Soul in Joss Stone’s “Colour Me Free”
Joss Stone has been inspired by soul music legends like Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Whitney Houston, James Brown. They exemplify good soul music. They are the icons of soul music. It is unthinkable that any modern singer can match their talent; however, Joss Stone shows that soul music is still alive in modern day soul songs. Soul is of African American origin. Rudinow defines it as gospel mixed with rock and rhythm and blues, or as a specific style of pop (10 Rudinow). Joss Stone is not the only starlet conquering the soul genre from west Europe. There is also Duffy and Adele. Yet Joss Stone seems to be more powerful not only with her voice but originality. Specifically, I chose her latest album "Colour Me Free" Amazon.com Widgets because it closer relates to Joss Stone as an independent singer with the least amount of interference from the record business in comparison to her earlier CDs. She co-wrote and co-produced all the songs.
To make the comparison easier, I chose Etta James’s Tell Mama CD Amazon.com Widgets that was originally recorded in 1968. Her powerful voice makes you feel the way the singer is feeling. It can sink in hell and rise to heaven, changing according to emotion that it is being expressed. It improvises and interacts with the music. Her voice has a unique characteristic: a kind of roar. Instrumental music does not overpower the voice in this CD, rather interacts with the voice. Background percussion, guitar, and piano set the mood. All lyrics are understandable, besides some slang phrases, but generally understandable to the public of United States. They tell a story with a powerful message in first person. Many of them are like a dialogue with a lover. Many verses have exaggerations and imagery which help us connect to them and visualize them easier. For example, “Tell Mama” playfully urges the guy to tell all his needs to the girl. Trumpets play right after Etta James sings, in this way the music interacts with her voice without blocking each other out. The voice is urging and very convincing with its emotion. The lyrics are clear and simple.
After looking up to the legend, Colour Me Free is of course less perfect but it pleases my soul ear most of the time. Track number one is a chill bluesy tune with rebellious singing. The music in “Free Me” doesn’t quite match the voice. Although this highlights her voice, it makes the song sound halfway made, just shouting. Nevertheless, authority defying lyrics grab attention: “Don’t tell me how to think I feel”. Track number two (“Could Have Been You”) gets full music layering, even strings and trumpets. This song shows the full range of the voice, the lament and regret is truly felt. Joss Stone goes beyond just singing the lyrics and adds shouting. It is perfectly made from beginning to the end. The music in the third track (“Parallel Lines”) sounds funky. The singing is so laid back it comes close to sounding like a pop song. The fourth song “Lady” makes the listener reminisce about the feminist type songs of Etta James. “Lady” tells of a battle between the right and wrong way of behaving, where the woman is close to giving into temptation. “4 And 20” demands action from a man, “tell me that you love me, tell me you’re gonna be a man” Saxophone completes the smooth texture of this song. In “Incredible”, the guitar and the singer interact, expressing amazement mixed with shock. In “I Believe It to My Soul”, Joss Stone tells it straight: “I believe you’ve been trying to make a fool out of me.” The saxophone is phenomenal and takes a deserving solo. Little tid bits of stories like “one night you were sleeping, I heard you say oh lily, but baby you know my name, my name is Jossy baby” make the listener sympathize and share in the emotions of the narrator.
The majority of the songs keep up the face of soul. However, the song “Governmentalist” deviates from the love theme, instead being about politics. It is randomly placed among other songs and disrupts the flow of the album. “Governmentalist” sings about politics with such emotion, even though it is a difficult and unusual topic, she manages to pull it off. It disrupts the theme of the whole album though. The very last song “Girlfriend on Demand” is more like a sad ballad, not an emotional soul piece: “if you won’t hold my hand, how could you call yourself my man”. A whole orchestra, especially the violins, takes over the song. The emotions of the singer come in very late in the song, the other half of the song feels like a lyrical introduction. “You Got the Love” is different from other songs without being too far from soul. It has more of a gospel feel to it.
The majority of Etta James’ songs on Tell Mama praise the man. Only “Incredible” of Joss Stone does that. Other songs on Tell Mama express hurt. The songs “Stalemate”, “Girlfriend on Demand”, and “Could Have Been You” on Colour Me Free echo the pain in Tell Mama’s “It Hurts Me So Much”. Rebellious attitude in “Steal Away” and radical expression against general opinion of the public, as in staying with a man even though he hurts in “I am Gonna Take What He’s Got”, are more similar to “Free Me” because they are under the same theme. Seductive song “Just A Little Bit” of Etta James gives the same impression as in “Lady”, even though in one, Etta James has fallen to temptation and in another one, Joss Stone is trying to avoid it. All in all, the lyrics and their expression in these songs of Joss Stone have succeeded in reaching their goal when listened to alongside with Etta James. On Colour Me Free the singing and the music is not in sync sometimes. There is also a big difference in composition styles between the two CDs. Joss Stone’s songs have a sharper louder beat that pleases a modern audience while in Etta’s songs percussion is subtle and forms a sort of background noise, not equal participator in the song. Trumpets can be heard a lot more often in Tell Mama than in Colour Me Free. Joss Stone’s voice never fails to deliver, charming the listener with rising soft notes and low hoarse ones. She can quietly lament and burst the speakers with a stormy passion the next second.
James Brown’s song “Superbad” Amazon.com Widgets sets a wonderful example of a soul musical arrangement. The instruments include guitar, trumpets, saxophone, organ, bass, drums, and congas. The instruments together build a kind of a ladder. With each elevation, the excitement increases. The instruments do not overpower the voice; rather lyrics are slightly sprinkled, accompanying the instrumental arrangement. The text has a few verses that are shouted, which does not take away the emotional charge. Sometimes it is very easy to get wrapped up in lyrics, which could lead to the lack of listener’s engagement. This happens in Joss Stone’s “4 and 20”, where every verse drags on like a never-ending paragraph. It is not because the audience is unintelligent but that a certain amount of words can have a better effect like a long boring lecture that includes a lot of unimportant information versus a short informative message. In the same way, the loudness and the amount of musical instruments can cause cluttering. James Brown’s song manages to have the bare minimum in lyrics, the bare maximum in instruments, and still pulls off a well put together soul song. The word “superbad” demonstrates the use of a usually negative connotation of bad as the opposite. This demonstrates a creative way to use slang terms and packing in a lot of connotation.
A good soul song must not lack in music, lyrics or the emotional power of the voice. It is not like one or the other can make up for each other. No. Because a whole is a whole with all parts intact. The whole soul piece is not meant to calm the listener but move them and evoke strong emotions with a positive outlook. Overall, I like Colour Me Free. The majority of the songs have the proper mix of lyrics, voice and musical arrangement. Joss Stone’s recent albums reflects other legends influence very clearly. Yet every song of hers has a modern twist and the unique character of Joss Stone’s voice. The CD is like the old school soul songs but with slightly different style of lyrics and sang by Joss Stone. This CD shows how far Joss Stone has grown since her first release in 2003. She has managed to emulate others in her style and discovered what her voice is capable of. Her production has room to grow but she is definitely on the right track.
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