Joss Stone - The Soul Sessions
By David McPherson
Release Date: September 16, 2003
You can't believe the power of this woman's voice, especially when you realize that this "woman" is merely a teenager.
The first single, "The Chokin' Kind" is a song that has been recorded by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Waylon Jennings and Tanya Tucker. Here, Stone breathes new life into this timeless classic, singing from the heart of a kind of love she probably has yet to experience.
This British teens' voice is much more mature than the subjects of which she sings like Laua Lee's Muscle Shoals sizzler, "Dirty Man." Stone sings about a profound love and intimacy that is only discovered after years of loving someone with all your heart. Regardless, she makes listeners quickly believe that she has been through heapfuls of heartache with her silky and sensual vocals.
Throughout The Soul Sessions, seasoned Miami musicians of a long-forotten soul scene in the south accompany Stone. Stone offers her powerful and profound vocals on eight soul classics, plus she tackles and radically reworks two songs by diverse musicians: John Sebastian's "I Had A Dream" from Woodstock and Jack White's (The White Stripes) "Fell in Love with a Boy."
"Super Duper Love (Are you Diggin' on Me)" features the bopping backing vocals of Motown legend Betty Wright, who co-produced the album.
Stone also injects the classic "Some Kind Of Wonderful" with a modern day soul vibe.
Born in 1987, the memories of Motown and soul sisters like Aretha Franklin were distant memories when Joss Stone was growing up. Somehow, she discovered the magic of this music and a voice to match and The Soul Sessions is likely just the beginning of a soulful career.
The Soul Sessions is out now on EMI.
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