Meshell Ndegeocello - Bitter

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Music reviews of Bitter

Music Review: Earthy Spiritual Music
Rating: 5 Stars

I was a fan Me'shell's first CD in 1993 and played it do death, especially the final track "Falling in Love (On the Subway Train)". I was fascinated with her mixture of styles: jazz, hip-hop, rock. I loved her bass and her attention to sonic detail throughout.

I also learned from her more information about the state of urban black politics in America.

But I quickly tired of her caustic, didactic lyrics, which were often quite ugly. To this day, I find "If He Was Your Boyfriend, He Wasn't Last Night"and "Souls on Ice"to be really offensive and annoying. For a time, I would skip those songs and go straight to her prettier ballads. But eventually, just the reminder of those songs being on the disk made me put it aside for years.

I had virtually forgotten about her 3 years later when "Peace Beyond Passion" came out. For the longest time, I avoided it like the plague, and then finally caved in. I found it to have even less redeeming values than the first album. But I loved, and still do, the psychedelic guitar-driven "God Shiva." After a week or so of listening to that song, I put that album away, not to be taken out again until about 2 months ago.

I almost didn't buy Bitter. The title was enough to get me thinking she was a musical genius still stuck at the maturity level of a suffering adolescent. But the store had it at a listening station, so curiosity killed the cat.

The first two songs blew me away. Real growth. I had to have it.

It hogged my CD player for 2 months.

I loved the singing. The deceptive simplicity. The brilliance of the arrangements. The depth of emotion.

But a month and a half into listening to it, I discovered another side to it that I haven't heard commented on. Either people aren't aware of it or they think it's too private to mention.

I noticed how often she uses the word "you". It got me thinking "why?" and "who?" Obviously, it's not all the same "you" throughout.

Then, I came to some conclusions.

For the better part of first half of the album, "you"refers to a former lover who betrayed her.

Another "you" present in the album's songs is a new lover.

But one time, as I was pulling into my garage, I thought of another possibility while listening to "Grace".

And it jumped out at me. She's not singing about falling in love with a new human lover, but God. The caresses and kisses are figurative.

This was a major epiphany for me. I don't know why or how, but discovering this meaning to this song answered all my questions, and, for the first time, gave me unwavering faith in God.

If this song is listened to on a decent pair of headphones, you hear, buried deep in the mix, an occasional POP or CRACK sound. That's a representation of God.

Other songs on the album with possible or obvious spiritual themes are "Faithful", "Satisfy", among others.

So the true theme of this album is how the end of a human relationship can lead to a deeper one with God.

And it's set to music that's beautiful and brilliant. The only synthetic stuff is in the transitions. The rest of the music is all real. Natural. Deep. Honest.

How many artists today combine acoustic guitars with strings so fluidly, especially black ones?

If you are looking for a somewhat thematically similar album, check out "Keep A Secret" by The Mysteries of Life. It's also a fairly mellow album about the hesitation and hope that comes with change. They are a band from Indiana with one of the best unknown, growing singer/ songwriters our country has ever produced. It might be hard to come by because they were dropped by RCA last year. Their follow up is more accessible and polished, but isn't as introspective.

Description of Bitter

Alternative Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Blues
• Dance & Electronic
• Folk
• Pop
• R&B
• Rock