When I first heard Joss Stone on the radio I thought it was an Aretha Franklin recording made as a youngster.

When I discovered that she was white and a current pop darling I was amazed.

When people like Dean Parrish and Doni Burdick are rightly regard as soul artists, then I can only assume that UK soul fans have an inverted prejudice towards white soul performers - especially if they are English and (God forbid) sucessful. Blinkers off please

There. That'll set the Owl amongst the pigs. Or some such phrase.

Joss Stone is to soul what Jamie Cullum is to jazz - not a lot. She might have a good voice but her records sound completely soulless to me.

Joss Stone is to soul what Jamie Cullum is to jazz - not a lot. She might have a good voice but her records sound completely soulless to me.

link

No offence but his is what I mean about blinkered views. The reason I said she was soulfull was because I truly believed it was an old Aretha recording that I heard, not a contemporary track.

Dont follow jazz so cant say anything about Jamie Cullem. What I do know about jazz fans is that they accept all colours and nationalities.

i totaly agree with you on that one its only because she is in the charts and has lets be honest a fantasic voice. but its pop soul at the end of the day pleasing to 8year olds to 80 year olds its like the advert for lamar and i quote them on this the UK's biggest soul singer ummmmmmmmmmm i think not

its comertial crap to me

No offence but his is what I mean about blinkered views. The reason I said she was soulfull was because I truly believed it was an old Aretha recording that I heard, not a contemporary track.

Dont follow jazz so cant say anything about Jamie Cullem. What I do know about jazz fans is that they accept all colours and nationalities.

link

No offence taken. I don't think that I am being blinkered, she just doesn't do it for me. I think that there is a difference between being a technically proficient singer and being soulful, I agree that Joss Stone is the former but I don't think that she is the later. For me she typifies everything that is wrong with modern music and the banal easy listening twaddle that the music industry and mainstream media is foisting upon us.

i totaly agree with you on that one its only because she is in the charts and has lets be honest a fantasic voice. but its pop soul at the end of the day pleasing to 8year olds to 80 year olds  its like the advert for lamar and i quote them on this the UK's biggest soul singer ummmmmmmmmmm i think not 

its comertial crap to me 

link

=======

Baz,

What if she covered a northern or motown classic? Something that we all consider soulful, could she pull it off? She is a commercial singer, and she is in it for the money, no one doubts that, but isn't/wasn't everyone? In the 60Ts, when singers released their records, do you think they were hoping for success, or failure, I would guess the first. If said release had been successful, (say J.D. Bryant) and charted, then it would have been lost to the northern scene because it wouldn't meet the obscurity criteria required. It probably wouldn't even be mentioned on SS, and would be generally be regarded, as just another commercial release, for the uneducated masses.

Winnie:-)

PS personally I think she's a good singer, and capable of soulful performance

PS personally I think she's a good singer, and capable of soulful performance

link

I don't agree.

Whilst it's commendable that many original Soul artists were used, I still find that her singing is not quite there....

Too many sharp intakes of breath whilst she's singing point out that she is struggling with the material.

Playing Devils Advocate here.......Instead of going out and buying her average commercial CD, why not try picking up CDs by the original artists?

And when she sings live she cant carry a note in a bucket... (ala the awful Brits Duet with that other Chancer Robbie Williams)

WOOF!

No offence taken. I don't think that I am being blinkered, she just doesn't do it for me. I think that there is a difference between being a technically proficient singer and being soulful, I agree that Joss Stone is the former but I don't think that she is the later. For me she typifies everything that is wrong with modern music and the banal easy listening twaddle that the music industry and mainstream media is foisting upon us.

link

I could almost defy anyone to hear JS cold and not say that she sounded "black" and "american". I truly did think I was listening to Aretha.

Some great singers never got the breaks. One of my all time favourites is Dean Parish but he was white and not at all soulful?

Lorriane Silver, Puala Parfit, Judy Street. The soulful bees-knees. Yeah right.

No offence taken. I don't think that I am being blinkered, she just doesn't do it for me. I think that there is a difference between being a technically proficient singer and being soulful, I agree that Joss Stone is the former but I don't think that she is the later. For me she typifies everything that is wrong with modern music and the banal easy listening twaddle that the music industry and mainstream media is foisting upon us.

link

Pretty much hits the nail on the head for me. I find her voice pleasant but she doesnt "feel" the music somehow. There's something missing. I listen to a fair bit of contemporary soul and Joss Stone just doesn't make the grade.

Wouldn't buy her CD, but might buy it for my Mum if you know what I mean

Corinne Drewery (Swing Out Sister) I prefer to listen to her singing anyday, maybe not Aretha Franklin but there is something soulful baout her voice and songs IMO

This thread has been on before a couple of months ago, I agree with Pikeys Dog that she needs to learn to breathe all you hear at the end of every line is a huge intake of breath. When I go back to when I first heard Aretha sing way back in the 60s Joss Stone is and never will be in the same class. Just play a track by each back to back and you will see what I mean.

I could almost defy anyone to hear JS cold and not say that she sounded "black" and "american".  I truly did think I was listening to Aretha.

Some great singers never got the breaks. One of my all time favourites is Dean Parish but he was white and not at all soulful?

Lorriane Silver, Puala Parfit, Judy Street. The soulful bees-knees. Yeah right.

link

My ex used to play her all the time at low volume, drove me up the wall. Saccharine. If you mistook her for AF may I politely suggest that you get a new radio?

hey winny didnt see you at press that in sir

there is no doubt in my mind see could sing very soulful but what she has gave us so far isnt IMHO i think these big money labels now adays recon they can call any thing soul if the put a fey 'yeahs' 'oh yeah' and so on... in the song

hey winny didnt see you at press that in sir 

there is no doubt in my mind see could sing very soulful but what she has gave us so far isnt IMHO  i think these big money labels now adays recon they can call any thing soul if the put a fey  'yeahs' 'oh yeah' and so on... in the song

link

======

Didn't get to pressssstatyyn this year as I have a course I have to go on ;-(

Read your post, and think it's the most soulful one of the year......probably cos you put in a 'yeah' and an 'oh yeah'

======

Didn't get to pressssstatyyn this year as I have a course I have to go on ;-(

Read your post, and think it's the most soulful one of the year......probably cos you put in a 'yeah' and an 'oh yeah'     

link

oh yeah it was fantastic even dave was dancing

Corinne Drewery (Swing Out Sister) I prefer to listen to her singing anyday,

link

Good call listen to her back to back with Joss Stone, no competition.

matt

When I first heard Joss Stone on the radio I thought it was an Aretha Franklin recording made as a youngster.

When I discovered that she was white and a current pop darling I was amazed.

When people like Dean Parrish and Doni Burdick are rightly regard as soul artists, then I can only assume that UK soul fans have an inverted prejudice towards white soul performers - especially if they are English and (God forbid) sucessful. Blinkers off please

There. That'll set the Owl amongst the pigs. Or some such phrase.

link

I also thought it was Aretha Franklin. Joss Stone has a truly brilliant soulful voice. I'd never have guessed she was white in a million years

Playing Devils Advocate here.......Instead of going out and buying her average commercial CD, why not try picking up CDs by the original artists?

link

Could you just try to be a little more patronising

Joss Stone has a soulful voice but she's not a Soul singer, if that makes sense.

It needs to be remembered that record companies these days leave nothing to chance so her voice would have been messed about with before the CD was actually released. For what it's worth I think one or two of the tracks are decent but the majority are below average. If Aretha or anyone else had the same material they'd have done better with it but I don't think the material is that good.

If Joss Stone was a black singer from Memphis (which is what the record company would have you believe she sounds like) only those determined enough to track her down would ever hear about her. It's the age-old story: at last we've found someone who sounds black but isn't.

The best thing I can think to say about Joss Stone is that she is 'harmless karaoke'. So what if she sounds 'almost' like certain famous soul singers - there's a guy ourside Waverly Station right now who plays guitar 'almost' like George Harrison... doesn't make him a star though.

Hammy

Can't agree with many of the posts here. Joss Stone is a very credible blue-eyed soul singer. Like it or not its taken the US RnB charts by storm. AND..... take a look at who was behind the arrangement of her tracks and then seek their view of her as an artist. The only thing she lacks to appeal to the masses of our scene is that shes white, about 40 years too late and no longer obscure.... that aside, I think she has exactly all the right incredients.

Just saying like it is!!

link

I agree, v. true. think some people dont give people a chance and just slag them down for not the right 'stereotype'! If u havent got anything good to say dont say nothing it at all! (can't think who it's by?! but I know I like it!!!)

Can't agree with many of the posts here. Joss Stone is a very credible blue-eyed soul singer. Like it or not its taken the US RnB charts by storm. AND..... take a look at who was behind the arrangement of her tracks and then seek their view of her as an artist. The only thing she lacks to appeal to the masses of our scene is that shes white, about 40 years too late and no longer obscure.... that aside, I think she has exactly all the right incredients.

Just saying it like it is!!

link

I suppose she is the Dusty Springfield of the 21st century, her image is also an important factor in her popularity. I think that there are lots of other non-white singers who fit the same mold as JS such as Beyonce, J.Lopez, all stunning and to some very talented.......and very packagable

Can't agree with many of the posts here. Joss Stone is a very credible blue-eyed soul singer. Like it or not its taken the US RnB charts by storm. AND..... take a look at who was behind the arrangement of her tracks and then seek their view of her as an artist. The only thing she lacks to appeal to the masses of our scene is that shes white, about 40 years too late and no longer obscure.... that aside, I think she has exactly all the right incredients.

Just saying it like it is!!

link

I won't bother posting on this thread as Donkey read my mind

When I first heard Joss Stone on the radio I thought it was an Aretha Franklin recording made as a youngster.

When I discovered that she was white and a current pop darling I was amazed.

When people like Dean Parrish and Doni Burdick are rightly regard as soul artists, then I can only assume that UK soul fans have an inverted prejudice towards white soul performers - especially if they are English and (God forbid) sucessful. Blinkers off please

There. That'll set the Owl amongst the pigs. Or some such phrase.

link

The earliest Aretha Franklin recording I've heard is from 1956 - she was 14. I find it hard to believe that a pop puppet like Joss Stone could give anything like as electrifying a performance as Aretha Franklin gives on "There is A Fountain Filled With Blood" or "Yield Not To Temptation". In fact I could put the cat amongst the pigeons and suggest that nothing Ms Franklin did in the popular music field was ever as mind-blowingly amazing as her live gospel recordings from the New Bethel Baptist Church, Detroit in 1956.

I wouldn't really categorize Joss Stone as a white soul performer, more a soul tinged pop act. Yes, she has a good voice, but even better management who've had the nous to market her well and gain credibility by choosing the right artists to collaborate with.

It's firmly in the "Nice-ish" pigeonhole, not the "So Soulful It Hurts" one.

I'm going with Pikey's Dog and Hammy on this one. This is Imitation Soul. What Pikey's Dog said about buying the real thing is absolutely correct.

It reminds me of something one of the Isleys - Ronald I think - said on programme I watched a while back. His point was that in the music business it was difficult if not actually impossible to keep one step ahead of all the lauded and highly acclaimed newcomers that the money men put on the market.

I'm frankly surprised that any Soul lover has any time for these kind of competent but run of the mill performers who are presented to the world as great. Meanwhile the truly great continue to be overlooked.

If you mistook her for AF may I politely suggest that you get a new radio?

link

I'm with Billy Freemantle and Sweeney on this one. I sometimes wonder what people actually take from the music they listen to: to classify Joss Stone as any kind of Soul singer is surely a crass disservice to truly soulful performers of both past and present. Her career is testimony to skillful music business handling in A&R and marketing terms; no more or less than that.

It frankly makes my blood boil that some contributors to this forum laud Joss Stone while they would run a proverbial mile from any genuinely soulful newly-released 'product' (I use the term reluctantly) by the likes of Jeff Floyd or indeed Ms Stone's erstwhile mentor/producer Betty Wright.

I'm with Billy Freemantle and Sweeney on this one. I sometimes wonder what people actually take from the music they listen to: to classify Joss Stone as any kind of Soul singer is surely a crass disservice to truly soulful performers of both past and present. Her career is testimony to skillful music business handling in A&R and marketing terms; no more or less than that.

It frankly makes my blood boil that some contributors to this forum laud Joss Stone while they would run a proverbial mile from any genuinely soulful newly-released 'product' (I use the term reluctantly) by the likes of Jeff Floyd or indeed Ms Stone's erstwhile mentor/producer Betty Wright.

link

So she has no talent and it's all marketing and hype right?

When I first heard her I thought she had a great voice, simple as that, I didn't think to find out whether she was black or white because I make my opinion on the sound not the colour of the skin.

No doubt if she was black you'd be asking the powers that be to make her a saint.

And as for 'soulful newly released product'....has there been any in the last 25 years?

I really really hate the reverse racism on this site.

As Christian H will confirm, I don't mind white soul singers so can't be accused of reverse racism Pete but I think Joss Stone is pretty poor. Sounds flat to my ears apart from anything else.

All a load of marketing hype IMO.