Hello, rather convenient it's women's day, so here's someone who knows plenty about being a woman in a men's world.
Today's Artist could be best be described as funk? R&B? Soul? Rock? Singer-songwriter? Poetry? The answer is...all of the above. She hits it out the park with such deep grooves, catchy drums, tasty guitar breaks and sorrowful lyrics. Some of her non-PC words make it hard to drop songs into playlists for public consumption, but that doesn't mean they're not worthy. She has received significant critical acclaim throughout her career, and although she has never won a Grammy Award, she has been nominated ten times. She has been credited for helping to have "sparked the neo-soul movement."....N Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Although Meshell Ndegeocello scored a few hits early in her career, the bassist, singer, and songwriter later opted to concentrate on more challenging material by exploring the politics of race and sex, among other topics. From her 1993 Maverick label debut through her releases of the 2010s for Naïve, she built a discography of recordings that defied classification through progressive mixtures of jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and rock. Initially held in regard primarily for her bass playing and bold lyrics, her songwriting, which often examined dark interpersonal issues, was just as exceptional.
Michelle Lynn Johnson, born on August 29, 1968, spent the first few years of her life in Germany. Her father was both a military man and a jazz saxophonist. She relocated with her family to Virginia in the early '70s. As a youngster, Johnson developed an interest in music; during her teenage years, she began to play regularly in the clubs of Washington, D.C., but eventually settled down in New York City after a stint of studying music at Howard University. By this point, she was going by Me'Shell NdegéOcello -- her adopted last name Swahili for "free like a bird."
Ndegeocello honed her skills on the D.C. go-go circuit in the late 1980s with the bands Prophecy, Little Bennie and the Masters, and Rare Essence. She unsuccessfully tried out for Living Colour's bassist position, vacated in 1992 by Muzz Skillings. NdegéOcello struck out on her own and often performed solo with just a bass, drum machine, and keyboard. In the early '90s, she was one of the first artists signed to Madonna's Warner-affiliated Maverick label.
NdegéOcello's debut album, 1993's Plantation Lullabies, was produced with David Gamson, as well as with André Betts and Bob Power, and involved input from a wide range of musicians, including DJ Premier, Joshua Redman, Bill Summers, Wah-Wah Watson, and David Fiuczynski. An impressive first album, presenting a distinctly androgynous persona, spawned the hit "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)" and received three Grammy nominations. A duet with John Mellencamp on a cover of Van Morrison's "Wild Night," released a year later, brought her more mainstream attention; it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
Her biggest hit is a duet with John Mellencamp, a cover version of Van Morrison's "Wild Night", which reached No. 3 on the Billboard charts. Her only other Billboard Hot 100 hit besides "Wild Night" has been her self-penned "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)", which peaked at No. 73 in 1994. Also in 1994, Ndegeocello collaborated with Herbie Hancock on "Nocturnal Sunshine," a track for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African American community, was heralded as "Album of the Year" by Time magazine.
She had a No. 1 Dance hit in 1996 with a Bill Withers cover song called "Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?" (briefly featured in the film Jerry Maguire) as well as Dance Top 20 hits with "Earth", "Leviticus: Faggot", "Stay" and the aforementioned "If That's Your Boyfriend.. Last Night)". Ndegeocello played bass on the song "I'd Rather be Your Lover" for Madonna on her album Bedtime Stories. Ndegeocello was also tapped, at the last minute, to perform a rap on the same song. This came after Madonna and producers decided to remove Tupac Shakur's rap (which he did while he and Madonna were dating in 1994), after he had criminal charges filed against him. Almost three years passed between the release of NdegéOcello's first and second albums, but during the wait, she collaborated with Chaka Khan on the track "Never Miss the Water," and she appeared on movie soundtracks (White Man's Burden, Money Talks) and on such multi-artist releases as Ain't Nuthin' But a She Thing and Lilith Fair, Vol. 3. Peace Beyond Passion finally saw release in 1996, peaked higher on the Billboard 200 (at number 63), and was also nominated for a Best R&B Album Grammy. Its cover of Bill Withers' "Who Is He (And What Is He to You?)" topped Billboard's club chart. Produced by Gamson, it featured a longer list of noted associates, including several heard on the debut, as well as Billy Preston, Bennie Maupin, David Torn, Wendy Melvoin, and Paul Riser.
Another three-year break between albums occurred, during which time she collaborated with rapper Queen Pen on the track "Girlfriend." Bitter, for which she was billed as Meshell Ndegéocello, was released in 1999. She took another three-year break and emerged with Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape -- as Meshell Ndegeocello -- in 2002. Comfort Woman followed in 2003 and Dance of the Infidel, a sprawling album made with numerous collaborators from the jazz world, surfaced in 2005. Two years later, her fantastic Decca debut, The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams, which included guest appearances from Pat Metheny and Oumou Sangare, was released. Her music has been featured in a number of film soundtracks including How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Lost & Delirious, Batman & Robin, Love Jones, Love & Basketball, Talk to Me, Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls, The Best Man, Higher Learning, Down in the Delta, The Hurricane, Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom, and Soul Men.
She has appeared on recordings by Basement Jaxx, Indigo Girls, Scritti Politti, and The Blind Boys of Alabama. On The Rolling Stones' 1997 album Bridges to Babylon she plays bass on the song "Saint of Me". On Alanis Morissette's 2002 album Under Rug Swept, she plays bass on the songs "So Unsexy" and "You Owe Me Nothing in Return". On Zap Mama's album ReCreation (2009), she plays bass on the song "African Diamond".
Her first pop-related recording in half a decade, 2009's Devil's Halo featured Ndegeocello in a quartet setting. The album also included guest spots from Lisa Germano and Oren Bloedow. Ndegeocello toured the album in opera houses and concert halls across the United States and Europe. In 2011, she partnered with Grammy-winning producer Joe Henry for the album Weather; it was issued on the Naïve label. In 2012, Ndegeocello released Pour une Âme Souveraine: A Dedication to Nina Simone, a collection of tunes intimately associated with the legendary vocalist and pianist. Comet, Come to Me, another deep set of introspective songs, followed in 2014. During the next few years, she appeared on a wide assortment of recordings by the likes of Terry Lyne Carrington, Chris Connelly, Benji Hughes, Marcus Strickland (whose Nihil Novi she produced), and Ibeyi. She returned as a leader in 2018 with Ventriloquism, for which she reinterpreted formative R&B classics of the '80s and early '90s.
Personal life
Ndegeocello is bisexual and previously had a relationship with feminist author Rebecca Walker. Ndegeocello's first son, Solomon, was born in 1989. As of 2011 she had been married to Alison Riley for five years, with whom she has a second son.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Me'shell NdegéOcello's debut album twists and turns through so many genres -- R&B, pop, jazz, hip-hop -- that it's hard to put a finger on just where she wants to take its 13 songs. That she also spins conventional racial and sexual identity here makes Plantation Lullabies an occasionally overwhelming -- as well as a vibrantly sophisticated -- listen. NdegéOcello defies labels throughout, tagging her slinking and crawling songs with a rubbery flow that's just as rooted in '70s funky soul as it is in '90s hip-hop culture. The best songs here -- "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)," "Dred Loc," and "Outside Your Door" -- work their way into their grooves with a seamless, and almost uniform, bounce. It can be a bit derivative (for all of NdegéOcello's genre crossing, she always seems to go back to the same musical blueprint), but most of the time it's just about as boundary-busting and as affecting as '90s R&B gets.
Me'Shell Ndegeocello - Plantation Lullabies (flac 323mb)
01 Plantation Lullabies 1:31
02 I'm Diggin You (Like An Old Soul Record) 4:25
03 If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night) 4:31
04 Shoot'n Up And Gett'n High 4:14
05 Dred Loc 4:05
06 Untitled 1:41
07 Step Into The Projects 3:54
08 Soul On Ice 5:08
09 Call Me 4:45
10 Outside Your Door 5:08
11 Picture Show 4:38
12 Sweet Love 4:54
13 Two Lonely Hearts (On The Subway) 4:16
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
There are times on Me'Shell Ndegéocello's second album where the funky hybrid of R&B and alt-pop that she laid down on her 1993 debut, Plantation Lullabies, actually seems to take on an ethereal quality. Beats and grooves float effortlessly out of the fluid rhythms, and Ndegéocello herself sings with a soothing reserve that was a little too deliberate on her previous work. And it's a better album because of it. Peace Beyond Passion is built around a triumvirate of songs addressing man's inhumanity toward man throughout the ages (with such heavy-handed titles as "Deuteronomy: Niggerman" and "Leviticus: Faggot"), but the real highlights of the set are a wry take on Bill Withers' "Who Is He and What Is He to You" and the ultra-smooth, slow-burning "Stay." It's new age soul that's as spiritually purifying as it is musically sophisticated, but with a deliberately distressed cover
Me'Shell Ndegeocello - Peace Beyond Passion (flac 355mb)
01 The Womb 1:26
02 The Way 4:58
03 Deuteronomy: Niggerman 4:01
04 Ecclesiastes: Free My Heart 5:22
05 Leviticus: Faggot 6:08
06 Mary Magdalene 5:51
07 God Shiva 4:06
08 Who Is He And What Is He To You 4:49
09 Stay 4:30
10 Bittersweet 5:17
11 A Tear And A Smile 3:49
12 Make Me Wanna Holler 8:50
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Bitter is an appropriate title for Meshell Ndegéocello's third album. Inspired by a torturous romantic relationship, Bitter surges with emotions, and most of them are shaded with regret, remorse, or bitterness. Undoubtedly, the relationship was painful, but it has given Ndegéocello an artistic focus missing on her two previous albums. It provides a sorrowful, meditative emotional template that she matches with moody, slow songs that flow into each other. It's the kind of album that demands close listening, otherwise it has the tendency to fade into the background. For some listeners, concentrated listening may be a little difficult, given the bleak emotions of the music, but Ndegéocello's subtle songcraft truly reveals itself upon close inspection. And, with repeated plays, Bitter reveals itself as the most personal -- and in many ways, most rewarding -- album of her career.
Me'Shell Ndegeocello - Bitter (flac 272mb)
01 Adam 2:24
02 Fool Of Me 3:30
03 Faithful 4:46
04 Satisfy 4:05
05 Bitter 4:15
06 May This Be Love 5:17
07 Sincerity 5:30
08 Loyalty 4:20
09 Beautiful 2:44
10 Eve 1:23
11 Wasted Time 4:55
12 Grace 4:27
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To get immediately to the point, if Meshell Ndegeocello's Comfort Woman isn't regarded as one of the finest contemporary soul albums of 2003, then those who review music for a living had better get eardrum transplants and a transfusion of blood to get rid of the sawdust, or quit to sell used cars, work in a fast-food establishment, or pump gas. The marketplace is tricky, but if this disc doesn't sell, then Madonna needs to fire her marketing department at Maverick. Comfort Woman is a deeply sensual album, sexy as hell and drenched with lush, richly textured bass grooves that bubble under warmly and luxuriantly in a series of songs that may not be all that divergent in tempo, but don't have to be either. This is late-night music, where the sound of a bass doesn't so much pop as it rumbles in the lower spine, looking for release. Make no mistake on Comfort Woman, space is the place and that place is reached via two vehicles, a perfect commingling of the spirits of dub reggae and mid-'70s soul and groove jazz. Think, perhaps, of David Sancious and Teena Marie as bandmates with Sly & Robbie in the rhythm section, Jimi Hendrix's "Rainy Day, Dream Away" as a music model, and Sade as vocalist -- you get the idea. The opening track, "Love Song," begins with a spacy bassline, rumbling in the lower register soft enough to ease its way into a song yet tough enough that it won't let the listener go. With a B-3 shimmering in the background, Ndegeocello begins to sing, so s-l-o-o-o-o-o-w-l-y: "If you want me, baby, just call/Let me kiss your body/Fill you with love/Let me feed your body/Feed it with love/I can't sleep...this is love/This is how I love you...." She croons with a breathy Smokey Robinson coo. On "Come Smoke My Herb," you can hear traces of both Shuggie Otis' and the Brothers Johnson's ballads infused with the brazen promise of Joni Mitchell and Gregory Isaacs meeting in bliss to swing and sway under a dubwise moon. Speaking of moons, "Liliquoi Moon" features guest guitarist Oren Bloedow, who adds his tonal dexterity to a soulfully psychedelic mix of woven acoustic guitars, a lullaby melody, and life-affirming lyrics until the end when Doyle Bramhall goes into overdrive in his solo, transforming the tune into a shape-shifting poltergeist of a track. Bramhall also lends his axe to "Love Song #3," which was truly inspired by Hendrixian grace and elegance à la Electric Ladyland. "Love Song # 2" and "Andromeda & the Milky Way" are sex beat tracks, music with a slow walking tiger in the hips as bass and keyboards stride out, loping, then halting and curling around the listener like smoke. Fact of the matter is, Comfort Woman is one of the most forward-thinking records to come out of contemporary soul in well over a decade. It's possible to remember when Prince made music as fine, sensual, and spiritual as this, but it's a struggle. This is Ndegeocello's finest moment on record thus far, and is as good as it gets in the field.
Me'Shell Ndegeocello - Comfort Woman (flac 260mb)
01 Playing For Time 5:16
02 Expressway 4:26
03 Magic 4:55
04 Take A Breath 5:16
05 Prime Time 5:32
06 Hitchhiker 3:58
07 High Season 4:54
08 Quick Step 4:09
09 In A Word 3:45
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Today's Artist could be best be described as funk? R&B? Soul? Rock? Singer-songwriter? Poetry? The answer is...all of the above. She hits it out the park with such deep grooves, catchy drums, tasty guitar breaks and sorrowful lyrics. Some of her non-PC words make it hard to drop songs into playlists for public consumption, but that doesn't mean they're not worthy. She has received significant critical acclaim throughout her career, and although she has never won a Grammy Award, she has been nominated ten times. She has been credited for helping to have "sparked the neo-soul movement."....N Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Although Meshell Ndegeocello scored a few hits early in her career, the bassist, singer, and songwriter later opted to concentrate on more challenging material by exploring the politics of race and sex, among other topics. From her 1993 Maverick label debut through her releases of the 2010s for Naïve, she built a discography of recordings that defied classification through progressive mixtures of jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and rock. Initially held in regard primarily for her bass playing and bold lyrics, her songwriting, which often examined dark interpersonal issues, was just as exceptional.
Michelle Lynn Johnson, born on August 29, 1968, spent the first few years of her life in Germany. Her father was both a military man and a jazz saxophonist. She relocated with her family to Virginia in the early '70s. As a youngster, Johnson developed an interest in music; during her teenage years, she began to play regularly in the clubs of Washington, D.C., but eventually settled down in New York City after a stint of studying music at Howard University. By this point, she was going by Me'Shell NdegéOcello -- her adopted last name Swahili for "free like a bird."
Ndegeocello honed her skills on the D.C. go-go circuit in the late 1980s with the bands Prophecy, Little Bennie and the Masters, and Rare Essence. She unsuccessfully tried out for Living Colour's bassist position, vacated in 1992 by Muzz Skillings. NdegéOcello struck out on her own and often performed solo with just a bass, drum machine, and keyboard. In the early '90s, she was one of the first artists signed to Madonna's Warner-affiliated Maverick label.
NdegéOcello's debut album, 1993's Plantation Lullabies, was produced with David Gamson, as well as with André Betts and Bob Power, and involved input from a wide range of musicians, including DJ Premier, Joshua Redman, Bill Summers, Wah-Wah Watson, and David Fiuczynski. An impressive first album, presenting a distinctly androgynous persona, spawned the hit "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)" and received three Grammy nominations. A duet with John Mellencamp on a cover of Van Morrison's "Wild Night," released a year later, brought her more mainstream attention; it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
Her biggest hit is a duet with John Mellencamp, a cover version of Van Morrison's "Wild Night", which reached No. 3 on the Billboard charts. Her only other Billboard Hot 100 hit besides "Wild Night" has been her self-penned "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)", which peaked at No. 73 in 1994. Also in 1994, Ndegeocello collaborated with Herbie Hancock on "Nocturnal Sunshine," a track for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African American community, was heralded as "Album of the Year" by Time magazine.
She had a No. 1 Dance hit in 1996 with a Bill Withers cover song called "Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?" (briefly featured in the film Jerry Maguire) as well as Dance Top 20 hits with "Earth", "Leviticus: Faggot", "Stay" and the aforementioned "If That's Your Boyfriend.. Last Night)". Ndegeocello played bass on the song "I'd Rather be Your Lover" for Madonna on her album Bedtime Stories. Ndegeocello was also tapped, at the last minute, to perform a rap on the same song. This came after Madonna and producers decided to remove Tupac Shakur's rap (which he did while he and Madonna were dating in 1994), after he had criminal charges filed against him. Almost three years passed between the release of NdegéOcello's first and second albums, but during the wait, she collaborated with Chaka Khan on the track "Never Miss the Water," and she appeared on movie soundtracks (White Man's Burden, Money Talks) and on such multi-artist releases as Ain't Nuthin' But a She Thing and Lilith Fair, Vol. 3. Peace Beyond Passion finally saw release in 1996, peaked higher on the Billboard 200 (at number 63), and was also nominated for a Best R&B Album Grammy. Its cover of Bill Withers' "Who Is He (And What Is He to You?)" topped Billboard's club chart. Produced by Gamson, it featured a longer list of noted associates, including several heard on the debut, as well as Billy Preston, Bennie Maupin, David Torn, Wendy Melvoin, and Paul Riser.
Another three-year break between albums occurred, during which time she collaborated with rapper Queen Pen on the track "Girlfriend." Bitter, for which she was billed as Meshell Ndegéocello, was released in 1999. She took another three-year break and emerged with Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape -- as Meshell Ndegeocello -- in 2002. Comfort Woman followed in 2003 and Dance of the Infidel, a sprawling album made with numerous collaborators from the jazz world, surfaced in 2005. Two years later, her fantastic Decca debut, The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams, which included guest appearances from Pat Metheny and Oumou Sangare, was released. Her music has been featured in a number of film soundtracks including How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Lost & Delirious, Batman & Robin, Love Jones, Love & Basketball, Talk to Me, Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls, The Best Man, Higher Learning, Down in the Delta, The Hurricane, Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom, and Soul Men.
She has appeared on recordings by Basement Jaxx, Indigo Girls, Scritti Politti, and The Blind Boys of Alabama. On The Rolling Stones' 1997 album Bridges to Babylon she plays bass on the song "Saint of Me". On Alanis Morissette's 2002 album Under Rug Swept, she plays bass on the songs "So Unsexy" and "You Owe Me Nothing in Return". On Zap Mama's album ReCreation (2009), she plays bass on the song "African Diamond".
Her first pop-related recording in half a decade, 2009's Devil's Halo featured Ndegeocello in a quartet setting. The album also included guest spots from Lisa Germano and Oren Bloedow. Ndegeocello toured the album in opera houses and concert halls across the United States and Europe. In 2011, she partnered with Grammy-winning producer Joe Henry for the album Weather; it was issued on the Naïve label. In 2012, Ndegeocello released Pour une Âme Souveraine: A Dedication to Nina Simone, a collection of tunes intimately associated with the legendary vocalist and pianist. Comet, Come to Me, another deep set of introspective songs, followed in 2014. During the next few years, she appeared on a wide assortment of recordings by the likes of Terry Lyne Carrington, Chris Connelly, Benji Hughes, Marcus Strickland (whose Nihil Novi she produced), and Ibeyi. She returned as a leader in 2018 with Ventriloquism, for which she reinterpreted formative R&B classics of the '80s and early '90s.
Personal life
Ndegeocello is bisexual and previously had a relationship with feminist author Rebecca Walker. Ndegeocello's first son, Solomon, was born in 1989. As of 2011 she had been married to Alison Riley for five years, with whom she has a second son.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Me'shell NdegéOcello's debut album twists and turns through so many genres -- R&B, pop, jazz, hip-hop -- that it's hard to put a finger on just where she wants to take its 13 songs. That she also spins conventional racial and sexual identity here makes Plantation Lullabies an occasionally overwhelming -- as well as a vibrantly sophisticated -- listen. NdegéOcello defies labels throughout, tagging her slinking and crawling songs with a rubbery flow that's just as rooted in '70s funky soul as it is in '90s hip-hop culture. The best songs here -- "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)," "Dred Loc," and "Outside Your Door" -- work their way into their grooves with a seamless, and almost uniform, bounce. It can be a bit derivative (for all of NdegéOcello's genre crossing, she always seems to go back to the same musical blueprint), but most of the time it's just about as boundary-busting and as affecting as '90s R&B gets.
Me'Shell Ndegeocello - Plantation Lullabies (flac 323mb)
01 Plantation Lullabies 1:31
02 I'm Diggin You (Like An Old Soul Record) 4:25
03 If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night) 4:31
04 Shoot'n Up And Gett'n High 4:14
05 Dred Loc 4:05
06 Untitled 1:41
07 Step Into The Projects 3:54
08 Soul On Ice 5:08
09 Call Me 4:45
10 Outside Your Door 5:08
11 Picture Show 4:38
12 Sweet Love 4:54
13 Two Lonely Hearts (On The Subway) 4:16
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
There are times on Me'Shell Ndegéocello's second album where the funky hybrid of R&B and alt-pop that she laid down on her 1993 debut, Plantation Lullabies, actually seems to take on an ethereal quality. Beats and grooves float effortlessly out of the fluid rhythms, and Ndegéocello herself sings with a soothing reserve that was a little too deliberate on her previous work. And it's a better album because of it. Peace Beyond Passion is built around a triumvirate of songs addressing man's inhumanity toward man throughout the ages (with such heavy-handed titles as "Deuteronomy: Niggerman" and "Leviticus: Faggot"), but the real highlights of the set are a wry take on Bill Withers' "Who Is He and What Is He to You" and the ultra-smooth, slow-burning "Stay." It's new age soul that's as spiritually purifying as it is musically sophisticated, but with a deliberately distressed cover
Me'Shell Ndegeocello - Peace Beyond Passion (flac 355mb)
01 The Womb 1:26
02 The Way 4:58
03 Deuteronomy: Niggerman 4:01
04 Ecclesiastes: Free My Heart 5:22
05 Leviticus: Faggot 6:08
06 Mary Magdalene 5:51
07 God Shiva 4:06
08 Who Is He And What Is He To You 4:49
09 Stay 4:30
10 Bittersweet 5:17
11 A Tear And A Smile 3:49
12 Make Me Wanna Holler 8:50
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Bitter is an appropriate title for Meshell Ndegéocello's third album. Inspired by a torturous romantic relationship, Bitter surges with emotions, and most of them are shaded with regret, remorse, or bitterness. Undoubtedly, the relationship was painful, but it has given Ndegéocello an artistic focus missing on her two previous albums. It provides a sorrowful, meditative emotional template that she matches with moody, slow songs that flow into each other. It's the kind of album that demands close listening, otherwise it has the tendency to fade into the background. For some listeners, concentrated listening may be a little difficult, given the bleak emotions of the music, but Ndegéocello's subtle songcraft truly reveals itself upon close inspection. And, with repeated plays, Bitter reveals itself as the most personal -- and in many ways, most rewarding -- album of her career.
Me'Shell Ndegeocello - Bitter (flac 272mb)
01 Adam 2:24
02 Fool Of Me 3:30
03 Faithful 4:46
04 Satisfy 4:05
05 Bitter 4:15
06 May This Be Love 5:17
07 Sincerity 5:30
08 Loyalty 4:20
09 Beautiful 2:44
10 Eve 1:23
11 Wasted Time 4:55
12 Grace 4:27
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
To get immediately to the point, if Meshell Ndegeocello's Comfort Woman isn't regarded as one of the finest contemporary soul albums of 2003, then those who review music for a living had better get eardrum transplants and a transfusion of blood to get rid of the sawdust, or quit to sell used cars, work in a fast-food establishment, or pump gas. The marketplace is tricky, but if this disc doesn't sell, then Madonna needs to fire her marketing department at Maverick. Comfort Woman is a deeply sensual album, sexy as hell and drenched with lush, richly textured bass grooves that bubble under warmly and luxuriantly in a series of songs that may not be all that divergent in tempo, but don't have to be either. This is late-night music, where the sound of a bass doesn't so much pop as it rumbles in the lower spine, looking for release. Make no mistake on Comfort Woman, space is the place and that place is reached via two vehicles, a perfect commingling of the spirits of dub reggae and mid-'70s soul and groove jazz. Think, perhaps, of David Sancious and Teena Marie as bandmates with Sly & Robbie in the rhythm section, Jimi Hendrix's "Rainy Day, Dream Away" as a music model, and Sade as vocalist -- you get the idea. The opening track, "Love Song," begins with a spacy bassline, rumbling in the lower register soft enough to ease its way into a song yet tough enough that it won't let the listener go. With a B-3 shimmering in the background, Ndegeocello begins to sing, so s-l-o-o-o-o-o-w-l-y: "If you want me, baby, just call/Let me kiss your body/Fill you with love/Let me feed your body/Feed it with love/I can't sleep...this is love/This is how I love you...." She croons with a breathy Smokey Robinson coo. On "Come Smoke My Herb," you can hear traces of both Shuggie Otis' and the Brothers Johnson's ballads infused with the brazen promise of Joni Mitchell and Gregory Isaacs meeting in bliss to swing and sway under a dubwise moon. Speaking of moons, "Liliquoi Moon" features guest guitarist Oren Bloedow, who adds his tonal dexterity to a soulfully psychedelic mix of woven acoustic guitars, a lullaby melody, and life-affirming lyrics until the end when Doyle Bramhall goes into overdrive in his solo, transforming the tune into a shape-shifting poltergeist of a track. Bramhall also lends his axe to "Love Song #3," which was truly inspired by Hendrixian grace and elegance à la Electric Ladyland. "Love Song # 2" and "Andromeda & the Milky Way" are sex beat tracks, music with a slow walking tiger in the hips as bass and keyboards stride out, loping, then halting and curling around the listener like smoke. Fact of the matter is, Comfort Woman is one of the most forward-thinking records to come out of contemporary soul in well over a decade. It's possible to remember when Prince made music as fine, sensual, and spiritual as this, but it's a struggle. This is Ndegeocello's finest moment on record thus far, and is as good as it gets in the field.
Me'Shell Ndegeocello - Comfort Woman (flac 260mb)
01 Playing For Time 5:16
02 Expressway 4:26
03 Magic 4:55
04 Take A Breath 5:16
05 Prime Time 5:32
06 Hitchhiker 3:58
07 High Season 4:54
08 Quick Step 4:09
09 In A Word 3:45
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
3 comments:
More of her please !!!
Greetz
Carlo
Most pleasant voice I have heard for ages!
Hello Rho,
I hope you are well.
Please Re-up Meshell Ndegeocello's Comfort Woman when you get a chance.
Thanks,
Sam
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