Jessie Ware - Tough Love

Jessie Ware

Tough Love

13 October 2014

PMR/Island/Interscope

 

 

2.5 stars out of 5

 

 

 

Jessie Ware’s 2012 debut LP, Devotion, was an interesting and very listenable exercise in soul, harkening back to the early days of Sade and the quiet storm movement of the ‘70s. Two years later she gives us her second LP, Tough Love, and all of the promise of her debut—the idea that Ware might become this decade’s great English soul singer—turns out to be just wishful thinking. Tough Love isn’t much beyond bland, derivative, and boring.

 

 

Things start out at a very underwhelming pace with the lukewarm title track, and then fizzle out and die after that. All of the edges to the production that made Devotion so listenable are completely absent on Tough Love. Dave Okumu (of The Invisible) produced ten of the eleven tracks on Devotion, while handling the knobs on only two of Tough Love’s eleven. Could this be the reason why the latter is such a dull record? Possibly, though at this point it’s unlikely that anyone would be still interested enough in Ware as an artist in her own right to be moved to care. File this one under “L” for “lost potential.”

 

 

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Katy B - Little Red

Katy B
Little Red
7 February 2014
Rinse/Columbia/Sony

3 stars out of 5

 

On Little Red, Katy B has forsaken the dubstep touches that made On a Mission a memorable moment among the otherwise disposable dance pop rotation of 2011 (or any other given year). What remains is pretty much the same album, minus what made her debut something special. This is still a very danceable record that will probably saturate the world’s shopping malls and teenage parties for the next few months. It should be pretty easy to pick up the used CD at second hand stores by July or August, so there’s always a plus side.

The opening “Next Thing” offers 1994 house vibes with 2014 production, a template which is maintained for the rest of the record. After the mostly forgettable “5 AM,” things get a little more interesting with “Aaliyah,” a dark number featuring fellow British chanteuse Jessie Ware. It’s still in the same retro house vein, but it’s got spark. “I Like You” has a bit of an edge, flirting with Incunabula-era Autrechre sounds in its fourth quarter, but still remaining firmly in the dance pop genre. “Everything” and “Sapphire Blue” have catchy choruses, but the remainder of the album is generally standard fare.

If you lived through the Top 40 dance tracks of the ‘90s you’ve already heard this record in one form or another. There are even hints of a drum’n’bass break on “Emotions.” Mind you, Katy B’s take on this genre sounds fresh and almost exciting. Enjoy it while you can, however, because while this is a generally fun record, it will likely be forgotten by the year’s end.

reviewed by Richard Krueger