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Ledisi - Lost & Found
CD DetailsArtist: Ledisi Edition: Music CD Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language) CD Release Date: 2007-08-28 Music Label: Verve Forecast Soundtracks: - Been Here (Intro)
- Joy
- You And Me
- Best Friend
- Alright
- Think Of You
- Today
- Get To Know You
- Upside Down
- In the Morning
- I Tried
- Lost And Found (Find Me)
- We Are One
- The One
- Someday
- Been Here (Outro)
Music reviews of Lost & FoundMusic Review: Ladies & gentlemen, I give you Ledisi Rating: 5 Stars
Although this was Ledisi's first album on a mainstream level, she's been around for years. After performing in plays like The Wiz and Beach Blanket Babylon, she released her first album SoulSinger on an independet label in 2000. Her second record Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue released in 2002 led to a piece on her in Jet magazine. I remember reading it, wondering how to pronounce her name, and then quickly forgot about her.
Five years later, Ledisi came back with Lost and Found with the singles Alright and In The Morning in constant rotation on R&B radio. I promised myself I'd pick it up, but didn't get around to it. Until a few months ago. I picked up Sade's latest cd (which is a masterpiece!) and had a few more dollars to burn. Well I already had all of Sade's other albums as well as Jill Scott's and Erykah Badu's. What to buy? While scanning the rack, my eyes fell on Ledisi. I'd heard not only the two singles, but the album tracks Best Friend and Joy as well. I took a gamble and bought it. I'm so glad I did! First things first, the girl can blow the roof off like no other! Her voice is reminiscent of legends like Chaka Khan and Anita Baker as well as fellow artists Fantasia and Jill, but Ledisi is very much her own vocalist with her own style.
After the "faux live" intro Been Here, Ledisi begs a man to let her be the one to bring him Joy and brighten up his life. The music is cool with a light funky synth and Ledisi's love struck vocals. An old school church organ opens You & Me. Despite her friends throwing doubt on Ledisi's relationship with her man, she refuses to indulge them. She knows what they have is real and she loves it when he gives her "HMMM, in the mornin'/And HMMM in the evenin'!" The plot of the jazzy Best Friend is your run of the mill "I'm starting to crush on my best friend that I've known since forever!", but Ledisi makes it sound like new. "When we're out together people smile at us/Cuz they think that you're my man/So I hold your hand like you're my man"...."I'm in love, I'm in love/With my best friend."
Alright was an excellent choice for the first single. This breezy and hopeful song finds Ledisi encouraging people to keep going for their dreams even when circumstances in life threaten to overwhelm them. "Life can bring us many changes/It's alright/People come and they go/That's just the way that it goes/Everything is everything/It's alright!" The topic turns back to love on the Roots-esque I Think of You. Backed by simple drums and a gliding piano, Ledisi claims complete devotion to her man. "Everywhere that I go/Every day, every night/I think of you." Things get a bit funkier on the ode to self love Today. Where Alright is soft and slower, Today is jazzier and a pinch rougher. Excellent.
The midtempo jam Get To Know You is similar to Joy, but more lush and laidback. The chorus is addictive and fun to sing along to. Reminds me of some of Mary J. Blige's work. Now Upside Down is where the tempo really picks up. Over a funky throwback sound to the 70s, Ledisi calls out the ills of the world and implores us to look at it and "turn it around". The best part is when she lets it rip and shows us what she's really made of vocally, scats and all.
The quiet storm backdrop of In the Morning is a major highlight. After "making love all night long", Ledisi's man always leave before morning and she can't be sure when he'll return. She voices her frustration with the situation, but he refuses to talk about it and instead they fight. She wants to leave him, but can't. This song's late night feel is intoxicating as well as Ledisi's weary vocals. She finds the strength to cut him loose on the romping I Tried, even though he wants to keep seeing her. "You've gotta let me go!/Baby, just let me go!"
The title track is a sweeping dramatic ballad, but far from sappy or depressed. Ledisi feels alone in the world and dejected by others. "Please someone find me", she begs over a wistful violin and soulful piano. I wish the twinkly, ethereal Rashaan Patterson duet We Are One was longer than just a minute. It feels like it ended just before it began and you can tell it could've been epic. It's still a great piece.
Things are looking up on the acoustic The One. After finding her way out of the darkness, Ledisi has found a man who loves her and brings her happiness. "When I felt the world stop/And my heart was breaking/You were there for me/You never left once." Ledisi praises her parents for always encouraging her to go for her dreams and being there for her on Someday. As a little girl, she vowed she would do whatever it took to make them proud of her and she did. A sweet dedication. The Been Here outro closes out the album with a shout out and thanks to the listener for allowing her to share her gift. We're all thankful.
After experiencing Lost and Found, I realize that Ledisi was more deserving of the Best New Artist Grammy. Amy Winehouse is talented as well, but voices like Ledisi's don't come around that often. Despite that, it's comforting to know that she has quite a career in front of her. With that voice, she can do anything.
More Lost & Found free music reviews: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Description of Lost & FoundNamed by Billboard Magazine as one of the Top 10 Faces to Watch in 2007, the acclaimed Bay Area-based vocalist and songwriter makes her major label debut on Verve Forecast with a show-stopping blend of soul, funk, gospel, jazz and R&B on Lost and Found. Ledisi, whose name does not rhyme with "release me" (it's LED-duh-see), nevertheless sounds like she's hit upon freedom and sweet salvation on Lost And Found, her third CD and the first on a major label (Verve). And it's not just a matter of the third time being the charm: Though she's long been the object of love from critics--2002's jazz-themed Feeling Orange But Sometimes Blue earned props for its depth and nuance, and her contribution to 2004's Luther Vandross tribute, Forever, For Always, For Luther, also prompted breathlessness--her focus this time out is less on music that'll win her respect and more on the kind that'll render her a mainstream R&B favorite. Which is to say it's a much different and more accessible record than its predecessors, the kind that comes first from the heart, then from the head. First single "Alright" grooves insistently and with deep reserves of attitude; "I Tried"--a tell-all about a doomed relationship--packs a rhythmic wallop as well as an excellent set of lyrics; and "Upside Down" gets fuel from fierce, infectious guitar funk. Those are just a sampling of what makes this an instantly diggable (and, at 16 tracks, likably long) set. Straight up is sometimes a hard road for artists who value more than their sales rank or chart position to follow, but for Ledisi it's the way to go--what turns up in this particular Lost And Found is her groove; her ticket to stardom is likely in there with it. --Tammy La Gorce
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