Joss Stone, Babette Hayward, Brilliant Colors

Joss Stone – LP1

There was a time when I loved Joss Stone.  That time was when her first album – The Soul Sessions – was released.  I loved the sound of it.  I loved her voice.  And I keep thinking that I love Joss Stone…but I think I still just love that first album, because I have yet to hear anything released since then that has captured my attention.  I don’t hate this album.  It’s a decent album.  But there’s not much that draws me back to it.  She still has a terrific voice, and there are a couple of pretty good songs on this album…but there isn’t enough to make me want to keep listening to it.  As far as a modern soul/pop album goes, you could do a lot worse…but you could also do quite a bit better.

Rating: 2.5/5

Favorite track: "Newborn"

Babette Hayward – You Might Be Somebody

I have listened to this album at least 3 times by now, and nothing really stands out.  It’s not bad.  It’s an extremely listenable album.  But it’s fairly innocuous chick-pop, with nothing to separate her from the thousands of others who inhabit that genre.

Rating: 2/5

Favorite track: "That's Gold"

Brilliant Colors – Again and Again

A good summer-pop album.  They have the sound of a girl group, but drowned in fuzz and reverb.  It’s a short album, which is good…they don’t have enough variance in their sound to keep you interested for a long time.  But still, it’s a nice little album.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite track: "How Much Younger"

A non-music related note: while I have been writing short, not-very-well-thought-out reviews of albums that I've been listening to at work, one of my younger brothers has started an amazing blog where he looks at different baseball statistics.  It can be fairly in depth, but they're extremely interesting.  If you have a free minute - and if you care at all about baseball - head over there and check it out.  His blog is called Statistical Meanderings, and it's incredible.