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Review
Now she returns with what’s being pitched as a major, bold change of direction, as the title suggests. “I didn’t want to make another neo-soul record,” she’s said. “That would have been repetitive.” So what does Unexpected yield? Sampled Tibetan monks and found sound? Tapes of plane engines mixed with throat singers? Of course not. It’s a neo-soul record. A very good one, because that’s what she does, her passionate voice bringing abundant personality. Why she feels the need to promote the wheel as electricity is a mystery.
The sudden death of her father, her mentor, is alleged to have driven her into wild and crazy rebellious beats, yet the opening title-track is pure Sly & the Family Stone. It’s terrific, and engaging, and once you get past the fact that Unexpected should have been called Pretty Much What You Expected and Hoped For, this is a likeable blend of soul and funk with judicious little dashes of rap (from Atlanta rapper Dose) or modernism. There’s even a vocoder on the techno-lite of Tell Me. But if you have a voice like Stone’s in your arsenal, you generally tidy up the stage, release the rhythms and let it do its thing. If you’re a design classic, zealously chasing the youth vote only diminishes you.
I Ain’t Hearin’ U and I Don’t Care are forthright and fluid statements of self-respect and independence; Think Sometime” is a robust enough ballad. The album’s unsurprising, and often unconscionably fine. --Chris Roberts
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Customer Reviews
'Unexpected' is (not unexpectedly) good enough to eat!
Her last (2007) album 'The Art Of Love and War' was
a cracker but this lady just gets better and better.
For my money she's one of the finest soul/R&B
singers in the world right now.
There's very little this wonderful voice can't do.
Her tone, diction, phrasing and phenomenal interpretive
skill are all as good as good can possibly get.
Despite having a huge gang of writers and producers
involved in the project (often a fatal error) the
overall sonic coherence is remarkable.
Ms Stone is clearly in charge of her forces!
There are some really marvellous songs in this collection.
Thing start and finish in low-down funky mood with the title
track 'Unexpected'. In between there are treasures aplenty.
Among the best are the delightful duet with Ricco Barrino 'Free';
the smooth-as-silk and soulful 'Maybe', a beautiful composition by
Jonathan Richmond, consumately performed by Ms Stone; the delicious,
unrestrained eroticism of 'Kiss All Over Your Body' and the
powerhouse vocal rendition of Sly Williams' 'I Found A Keeper'.
In the title track reprise she delivers a gentle rebuff
to the "neo-soul label" sometimes attached to her work.
Not to be pinned down, 'Unexpected' is a good-humoured
declaration of musical freedom from an incomparable Diva.
(Not quite sure about the wisdom of sitting on a
motorbike in THAT dress though Ms Stone!!)
Essential.
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