First Impressions: Sade Treads Softly and Exquisitely Across Love's Battleground

In an age where pop tarts pop out of the toaster of sound with high calories and less substance to keep you full shorter than four hours, it's easy to see why Sade's return to the music world after a ten year hiatus is welcomed with open arms.

If you're a music connoisseur, the UK Jazz/Soul collective isn't unfamiliar territory. In some way shape or form, the quiet storm rumbles of Sade (mainly comprised of Sade Adu, Stuart Matthewman, Paul Denman and Andrew Hale ) have invaded your life. Their catalog begins in 1984 with the release of their debut album, Diamond Life and has continued with the larger than life sounds of modern classics such as, "Smooth Operator", "Is It A Crime?", "The Sweetest Taboo" and "No Ordinary Love", plus many more.

There are some critics who are trying to figure out how Sade Adu will fit into a new generation of listeners, yet why should it matter what age bracket Sade wedges into? All it takes for her to command an audience is by seducing with that husky tone of hers, and captivation has been achieved especially on this new set. Soldier of Love is the group's sixth set and it plays like a continuation of 2000's Lover's Rock, yet it is it's elder and wiser sister.

Solider of Love is nothing short of elegant. The album was carefully crafted and pays attention to details in each composition. No surprise since Sade is a premiere band who know about the "good old days" of album crafting...you know, the days when artists actually cared what their audience was listening to, not engaging in selfish narcissistic endeavors or trying to rack up chart action. Sade made an album for those who have enjoyed their previous work, for those who want to rediscover what the band has to offer and an album for those who just want something rich and  to ooze out of their players. In short, Sade made a record that is a full course meal that is satisfying till the end.

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The Tape Deck: UncomfortableStyloBossMeltPartyBlip

I'm proposing that I bring this back. Highlighting just six songs this time around...

1. The Uncomfortable Truth - Nneka: Newcomer (well to Stateside shores) Nneka has recently released her third disc, Concrete Jungle, a fusion of Reggae, Hip-Hop, Soul and Folk that quenches the thirst for raw unabridged talent. Infused with a clopping percussive backdrop and elongated brass licks leading single, "The Uncomfortable Truth" brings back the elements of social conscious cuts from the 70's, fresh for the 21st Century mind. Nneka is getting lip service as the next Lauryn Hill, so we best watch this space. Read my write up about this new kid on the music block at Koffee Mag Online.

2. Stylo - Gorillaz (ft. Mos Def & Bobby Womack): This song gets better with each listen, serious. Next to Erykah Badu's "Window Seat" and Goldfrapp's "Rocket", this has risen to be one of my favorite slices to emerge out of 2010, and to think the year just started. Bobby Womack's voice does have some dust on it, and in essence it works on this somber cyber crawl.

3. The Boss - Diana Ross: As a self-proclaimed "Sometimey Diana Ross Fan", I don't attest to knowing overtly everything the diva has put out, (which is ALOT) but I can say that I do massively enjoy a Diana track whenever I'm under the spell to pull out the Diana albums I do own. I'm more in favor for Miss Ross' dance cuts, especially around the late 70's and early 80's, because I usually find her ballads a bit too sappy for my taste. Thus, 1979's "The Boss" fits like a sleek black formal glove, with rhinestones on the trim, it's elegant yet down right well...bossy. Ashford & Simpson give Ross a disco delight that is meant for singing into a hairbrush. 

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Audio Vision: Alice Smith Returns Like A Blaze Of 'Fire'

Just when it was evident that soul/rock wailer Alice Smith was going to have her mug permanently plastered on the milk carton of long lost music artists, she has emerged and as loud and as ferocious as before. Apparently, Smith has been on the performing circuit (she was recently at Grammy preliminaries performing) and keeping a low profile while prepping a follow-up to her 2006 debut, Lovers, Dreamers & Me, which we should get our hands on come this Spring. Now we can finally get a taste of what Ms. Smith has been brewing up in her sound kitchen over these last couple of years, and it comes in the form of track, "Fire", which you can see in a video clip below. It has been awhile since I have soaked in the gruff n' saccharine sweet croon of Ms. Smith, and upon pushing play, I was reminded as to how truly potent and stellar Alice Smith's vocal delivery is. It sure does pack alot of heat, as you can see here. Now if only we can hear some more goodies.... Shouts to Soul Bounce for the heads up on Smith's whereabouts.

Buzzy Wuzzy: Logos, Comebacks and P!nk, Oh My

What's the buzz, tell me what's a happenin' 

• MTV stopped kidding themselves and cropped changed their logo [THR]
• P!nk sits down with Oprah, didn't do any acrobatics (drat) [L965]
• Michael Jackson's doctor pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges; out on bail [IDL]
• Jill Scott releases a statement about all that Hidden Beach legal gobbly-gook [S2S]
• Justin Timberlake dons a wig and gets the Hasty Pudding award...and yet no new music news [RS]
• Whitney Houston began her 'Nothin' But Love' comeback tour in Korea, and she didn't sound half bad [TW]
• Comeback City continues as Groove Theory are reassembling [SNL]
• Boy George's life to be made into a movie...I'll tumble for that (rimshot) [BBCN]
• Taylor Swift is being marketed all wrong. You don't say? [JZBL]
• J Dilla's birthday was Sunday, celebrate still with learning about the music program in his honor [DFP]
• Alicia Keys will be joined by Robin Thicke and Melanie Fiona on her 'Freedom Tour' [ABCN]
• Corinne Bailey Rae says she was influenced by Erykah Badu and Bjork [SC]
• Usher is seeing double on the new boring album cover for upcoming Raymond vs. Raymond [NLL]

The Gospel: Is The 21st Century In Need Of a 'Soul Train' Revival?

If you were by a TV set last Saturday, you might have gotten a chance to expose your peepers to VH1's Rock Docs special about the 40 year retrospective of the popular music showcase, Soul Train. The Train rode, rocked and reeled for 35 seasons, beginning in 1971 and ending in 2006, and saw the evolving nature of soul music, from late 70's disco, into the electronic 80's and then into the Hip-Hop lane merge of the 90's. Not to mention showed Black culture in a positive fashion to a mass audience. The show made stars such as Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye bigger, and introduced us to the likes of Teena Marie and Rufus & Chaka Khan. In short, an ever-revolving door of musical acts got their big break on the show and went on to make music history. The impact of Soul Train proved to pump the music market more than one probably thought, and nothing like the show, which spawned dances like the Backslide (aka The Moonwalk), fashion and gave us the party staple, the "Soul Train Line", has ever come to light ever again. Sure we can probably view shows like MTV's TRL as being a grandchild of the show with the addition of music videos, but Soul Train was in a class of its own.

There have been rumors swirling about of the show getting a revival for the 21st Century, not only in a movie format and DVD's of vintage episodes, but all new episodes showcasing the musicians of now. While it sounds like a pretty energetic idea, I had a conversation with my father (aka Audio Dad) about if it is indeed a good idea to bring back Soul Train with an all new format, and my father was strongly against them reviving the show. Like civil music nerds, we verbally duked it out, and in some ways I see where he is coming from. Then again, I also can see if the show was revived for a new generation how it could change how we consume music....

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Remember The Time: Boogie Your Wonderland

Nearly five minutes of surefire happiness. If you don't even crack a smile, you aren't human, and you are expelled from my Kingdom of Fun. As I'm still on a crusade to end the mediocrity of the recent music video output, I had to wipe off the dust of Earth, Wind & Fire's video for 1979 classic, "Boogie Wonderland" and take a look at how even during the music video's early dinosaur days, the video is better than anything put out in the last three years. Why? Let me count the ways:

1. The track is probably one of the finest Disco slices from that era. If you don't dance to this, you fail.
2. The Emotions whiz on in in these rainbow glitter capes
3. Those metallic outfits EW&F are sporting 
4. It's EW&F...what is not to like? 

To also point out, it's quite a simple video, well save for those metallic bodysuits EW&F are decked out in and the dancing around everyone is doing, but really, no special effects, no gimmicks, just a two groups performing for an audience that is clearly not there...and having a ball doing it.

First Impressions: Erykah Glides Effortlessly Into The 'Window Seat'

Last week we 'jumped in the air and stayed there', and now this week, we are taking the aisle seat and giving Erykah Badu the "Window Seat" to reflect on this airborne glide of sultry soul.

On Friday, Erykah released "Window Seat" to a flurry of excitement (mine included), thus making the anticipation for Erykah Badu's New Amerykah Part Two: Return Of The Ankh reach it's zenith point with the drop of it's official first slice. "Window Seat" is crafted to be the continuation of the sound that Badu achieved on her 1997 debut, Baduizm. It is mind soothing and has that effortless lyrical spill that is the perfect combination for Ms. Badu. ?uestlove adds his rhythmic drums to the mix and in a nutshell, you've got a tightly arranged golden nugget of a song. This is the type of track that everyone possibly wanted to hear off of New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War because it's not as fussy and feisty, yet "Window Seat" is exquisitely crafted and is the introduction needed for Return of the Ankh.  

Window Seat

Crisp N' Fresh: Beverley Knight Takes 'Soul Survivor' To The Stage

One thing that I don't get to do too often is see performers live. Whenever I do get a chance to snag a ticket to a show, it's usually filed under being a special event that is a once in a lifetime deal, like graduation, getting braces off, surviving a week of the detox diet...those types of milestones. Yet, when I am unable to catch those shows, thank goodness gracious for the Internet, because it gives me a chance to be front row and center in my mind at concerts that weren't even in my neck of the woods. Such is the case of this vid of  Beverley Knight performing an vibrant rendition of her glorious, "Soul Survivor" off of 100% at a recent showcase in London.

From previous Knight concert vids, this one is no different, but it's quite a feast to see a singer really stomp it out on stage and give a stellar vocal performance on top of it. Shame she couldn't have the song's accompanist, the ever-divine Chaka Khan in attendance to assist on the performance, but one listen and you can see Beverley can handle it all by herself. If you haven't gotten into this song by now, or picked up Miss Knight's 100% album from last year, then get your rump in gear. Shouts to Sexy Never Left for heads up on this.

First Impressions: Brittany Bosco Dips Her 'Rag Doll' In Acid

Eclectic soul Brittany Bosco is an artist that does indeed color outside of the lines...off the page, onto the wall, basically giving us mind graffiti of her style with each trick up her sleeve. With two EP's under her belt (2008's Spectrum and 2009's Spectrum 2.0), it wasn't going to take long for Bosco to issue out a long player, as her upcoming debut, Black, shall be making waves later this year. But first things first, we have to dish on the first glimpse into what Black is all about, and it's embodied in the sizzling track, "Ragdoll". 

 Yesterday afternoon, Bosco issued out an exclusive snippet of her newest track, "Ragdoll" for bloggers and music connoisseurs to engage in. Now the full version has surfaced for all to take a gander at it and it's truly something that you will not want to skip over.

Your ears will be treated to a ram-bam disjointed experimental rock jam that oozes with nastiness and recalls the likes of Tina Turner or Joyce Kennedy from Mother's Finest's rock-n-blues wails and attitude. This is a BEAST of a song, and it surely does bite back as it is a modern take on a classic rock ideal. Take a listen below for something that is truly salty and jarring (and I LOVE it).

Audio Vision: Jennifer Hudson Does Whitney Proud at the BET Honors

Singing "I Will Always Love You" is a tricky task, just ask all those American Idol hopefuls who try to execute this during audition time. Or remember when you crouched down like Whitney Houston in your bedroom to emulate the 1992 video and waited for that climatic moment where Miss Houston's voice escalated and you sang along so loud worrying your parents that you were hollering for trouble (true story)? Singing "I Will Always Love You" has formulated into it's own battleground, you have to enter at your own risk and with tons of arsenal because well, no one can hold a candle to Whitney Houston's version of Dolly Parton's 1973 single.

Until, Jennifer Hudson stepped on stage at the BET Honors last night and showed how she's about to seal her place into being the singing diva of her generation, taking the throne that Houston once held. Though Jennifer Hudson, hasn't had that album to really grasp the listening public (cause let's face it, her 2008 debut left little to desire, Grammy or not) her vocals are still top notch, as you can see here. If Miss Hudson continues on this trek, and gets with the right producers and record handlers...who knows what can happen? Till that occurs, enjoy this spine-tingling rendition of one of Mama Houston's beloved songs where Hudson gives a mighty performance worthy of praise and a second look.

Buzzy Wuzzy: Grammy Whammy 2010

3-D glasses couldn't have made the 52nd annual Grammys even more headache inducing this year. Every single year, I ask myself why do I tune into the Grammys? Sometimes I slightly feel shame for myself for engaging in 3+ hours of awards and performances that are either laughably bad or just plain the equivalent of an Ambien sleeping pill. Yet, I'm a music nerd, the Grammys are the Superbowl of music, and I run a music blog. Thus, I feel obligated and kind enough to give you guys, my oh so loyal readers, some sort of dish on what went on with the awards. Thus, I must engage in the madness.

Most of the fun for commentating about the Grammys occurred on Twitter. So if you follow me (which you should be doing already!) then you got the full experience of my uncensored snarkiness and bad behavior. In honesty, my excitement for viewing the awards waned through the middle of the show because everything became typical and not as noteworthy. Nonetheless, the 52nd Grammy's was an entertaining affair, that brought the laughs, the rage and the urge to question...well, everything, especially the fact that Grammy wins don't really mean much as any Joe Blow can get them nowadays.

Lots of other blogs and sites have or had extensive coverage of the awards, so if you want to see more, visit some of my affiliates (especially Pinboard , MuuMuse and Soul Bounce) for a more in-depth look. But if you want to peer into the Audio Diva telescope and read, you're more than welcome to click behind the cut for for some pros-and-cons/highlight and lowlights of Grammy night last night. And be sure start the discussion on what you enjoyed/didn't enjoy at last night's award show in the comments! :)

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First Impressions: "Jump In The Air and Stay There." Will Do Ms. Badu

If your friends told you to jump in the air and stay there, would you do it? You might have heard your parents say something along these lines, yet if Ms. Erykah Badu was my friend (dreams) and she told me to get my Kriss Kross on...yeah, I'd jump. Why? When you're in the Church of Badu, you don't interrupt the sermon.

On Friday, Badu disclosed that she was leaking one track off of her upcoming, Return of the Ankh project, and in an anticipated wait we get the finished product, "Jump Up In The Air and Stay There". At first listen, this didn't particularly latch onto to me and Lil' Goblin Wayne's addition had me sour in the mouth. Yet, like flowers...I had to let it grow and soon the clunky clanky rhythm sounded a bit better by third listen. Not truly in love with the song, as this sounds a bit mediocre to me. Though it was a real tasty treat that Bilal came out of the lair to add in some of his soulful ad-libs that surely pop out of this track. Still I'd rather hear this song as it will be played in the album, you know, for a meatier effect.

Like I mentioned to a pal awhile back, if Eryakh spent a whole album singing about pigeon poop, I'd be cranking it up and voicing that it was the opus of greatness. Return of the Ankh will (or should) be in stores, March 30, 2010.

Jump In The Air and Stay There (ft. Lil' Wayne and Bilal)

Song Stuck In My Head: Tamia Always Moves My Heart With Her Debut Single

"You Put A Move On My Heart" - Tamia (1994)

It takes a lot for me to fully appreciate a ballad. Yes, I'm lame like that. I usually have high expectations for ballads, especially power ballads. Sure, you must throw your hands around and thrash your head about a la Mariah Carey or Christina Aguilera, yet I just like to feel the movement of how the ballad transcends. How the song climbs from a soft coo into a growling rage of emotion. Ballads aren't usually like that anymore so when we look back at Canadian R&B vocalist's Tamia's debut single, I have to say that I miss ballads of this design. 

Like many, I was introduced to the vocal poweress that was Tamia from the song, "You Put A Move On My Heart". I first heard this song off of Quincy Jones' 1994 album, Q's Jook Joint, as my father no less possessed the album. This song proved to be one of the winning tracks off of that collaborative effort and it's a song that continued to stay with me. Last week, I decided to dust off my Tamia collection, and like an old friend, this song came back into the rotation and still was as rewarding as ever. It is what you'd want from a Jones produced and Rod Temperton composed track, it's polished, crisp and catchy. There is another version of this song done earlier by Mica Paris in 1993, yet Tamia's is favored due to her just slamming on the vocals a bit finer. Quincy Jones had the right idea of introducing her to the world (though he didn't do much after her first album...sadly), because Tamia is a vocal talent and today is one of the most grossly underrated songstresses. Though we'll be seeing more of Tamia, hopefully, with the Queen project she has going on with Kelly Price and Deborah Cox...but for now go back to the 90's and recall this sweet number.

Audio Vision: Corinne Performs 'Closer' On Ellen, Remains Great While Doing So

Thank you Corinne Bailey Rae. Thank you for performing on Ellen what is probably the best song off of your recent The Sea record. Thank you for literally throwing this song in the pot for possible single fodder. Just a big warm chocolate chip cookie thank you.

Since there was a massive storm that whipped through my area, the local news decided that weather updates for a full hour with footage of pelting rain and doppler radars was more important than listening to the perfect groove known as, "Closer". So this performanced was missed. But here it is for your viewing pleasure if you missed it like I. Corinne does a stunning job of the cut all while dressed in glittery ensemble and having her lush curls just so...looking very much like a throwback to singing chanteuses before her. Bravo.