Album Review: Jill Scott - "The Real Thing"

Although there was no need to, Jill Scott proves on this album that she still is - and will likely always be - the real thing. As she's done on all her albums before this, Jill thrills listeners with her wonderfully powerful voice and introspective and insightful lyrics. This album though, unlike its predecessors, has an almost palpable undercurrent of melancholy and/or sadness on quite a few songs, and some tracks are also very adult and erotic in nature. There's also unimaginative Jazz production on some songs that's bland enough to sink a lesser singer, but doesn't completely derail The Real Thing.

If you're expecting the album's first single, the defiant "Hate On Me," to be indicative of the sound and feel of Jill Scott's The Real Thing: Words & Sounds Vol. 3, you're in for a surprise. "Hate On Me," an anti-negativity anthem inspired by Jill reading opinions of her on an Internet message board, is unusually uptempo and confrontational in comparison to the rest of the album's content. The song is an island of energy and attitude surrounded by a relatively placid sea of mid-tempo and down-tempo jazz-influenced songs.

That said, the Adam Blackstone-produced "Hate On Me," is without a doubt one of the album's highlights, both vocally and musically. Two other songs come fairly close though; the first is title track, a guitar-riff driven tune on which Jill lays down the law:
"You gotta do right by me, it's mandatory baby ... don't play no games, that'll ruin thangs and that'll make me leave ya or mistreat ya."
The other really outstanding song is "Crown Royal," where Jill sensuously sings about making love: "Your hands on my hips pull me right back to you/I catch that thrust, give it right back to you/In so deep I'm breathing for you/You grab my braids, arch my back high for you."
The song is sexy and sensual without getting too explicit, and has an ethereal quality to it. The only real problem with it (other than the chorus, which sounds too much like a TV commercial) is that the song doesn't go on longer; it clocks in at just a minute and 48 seconds. (There's an extended version of it on the deluxe edition of the album, but we'll get to that later in the review.)

The only real criticism of The Real Thing is the music that accompanies Jill's words and singing. Most of the producers here (Vidal Davis, Andre Harris, the aforementioned Adam Blackstone) have worked with Jill in the past, but this time out, their contributions are, for the most part, somewhat lackluster. Of the 15 songs on the regular edition of the album, the whole middle portion of the album is bogged down by formulaic, adult contemporary jazz-lite that adds little to the album.

In all fairness though, it likely was Jilly from Philly herself who wanted to take this album in a more mature direction (the fact that she's carrying a purse on the album cover might be a clue). Jill was going through a divorce and living with life as a newly single woman during the making of the album, so that partially explains why this album's tone is noticibly darker than her previous albums, but some songs here really don't gel.

On the deluxe edition of album, there's two more songs (for a total of 17), plus a DVD containing five music videos and an interview with Jill. The two songs, "Imaginary/Crown Royal Suite," (a reworking of the previously-mentioned Crown Royal" song); and "Rightness," an awesome uptempo jam that probably should have been on the album's regular edition. Of the DVD material, the music videos are your typical performance type and nothing special. The disc's highlight is a 15-minute interview with Jill who talks about her life and songs on the album. The interview, which comes across as a private conversation with a close friend, is a must for devoted Jill fans.