![]() Neil Diamond, "Hot August Night (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)" (UMe): The icon's most iconic album is celebrated with a new edition that adds four unreleased bonus tracks to the original offering. Randy Crawford and Joe Sample, "Live" (PRA): The onetime Crusaders partners join forces on a concert set with Steve Gadd on drums and Sample's son Nicklas on bass.Ĭrosby, Stills & Nash, "CSN 2012" (CSN): A two-CD and DVD career-spanning chronicle of the venerable trio on stage in the present day. ![]() With Ernie Isley on guitar throughout and guests such as Delbert McClinton and Betty Wright, Stone's abundant soul sounds just as good in this second batch of "Sessions."Īlchemist, "Russian Roulette" (Shady/eOne): The California rapper and producer crafts a hip-hop concept album with guest appearances from Detroit's Danny Brown, Guilty Simpson, Evidence and others.Ĭeltic Thunder, "Voyage II" (Decca): The vocal troupe takes on "Danny Boy," "The Dutchman," "Hallelujah" and other staples and originals on its latest conceptual release. She returns to the concept here, digging deep for gems from the catalogs of the Chi-Lites ("Stoned Out of My Mind"), Womack & Womack ("Teardrops") and the Dells ("The Love We Had ((Stays On My Mind))") and even surprising with a girl group-styled rendition of Broken Bells' "The High Road." Her gospel-flavored take of Toussaint McCall's "Nothing Takes the Place of You" is a highlight, and she gives Sylvia's "Pillow Talk" - one of only a couple of actual hits Stone covers here - more muscle than the original. In 2003, Joss Stone made jaws drop with the powerhouse vocals delivered in the initial "Soul Sessions" album, which established her as an original voice as well as an ace interpreter. It sparkles in more than a few spots, but it doesn't really shine. ![]() Nevertheless, the "American Idol" champ comes off as matured and capable, if not exactly divalicious, here, whether re-creating some of the Mayfield songs - "Jump," "Hooked on Your Love" and "Something He Can Feel" with co-stars Carmen Ejogo and Tika Sumpter - and the torchy "Look Into Your Heart" - or delivering Kelly's emotive "One Wing" and the sultry "Love Will." Cee-Lo Green gets things started on a good note with the brassy "I'm a Man," and Goapele's "Running," another Kelly-written track, has an urgency that brings a bit of contemporary sheen to a decidedly old-school party. Nor is she Aretha Franklin, who recorded the Curtis Mayfield-written songs for the original 1976 version of the film. Kelly-written single "Celebrate," a duet with co-star Jordin Sparks who performs the kind of vocal swoops that used to be Houston's trademark. The irony, of course, is that Houston is only featured on two of its 11 tracks - a husky rendition of the gospel standard "His Eye is on the Sparrow," backed by Detroit's Voices of Praise choir, and on the buoyant, R. Now it's notable for housing the last two songs she recorded before dying on Feb. "Sparkle: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"įive and half months ago, this soundtrack was a big deal because it would be the first new Whitney Houston recordings in three years.
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