Get To Know You

Upside Down

In The Morning

Songs of The Day

Get To Know You:  This has a fairly cool groove to it.  Nice strolling-in-the-park feeling to it.  It's not standout or anything, but it gets the job done.  I especially like the keys sound - I like how it bends.  The hook is catchy, it'll probably get stuck in the noggin.  The bridge is nice, it's got a smooth feel to it that works with the lyrical content.  Aside from it being a little long, it's overall sweet tune.

Upside Down:  This is one of the funkier grooves of the album.  It doesn't feel as cluttered as some of the previous beats, which I like.  I really like the background parts on this one, they help bring out the feel.  Great harmonies as well.  Dig the change up in the bridge, it's got a cool warped feel to it that adds a new flavor to the groove.  Gettin a lil better here...

In The Morning:  This is one of the sexier songs on the track in both groove and lyrical content.  It's got the standard wawa guitar sexy thing going on, and the reverb on the keys and what not.  It's good, but it's no D'Angelo (please come back).  I just wish that Ledisi was a little softer on this one, she seems a little overbearing for the groove at times, and it gets a little distracting.  Solid bridge, but I like the background vocals better than the lead.  
 

Alright

Think Of You

Today

Songs of The Day

Alright:  I really like the groove on this one.  Solid keys part, which is amplified with the guitar comes in.  Especially when it hangs on the end of the beat in the second verse.  Ledisi, surprised sounds great.  She's got a really solid R&B/Soul voice.  I don't think is a powerhouse lyrically, but it's solid.  Cool breakdown, nothing fancy, but I think it could have been stepped up a notch.  I also think it's a tad too long, I was losing interest.

Think Of You:  This track has the best opening thus far.  I dig the drum beat combined with the scratching layer of her voice - very cool.  Another fairly solid beat, but it didn't go in the direction I felt like it was building up to in the intro.  I think the groove is actually a little overbearing.  A lot of the time it kind of sounds like she's competing with it, which isn't necessary.  The harmonies are pretty cool though, and I do think the bridge is funky - it makes me like the beat more, but then that attraction kind of fizzles towards the end.


Today:  This groove... I'm not 100% sure on how I feel about it.  It's got a cool jazzy thing going on that I dig, but it kind of seems as though it's trying to hard to be too many things.  It's cluttered.  All of the individual sounds that're going on are cool on their own, but it's just too much all together - some editing needed to be done.  Ledisi sounds great, but the beat's distracting me.  I do like the bridge though, it kind of has a Yellowjackets feel to it that I dig.  All of the solos at the end seem a bit much too.  Yeah...

Joy

great opener.

You & Me

Best Friend

Songs of The Day

Joy:  This is a pretty awesome tune to start out with.  Really cool beat on this one.  I really dig the keys sound and the way drums are on the back beat - very cool.  Ledisi's melody is really simple, which is a good contrast against the more complicated groove.  Love the hook - "let me be the one to bring you joy" - oh how many times I've felt that way.  She's got a great sultry tone to her that I really dig.  The bridge is cool, nothing super special, but I still like it.  Fading out was definitely the way to end this tune, and I dig it.  Solid.

You & Me:  This is a pretty standard R&B groove.  Not to say it's not good, I definitely can get down with it, it's just not anything I'm wowed by or feel like I haven't heard before.  I do really dig the keys part though - very sexy.  The harmonies on this are pretty sweet, very gospel like, which is probably why the chorus has a happier feel to it.  Kind of lackluster against the opener, but still a good song.

Best Friend:  Again, the groove (and lyrical content in this case) is a pretty standard R&B sound, more so than the previous.  Luckily, Ledisi's voice is good enough to slightly forget about that.  I do dig the 5 seconds of clave in the 2nd verse though, threw me off the first time I heard it, but then I wanted more.  Didn't get it though...  I'm also not really a fan of the bridge - I don't feel like it has the right connection to the verse, and the overlaying guitar solo is a little too loud in my opinion.  Good, not great.

Album Factoids

Lost & Found

Released: August 28, 2007
Genre: R&B
Label: Verve
Producers: Ledisi, Sundra Manning, Rideout, Colin Stanbeck

Week 40: Ledisi

Ahhhhh shit sonion, week 40!  Almost half way there... kind of.  I've noticed that I've been slacking on my lady reviews, so I thought I'd do one this week, and that lady is Ledisi (ooo, nice alliteration).  I hadn't heard of Ledisi prior to starting Berklee last fall, and I haven't done that much listening since then, so seems like a good choice.  This is a suggestion from my girl Joanna, but my brother's also mentioned her in the past, so I figured, why not.  Here goes nothin.

This Weeks Album...

in need for some lady lovin

Final Grade: A

So, Donny Hathaway was perfect.  I honestly can't think of one thing I didn't like about his voice or his playing.  From start to finish, he held it down.  The tone of his voice is really beautiful - I'm sure he could sing a recipe and it sound like the funkiest thing to ever hit our eardrums.  He has such great control over everything, it never sounded like he was straining or yelling or anything.  I'm honestly surprised I didn't cry.  This album was re-released with a couple bonus songs, one of which is a cover of The Beatles' "Yesterday," which is pretty out of this world.  That's the most covered Beatles tune, and his version is by far the best I've heard.  I wish I could find it on YouTube or I would post it.  Really remarkable.  So unfortunate that we had to loose him so young.