joy to the world

Today’s Review of the Day and Daily Download feature a record that, had I heard it in time, would have easily placed in my top 5 of 2007. As it is, I’ve been listening to it at least twice daily, and every time I find something new to love. The record is Born & Raised by Joy Denalane. Please allow me a few moments to freak out over how awesome it is.

I was introduced to the record in a kind of roundabout way; Todd had noticed it in a record label newsletter and passed it along as something I might enjoy. Initially I was skeptical; with a few obvious exceptions, contemporary R&B is an area we tend not to be too strong in. It took me all of two minutes to fall in love with Born & Raised, at which point I set about attempting to convert anyone who’d listen.

The record is marvelous, a sharp and spirited update of the classic ’60s R&B sound, anchored in Joy’s gorgeous, rugged voice. Some of her contemporaries fake flair with extended melismas and tricky runs, but Joy lives in the groove — she moves her voice only as the music commands her, scaling up the horn chart in the social justice anthem “Change” and weaving between the church organ and spiraling strings in the magnificent title track. Born & Raised has an urgency and power I haven’t heard since The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill — a reference I do not make flippantly. She turns Raekwon’s classic “Heaven & Hell” into a song of desperation and longing and even gets Rae himself to turn in a terrifically tough verse. Born & Raised is loaded with scorching soul songs that are equal parts Mary Weiss and Mary J. Blige. And that is a very, very good thing.

The track featured as the Daily Download isn’t really the best introduction. So if I can persuade you, take a chance on “Caught Up.” If you’re not completely swept up and knocked out by the note she hits at 2:27, this is not a record for you.