Years before the arrivals of Adele and the late Amy Winehouse on the scene, R&B/Soul singer Joss Stone ruled British Soul music. She managed to release four commercially successful and critically acclaimed albums by the time she was 22. And now, the best material from those albums has been compiled into The Best of Joss Stone 2003-2009, which was released in the U.S. on Oct. 4, 2011. The compilation represents the end of an era; not only is it her last from Virgin America & EMI Records, it might be her last true R&B/Soul release, since she's now switched over to a more bluesy-rock sound.
A Gradual Evolution
Like any true greatest hits album, The Best of Joss Stone 2003-2009 lives up to its name. It's filled with the singer's best work from her first four albums, starting with the launch of her career as a teenager when she mostly covered '60s and '70s Soul songs to her gradual evolution and gravitation to more modern sounds, like rap and hip-hop. And also like most greatest hits albums, it also represents the end of an era; Joss has moved on and started her own label, Stone'd Records. (It was Stone'd that released her fifth album, LP1, three months prior to when this compilation dropped.)
As she grew older, Joss began to complain about the direction her overseers had plotted for her career when she was in her teens, but Best of makes it evident that those early years were the best of her recording career so far. Tracks like her brilliant 2003 cover of the White Stripes' rocker "Fell in Love with a Girl," 2004's melancholy "Right to be Wrong" and 2005's sassy "Don't Cha Wanna Ride" are among her best work ever.
As she grew older, Joss began to complain about the direction her overseers had plotted for her career when she was in her teens, but Best of makes it evident that those early years were the best of her recording career so far. Tracks like her brilliant 2003 cover of the White Stripes' rocker "Fell in Love with a Girl," 2004's melancholy "Right to be Wrong" and 2005's sassy "Don't Cha Wanna Ride" are among her best work ever.
Vocal Versatility
© Virgin Records.
Although her early work was more refined, it was after Joss Stone branched out to embrace a more modern sound that Joss sounded happier and more comfortable. The Raphael Saadiq-produced "Tell Me 'Bout It" and "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now," featuring the rapper Common, both from her 2007 album, Introducing Joss Stone, display her still-emerging vocal versatility.
Even the relatively weaker songs here, "Free Me" and "Stalemate," which are from her 2009 album, Colour Me Free!, are stronger than anything on her first post-EMI release, LP1, a bluesy-rock offering which was both a commercial and critical disappointment. And with Joss now working with music superstars Mick Jagger, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and others in the band Superheavy, Best of is likely a final tribute to the Joss of old, that is, the young Joss. And it's a fitting tribute to a young woman whose immense talent made her a music superstar before she was even 20 years old.
Even the relatively weaker songs here, "Free Me" and "Stalemate," which are from her 2009 album, Colour Me Free!, are stronger than anything on her first post-EMI release, LP1, a bluesy-rock offering which was both a commercial and critical disappointment. And with Joss now working with music superstars Mick Jagger, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and others in the band Superheavy, Best of is likely a final tribute to the Joss of old, that is, the young Joss. And it's a fitting tribute to a young woman whose immense talent made her a music superstar before she was even 20 years old.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by Virgin Records America. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.