Let's hear it from the girls

Just in case you missed them when they came out late last year. I would like now to refresh your memory about some of the best and I must say most satisfying albums from three of the most successful female artists of our time.

The Fall by Norah Jones. Finding out that Jones can rock was not really a surprise. Her music has always had bits of jazz, soul, folk and country, which when mixed together becomes rock and roll. Besides, anybody who heard her in The Little Willies, a tribute CD for rock and country music legend Willie Nelson, will surely say that the girl can rock.

And that is just what Norah does in The Fall. Of course, hers is not the screaming, anguished rock of the girls of Heart or Patti Smyth. She is too mellow for that but the rhythm is there, her piano has taken a back seat to the guitar and the bass rumbles seductively.

I love the lead cut Chasing Pirates and her fans will surely enjoy I Wouldn’t Need You, December and Light As A Feather which come closest to her original Don’t Know Why sound. Then if like her, you also want to rock, just a bit, there are Even Though, Young Blood, Back To Manhattan, Stuck, Tell Yer Mama and Man Of The Hour.

Colour Me Free by Joss Stone. Here is proof that soul is something that cannot be learned or acquired. You have to be born with it. Such is the only explanation for the sound of Stone. The singer-songwriter burst into the music scene writing and singing like a seasoned Motown diva when she was only 16. Now 23 years old with several millions of albums sold under her belt, Stone is as sweet and soulful as ever.

This is her fourth album and it comes as a surprise. I thought Stone has abandoned singing for acting after not hearing about any new album for quite sometime and after I saw her as Anne of Cleves in the TV series The Tudors. Turns out she has not and her latest shows her at her best vocally. The years have given her voice a smooth resonance that is quite charming. And how nice to find that her vocals are a perfect match to David Sanborn’s sax in the Ray Charles goodie I Believe It To My Soul.

Sanborn is not the only guest to come out for Stone’s comeback CD. Colour Me Free also has Jeff Beck and Sheila E in Parallel Lines; Nas, who raps in Governmentalist; Raphael Saadiq is in Big Ol’ Game; and in a stunning duet, Jamie Hartman in Stalemate. Nice but Stone really does manage very well on her own. Free Me, Could Have Been You, Lady, 4 And 20 and You Got The Love are excellent examples.

Echo by Leona Lewis. How does one come up with a bigger follow-up to something like the phenomenal Bleeding Love? I do not think that even the biggest stars and most successful producers have the answer to that one. More so X-Factor sensation Lewis who embarked on recording her second CD with the baggage of 2008’s biggest single resting beautifully but also intimidatingly on her back.

She need not have worried. Her great pipes will save her any day. So while Norah Jones rocks just a little and Joss Stone is all funk and soul, Lewis is the powerhouse sounding R&B princess with all the swollen notes and extreme enhancements. This one is an album that no aspiring Pinoy diva should miss. The contents are a virtual buffet serving of vocally demanding songs.

Don’t Let Me Down, which features upcoming Manila visitor Justin Timberlake is the best of the lot. Speaking of Justin, the guy promises to sing at least eight songs when he arrives to perform in the Timbaland show. Not just one. I believe him. Now back to Lewis.

First cut Happy is the one that comes closest to Bleeding Love and I Got You is certainly the most commercial. Other cuts included are Can’t Breathe, Brave, Outta My Head, My Hands, Love Letter, Broken, Naked, Stop Crying Your Heart Out, Alive and Lost Then Found (with OneRepublic).