| Product Summary | | Label: Vanguard Records | | UPC: 00015707971928 | | Release Date: 6/18/2002 | | Buy.com Sku: 60556239 | | Item#: MMJ3JN | Format:  CD |
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| Song Listing |  |
Disc 1
| | Song Title | Sample | | 1. Love ~ Julia Fordham |  | | 2. Italy ~ Julia Fordham | | | 3. Wake Up With You (The I Wanna Song) ~ Julia Fordham | | | 4. Concrete Love - (featuring India.Arie) ~ Julia Fordham | | | 5. Missing Man ~ Julia Fordham | | | 6. Foolish Thing ~ Julia Fordham | | | 7. Butterfly ~ Julia Fordham | | | 8. It's Another You Day ~ Julia Fordham | | | 9. Something Right ~ Julia Fordham | | | 10. Roadside Angel ~ Julia Fordham | | | 11. Alleluia - (featuring Joe Henry) ~ Julia Fordham | |
| Simply put, Julia Fordham's album Concrete Love, floats like a butterfly and delivers like a ton of bricks. Concrete Love was produced with characteristic perception by Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell) and features, among its stellar ensemble, seven-time Grammy nominee India.Arie, who joins Julia on the title track, "Concrete Love." The pairing of their unique sultry vocals is an extraordinarily emotional and spiritual moment. The album also highlights a memorable duet with Joe Henry, who according to the Los Angeles Times "is more than simply a talented singer-songwriter. He's also fearless, risky and enlightened." Also lending their talents is the instantly identifiable virtuosity of the legendary Billy Preston on Hammond B-3 Organ and Wurlitzer Electric Piano, along with dynamic backing vocals by Sweet Pea Atkinson and Sir Harry Bowens (Was (Not Was), Bonnie Raitt). Julia also enlisted two trusted collaborators--songwriter Gary Clark (Danny Wilson, Transistor), who co-wrote four key tracks with Fordham and Larry Klein, to whom she credits the album's distinctively "groovalicious" ambiance. The result is an unquestionably inspired departure, evoking everything from Dusty In Memphis to classic Torch and Soul traditions to the ineffable pleasures of Fordham's own, precisely calibrated, four-octave range. The album's 11 selections comprise a brilliant advance for an artist whose richly textured melodies and emotionally resonant lyrics have been given potent and persuasive new stylistic settings. Concrete Love showcases, with stunning cinematic clarity, Julia's deceptively simple celebrations of love and longing. Tracks such as the evocative "Italy" and exultant "Wake Up With You" cleverly contrast the soulful "Foolish Thing," "Missing Man," and "Roadside Angel," her musical valentine to the late Minnie Riperton. Concrete Love is anchored to such pure pop delights as the sparkling "Butterfly," the engaging word play of "It's Another You Day," and the exquisite "Something Right."
| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel includes: Julia Fordham (vocals, acoustic guitar); Dean Parks, Mark Goldenberg (guitar); Billy Preston (electric piano, Wurlitzer piano, Hammond B-3 organ); Larry Klein (keboards, bass); Helik Hadar (programming); Sweet Pea Atkinson, Siry Harry Bowens, Willie Green (background vocals). | | Recorded at Market Street, Santa Monica, California and at The Village Recorder, West Los Angeles, California. | | English singer/songwriter Julia Fordham rediscovers pain and passion on her sixth album, Concrete Love. Four years since 1997's East West, Fordham has had plenty of time to experience love's greatest fun and fears, but with time on her hands to perfect something more personal. Concrete Love is probably her most stripped album since 1989's Porcelain, and Fordham's honeyed, dark, four-octave brood is at its best. She and producer Larry Klein (he produced 1994's Falling Forward) collaborate again, crafting her songwriting into something delicate, vast in bold hues of something shimmering and gold. Songs such as "It's Another You Day" and "Butterfly" are carefree with light, springlike jazz tinges. "Foolish Thing" changes tempo; the mood is sultry and Fordham's aching vocals question love's dramatic ways. She sticks with the soulful grooves throughout the entire album -- "It's Another You Day," "Missing Man" -- and breezy acoustics project a seamless composition overall. Concrete Love is an emotional record rich with layered musicianship, a signature of Fordham, but nothing less than what listeners are all feeling. "Alleluia," the breathtaking collaboration with gravelly singer/songwriter Joe Henry, bridges Fordham's most heartwrenching moment. She's confident and Concrete Love is a sure sign of such intrinsic beauty and musical grace. ~ MacKenzie Wilson |
| | Compilation Appearances |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 06/18/2002 | | Original Release Date : 2002 | | Catalog ID : 79719 | | Label : Vanguard Records (USA) | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00015707971928 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Q (12/02, p.102)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "...An intricate, soulful collection..."Uncut (1/03, p.115)
- 3 stars out of 5 - "...The title track is tastefully soulful....The songs drip with class..." CMJ (6/17/02, p.10)
- "...Dim the lights and press play..." |
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