Great debut...

A debut album from a new ( nu? ) soul singer. Her voice gives faint traces of past vocal legends such as Billie Holiday. Faint traces, it's not a dead ringer, but if you like Billie Holiday, yeah, there are moments here enough to make you smile. Really, it's irrelevant because Erykah is enough of an artist in her own right. In fact, it seems from listening to this record that she arrived fully formed and distinctive - I've not heard another album quite like this. Her character shines through the songs, and that's not always the case with modern soul. The very fact that Erykah does have a distinctive voice helps enormously in this. Sure, the musical backing at times seems like generic modern R&B but her voices sails effortlessly over the top and shapes the music in the process. As far as the songs here are concerned, they are easy to listen to on a surface level but dig deeper, listen more - and nuances and depths are revealed. The lyrics are fine, quality things. "Rimshot' is a short opener, a prelude - not a song as such, but it leads perfectly into second song, "On & On". Which really, is just a fantastic song, plain and simple. Her voice is languid, sensual and playful all at the same time. It's a perfectly structured song and should have been a massive hit everywhere. Other highlights include "Appletree", an up-tempo piece of playfulness and fun with her voice doing all sorts of things to help you smile. Such a fantastic voice, you've really got to focus on it. Well, you don't have to, of course, but it's hard not to. Very hard indeed to resist, and why would you? This is glorious stuff.