Leela James: A Change is Gonna Come The Change Has Arrived An Album Review By
Nfared
One look at Leela James and it’s obvious that to her, this is a little more
than just music. While other female artist are dancing around in next to nothing
or trying to figure out their next note, Leela James is totally satisfied with
her proverbial “off key” approach as documented by her debut “A Change Is Gonna
Come”. Seemingly happy with being like no one else, Leela takes her distinctive
style and runs away with a powerful music experience.

“Kiss the back of my neckbone”. This is the line starting the food sex
combination that is “Soul Food”. Whether she is talking about a meal or herself,
she makes both options irresistible as she cleverly oozes, “Sip me up like
lemonade/from a mason jar/make it good like some chicken fry and a pan of
lard/…cause when you’re not around/I’m crumbling like I’m bread. Still in a
loving mode, the feelings are directed towards self with the uplifting,
“Mistreating Myself”. Going into the chorus, she sings with a certainty that
seems to derive itself from personal experience; “You better love you/better
love yourself first/I’ve been told that I/I can’t put you above me…/I’m not gone
keep on/mistreating me.” Here, she mends the wounds of others while tending to
those of her own. “Don’t Speak” finds Leela regretting the end of a
relationship, yet wanting the process of ending it to expedite itself. She
fittingly displays being half in; “It looks as though your letting go/and if
it’s real than I don’t want know/don’t speak, I know what you’re saying/so
please stop explaining/don’t tell me cause it hurts”, and then being half out at
the bridge, “It’s all ending/lets stop pretending who we are.” Her soul brings
this familiar dichotomy to life. “Good Time” is the average lets go out and
dance and have a good time joint. The difference though is a one Pete Rock on
the production. The funky result lands Leela in a place where she is
comfortable, though her raspy vocals may not immediately give away the fact that
she can handle an uptempo track such as this. Her vocals ring true though as she
says, “Lets just have a good time”.

Needle Meter R&B definitely ain’t what it used to be. There’s this thing
called “NeoSoul” (which most artist who are put into that category hate). Then
there’s Hip-Hop Soul, Funk&B, and a whole host of other titles being tossed
around. Lets make it easy and just call it all R&B. Within R&B, some artists
have soul and others don’t. While Leela James delivers what some may consider
mood music, she has no need to worry about what she has to offer. Her soul
radiates through her music, and yes, her soul radiates through her music. Four
Needles













__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]