GeoReview: Joss Stone, Mind, Body &Soul

Joss Stone became noticeable to most last year when she came out with The Soul Sessions , an album of remakes & that was very successful selling over 2 million copies. Now recently she came out with Mind, Body and Soul , a work of original stuff. Stone is 17 years of age, is from Devon, England and has been a big fan of Aretha Franklin and other singers of American R&B and soul. Stone born Joscelyn Eve Stoker in 1987 has a phenomenal voice and reminds some of 60's star singer Janis Joplin. Can she do here thing using here own songs or was she a flash in the pan of "blue-eyed soul" (as some have called it)? All we know is soul is soul and this LP will get a GeoGlobe rating at the end of this review so lets get into it.

"Right To Be Wrong" is a guitar laced opening track where Joss talks about not being afraid to fail and having enough support to stand up on her own morals and values.

"Jet Lag" is an instant thumper as soon the music comes on and Stone talks about love and the feelings she gets whenever they are near.

"You Had Me" is a really 70's sounding cut with Stone blowing her voice for the world to hear. More specifically she talks to one particular person who lost out on a good thing because of being contradictory.

"Spoiled" is return to the piano sound that Stone is becoming known for. On the song Stone tells the man she loved that she was spoiled by his love and made a mistake trying to replace him.

"Don't Cha Wanna Ride" uses samples from "Soulful Strut" and lets Stone talk about going for the nice ride while you can. The harmony on the song is nice and the song is very lively and Stone's voice is steady and strong.

"Less Is More" uses reggae sounds as Stone talks about not being sweated or crowded from a significant other.   This song makes a lot of sense because when you are crowded a lot of times you don't appreciate the nice gestures people do especially in a relationship.

Other songs you need to check out are "Security", "Young At Heart" produced by Salaam Remi, "Snakes and Ladders", "Torn & Tattered" and the bonus track is serious and different. It's all good I must say.

This album shows a return to live instruments, lyrics without upfront sexual connotation, and a woman more likely to shake he boot than her but.   Stone shows that her voice is real as is her writing talents (along with mentor and sometimes co-writer Betty Wright) as she wrote 12 of the albums tracks.   Stone's album has some great help on it including Wright, the Mind, Body & Soul Orchestra and guest appearances by Jimmy Farkas, Benny Lattimore, Angelo Morris, Angie Stone, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, and the Jazzyfatnastees (Tracey Moore & Mercedes Martinez).  

This album is very enjoyable as Stone shows diversity in vocal tone and lyrical structure and organization. You can listen to this while you're doing work or when it you're trying to get your little bounce on talking with people or driving. For someone so young this is a great effort and we should hope she keeps it up.   A shining true debut for Ms. Stone.

I'll give the album 4.5 globes.

Any questions, comments, suggestions email Clayton Ruley at clayton@geoclan.com.

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