Disc 353 is...Revival
Artist: Jully Black
Year of Release: 2007
What’s Up With The Cover?: Jully Black, looking sexy as hell in a micro-short, sexy-as-hell white dress. From her hair down to her shoes, Jully Black is a fine looking woman, and is clearly not afraid to show it. This cover is as good as it gets, but remember the warning in the teaser intro...
How I Came To Know It: This is one of Sheila's albums, and I'm not sure how she heard about it. It was a minor hit in Canada, with a top ten hit ("Seven Day Fool") and won a Juno, so that could be it. I heard it for the first time when Sheila brought it home.
How It Stacks Up: Jully Black has five albums, but this is the only one in our collection so it can't really stack up. It won't be there long, however.
Rating: 1 star.
"Revival" is a soul/RnB record that no doubt imagines itself as a renewal of traditional soul music, but is only the palest imitation of that style. It would be enough to say it fails on all counts, but since this site does music reviews, I will take the time to enumerate them for your horror/enjoyment.
First, let it be said that I'm not a big fan of soul/RnB records, but I do have a few, and I know when they are good. Not so, the mis-named "Revival," which would be more aptly named "Re-Animated." It is the musical equivalent of a zombie: recognizable at a distance as a person, shuffling about, but viewed up close lacking any higher function. It may lurch at you from the shadows of AM radio, but make no mistake - it is not alive.
The music has a beat, but not a pulse. I found most of the compositions on par with the atrocities they make American Idol singers release as their first single; dripping with false emotion, and sounding like they were composed by a committee of Soulless Record Execs.
It is not 100% bad, though, and there are a couple of bright spots, most notably "Queen" which I noted with pleasure was composed by Jully Black herself. Even this song suffers from over-production that strips out a lot of the raw emotion that soul needs to work, but at least the skeleton of the composition is strong. The hit, "Seven Day Fool" has a good beat, and Blacks' best vocal performance on the record, but not much to recommend it beyond that. Apart from these two songs, the album alternates between forgettable and annoying.
"Revival" tries to cover a lot of territory - with Black attempting on some tracks to sound sexy and trampish on "DJ Play My Song," sassy on "Seven Day Fool" and inspirational on "Catch Me When I Fall." The problem is I didn't believe her in any incarnation. On her sexy songs she sounds like a shy girl trying to prove herself otherwise. On her introspective songs she alternates between sounding preachy and like she's in a singing competition where she's focused on impressing the judges by hitting all the notes.
And that may be the worst of all. Female soul singers rely on their incredible voices. Aretha Franklin, Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones make you believe everything they sing. These ladies can sing the phonebook and make you think it's the gospel. I recently bought Sheila the new Adele album, and although I started out thinking I'd hate it, the truth is her voice is so amazing that I couldn't help but enjoy the music.
Black doesn't have the kind of range - emotional or otherwise - to bring the otherwise lacklustre songs on "Revival" to life. Compared to a layperson like me her voice is incredible, but compared to other singers in her genre, she is just OK, and the material and production isn't good enough to float the record on its own.
I admire Sheila's interest in this form of music, though - and years before I came to it. She has since agreed this is not a good example of what she was looking for and given me permission to put this album into the 'sell' pile. This is exactly where it is going as soon as I'm finished writing this review.
If you like this 'kind of music' but wish it could be better, there is hope. I strongly recommend Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings and her 2010 release "I Learned The Hard Way" which is much more deserving of your hard-earned money.
Best tracks: Queen
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