Joss Stone's magnificient voice is normally what made the diffrent but with further songs that rely on a heavy production it sometimes feels like her voice is no longer in the spotlight, and even if she's great as always vocally it not always sufficient. The songs like I mentioned are all worthwile but too much on the rest goes into one ear an out of the other. She claimed this is the "Real" Joss Stone but it really isn't better then her past two records nor does she sound like a an grown up artists ready to be laucnhed but rather like an young artist in search of the right sound and songs. Saadiq makes a good effort in providing the sound, which is indeed fresh and modern, but it still lacks good memorable songs that can suppurt her voice. Instead we get an album heavy on production and oversinging that isn't the best way of introducing yourself, especially not when this is your third album and far from extraordinary. I believe Joss Stone will come back stronger with her next album since she is in the middle of a "search" and far from a complete product yet. She's a great artist with a wonderful voice but even the greatest of voices needs good support and that what this album is lacking.