Introducing Joss Stone (EU)

新しきソウル・ミュージックの幕開け！その声、その存在を全世界に知らしめたデビュー・カヴァー・アルバム『The Soul Session』、本格派ソウル・シンガーとしてしての地位を確実なものにした初のオリジナル作品『Mind，Body & Soul』に続く、ジョス・ストーン約2年半ぶりの待望3rdアルバム！ プロデューサーに天才ラファエル・サディークを迎えた本作は全曲ジョスの書き下ろしで、あのローリン・ヒルとの共作＆共演曲やコモンとの素晴らしいジョイントもあり、 「自分の歌いたいことが歌え、言いたいことが言え、作りたいサウンドが作れる自由をこのアルバムでやっと獲得した。」と語るジョスの自信作！

Typically, artists dispense with introductions after their debut -- after all, that is an album designed to introduce them to the world -- but neo-soul singer Joss Stone defiantly titled her third album Introducing Joss Stone, thereby dismissing her first two relatively acclaimed albums with one smooth stroke. She now claims that those records were made under record-label pressure -- neatly contradicting the party line that her debut, The Soul Sessions, turned into a retro-soul project after Joss implored her label to ditch the Christina Aguilera-styled urban-pop she was pursuing -- but now as a young adult of 19, she's free to pursue her muse in her own fashion. All this is back-story to Introducing, but Stone makes her modern metamorphosis plain on the album's very first track, where football-star-turned-Hollywood-muscle Vinnie Jones talks about change ("I see change, I embody change, all we do is change, yeah, I know change, we're born to change" and so on and so forth), setting the stage for some surprise -- which "Girl They Won't Believe It" kind of delivers, if only because it isn't all that different from what Stone has done before. It's a sprightly slice of Northern soul propelled by a bouncy Motown beat that doesn't suggest a change in direction as much as a slight shift in aesthetic. Gone are the seasoned studio pros, in are a bevy of big-name producers all united in a mission to make Stone seem a little less like a '60s blue-eyed soul diva and a little more her age, a little more like a modern girl in 2007. So, the professional in-the-pocket grooves have been replaced by drum loops, the warm burnished sound has been ditched in favor of crisp, bright sonics, Harlan Howard covers have been pushed aside for cameos by Common and Lauryn Hill. It's a cosmetic change that works: Introducing does sound brighter, fresher than her other two albums, pitched partway between Amy Winehouse and Back to Basics Christina yet sounding very much like Texas at their prime. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

通算3作目にして〈私を紹介します〉ときた。前作『Mind, Body & Soul』が初のオリジナル・アルバムとなったジョス・ストーンだが、今作では全曲の歌詞を自分で書き、20歳を目前にようやく等身大を表現できたのだという。プロデュースはラファエル・サディーク。ソウルに無上の愛を注ぐ両者が結び付けば生まれるのは当然〈ソウル〉で、従来どおり管弦も導入した生演奏をバックに、モータウン～70'sソウル的なフレイヴァーも交えつつジョスは力むことなく歌のストーリーを伝えていく。いくつかの楽曲は、ソウル偉人たちの血筋を引きながら革新を厭わない元ロウカスの精鋭＝ノヴェルとの共作で、“Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now”ではコモンを迎え、“Music”ではローリン・ヒル（!）を引っ張り出して……と、組むべくして組んだようなヒップな共演も実現。独創性を持って挑んだ新たなソウル・セッションズは自信に満ち溢れている。
bounce (C)林 剛