After years of expectations, anticipation and setbacks, British vocalist Marsha Ambrosius has finally released her debut solo album, Late Nights & Early Mornings. Marsha, who was once half of the groundbreaking R&B/spoken word duo Floetry and was also signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment for a time, has apparently found a supportive home on J Records. And Late Nights, which was released in the U.S. on March 1, 2011, is an effort that succeeds on numerous levels: vocally, creatively and production-wise. This could mark the beginning of a very nice solo career for Marsha.
Seductive & Sexy
If you were a fan of Marsha Ambrosius's former group, Floetry, and were expecting Late Nights & Early Mornings to carry the same type of flavor as the duo's two albums from the early 2000s, you might be somewhat surprised with this effort. On the duo's work, Marsha only carried half the vocal load, and had to adjust her singing to fit with that of Natalie "The Floacist" Stewart's spoken word contributions to each song. The combination of singing and poetry was a unique mix at the time, but the drawback was that some songs lacked sonic cohesion. But that's definitely no longer the case now that Marsha's on her own. Each of the 13 tracks on Late Nights is a genuine R&B song, and Marsha's full-throated vocals are the album's greatest strength.
There's plenty of very good material on the album, with the standouts being the tender and romantic opening track, "Anticipation;" the highly sensual "With You," which manages to be seductive without having to get down-n-dirty; and the title track, a sex ode that's essentially an homage to Prince songs of the mid-to-late 1980s. Among the album's other superb material is a couple of cover songs. On one, "Lose Myself," Marsha rearranges the little-known Lauryn Hill song, which was originally on the soundtrack to the 2007 animated film "Surf's Up." Marsha's version is sort of the vocal opposite of the original: it's strong, polished and confident, as opposed to Lauryn's, which was so emotionally fragile that it sounded like she could become unhinged at any moment.
There's plenty of very good material on the album, with the standouts being the tender and romantic opening track, "Anticipation;" the highly sensual "With You," which manages to be seductive without having to get down-n-dirty; and the title track, a sex ode that's essentially an homage to Prince songs of the mid-to-late 1980s. Among the album's other superb material is a couple of cover songs. On one, "Lose Myself," Marsha rearranges the little-known Lauryn Hill song, which was originally on the soundtrack to the 2007 animated film "Surf's Up." Marsha's version is sort of the vocal opposite of the original: it's strong, polished and confident, as opposed to Lauryn's, which was so emotionally fragile that it sounded like she could become unhinged at any moment.
A Clear Vision
© J Records.
The other cover song where Marsha shines is "Sour Times," an almost note-for-note remake of the 1994 song by the groundbreaking trip-hop group Portishead. Although she doesn't quite manage to capture the cold loneliness and dread that singer Beth Gibbons injected into the original, the remake still holds it's own, particularly musically. And what's even more impressive about the "Sour Times" cover is that it's one of five songs on Late Night produced solely by Marsha (she also co-produced another two tracks). And without exception, each of the songs she produced are fully fleshed-out, well-rounded tracks. It's pretty clear that in the years that it took to record the album, she developed a clear vision of how she wanted it to sound and then managed to implement her vision expertly.
That said, it's not a perfect album. The first single, "Hope She Cheats On You (with a Basketball Player)," deserves props for keeping it real and raw, but the song's lyrics come across as petty and small-minded within the context of the full album. It worked as a buzz single to gain her attention, but the bitterness and attitude don't fit in with the album's overall positive vibe. Another drawback to the album is that the song quality dips on the final few tracks. Three-fourths of Late Nights soars high, but the last three tracks are a little bland and too formulaic.
But overall, this is a highly successful album creatively, and Marsha definitely shows here that she's one of the better vocal talents in contemporary R&B.
That said, it's not a perfect album. The first single, "Hope She Cheats On You (with a Basketball Player)," deserves props for keeping it real and raw, but the song's lyrics come across as petty and small-minded within the context of the full album. It worked as a buzz single to gain her attention, but the bitterness and attitude don't fit in with the album's overall positive vibe. Another drawback to the album is that the song quality dips on the final few tracks. Three-fourths of Late Nights soars high, but the last three tracks are a little bland and too formulaic.
But overall, this is a highly successful album creatively, and Marsha definitely shows here that she's one of the better vocal talents in contemporary R&B.