Joss Stone's debut, The Soul Sessions, is still one of my favourite albums by the singer. Released in 2003, the set was a collection of expertly crafted cover songs, all with a soul infusion.
At the time she was considered somewhat a novelty and a record label construct; in no small part due to her youthful years (she was 16) her skin colour (white) and the music she was singing (soul). As such, many thought she would depart from this style as soon as she had creative control, but time, and five albums, have shown Joss Stone to be the real deal: a modern day, soul singer with hippie ideals.
Two of my favourite tracks from The Soul Sessions:
Having lost her way (in my opinion) of late, with the release of the patchy LP1, and her involvement with "supergroup" SuperHeavy, I'm cautiously excited about the news of a Soul Sessions Volume 2. It's not that I'm a fan of musicians rehashing old ideas, and giving us the same old, over and again. It's more the hope that in revisiting her roots, it'll remind Joss Stone that her strength lies closer to soul music than 1960's inspired rock.
This is what the 25-year-old had to say about the upcoming July 31st release:
“I really had fun revisiting The Soul Sessions’ idea and I’m really pleased with the results,” said Stone of the sequel to her 2003 debut. “I’ve committed long term to my label Stone’d Records, but it felt right to team up with Steve Greenberg and S-Curve again for this release. I think there are some great songs on the album and I loved performing them with such brilliant musicians.And here is the track-list for anyone interested:
[yep, pinched directly from wiki!]
Below is a little taster of what to expect from Soul Sessions Volume 2, with two live versions of the song While You're Out Looking For Sugar.
Original, The Honey Cone, version:
