I dedicate this review to my supasoulsista, cletta1201.

When an album receives seven Grammy nominations, people will usually stand up and take notice. When a debut album from an R&B/soul songstress receives seven Grammy nominations, people will stand up and take notice even faster. That's what happened to me with India Arie and her debut album Acoustic Soul.

You see, I'm a silly suburban white boy, seduced by the sounds of grinding guitars, loud drums, and wailing lead singers. Whether it's punk, metal, rock, or hardcore, I probably have at least a small interest in it. Hence my nickname on this site, which I've played up so much that I figure I'll just leave it alone just this once. Black music and black culture (sorry, I'm not politically correct, you can all deal) hasn't ever really been A1 on my list of interests. Sure, I liked Dr.Dre and Snoop Dogg back in middle school like everyone else, but it's not like I had any clue what they were singing about.

Ironically, as a huge lover of ska, I was getting into an art form that grew straight from Jamaica, and I didn't even realize it at first. That drew me to Bob Marley, Desmond Dekker, and The Skatalites. All three of those artists/groups were legendary, they had something to say. For the first time, I actually began to understand the full struggle of what blacks went through, not just in America, but throughout the world. Marley especially had a huge effect on me and the way I looked at the world.

The other thing that drew me away from the 1990s hip hop/rap/soul etc scenes was the simple fact that it all seemed so damned translucent. It was about money, or girls, or "poppin a cap in yo a*s." Sorry, none of that hit me much (I also mean no disrespect to the artists who tried to go beyond that and were met with crappy sales). Boyz II Men, All 4 You, Blackstreet, and even Jodeci, they're all the same to me. I don't believe a word out of their mouths, it's all a big show. Half of it was called R&B, even though they wouldn't know R&B if it hit them in the face with a shovel. Anyways, in the last year, I've seen a revolution of sorts in the R&B world. Alicia Keys, Arie, and even a bit of a rebirth of the queen of hip hop soul herself, Mary J. Blige led to this suburban white kid looking into the new R&B.

My first stop was Arie, as you can probably guess. Reviews on Keys and Blige are coming soon too. Her seven Grammy nods notwithstanding (even if she didn't win any), she was the logical first choice because I loved the song Video from the first time I heard it. Maybe I'm misinterpreting things but to me, she's all about substance in this song. It's like a big smack in the face to those girls who bare all for the latest Jay-Z video. And while there's no way I can relate to most of the lyrics, I can understand where she's coming from, which at times can be more important.

Brown Skin is another song that I could never in a million years relate to. But it is sultry, sexy, and even a bit seductive. India's voice sounds really good here, restrained yet passionate. She's just going straight from the soul, and I hear some gospel elements in this song as well.

The first song I don't particularly care for is Nature, a song that doesn't really fit the rest of the album, and a song that sounds too much like generic R&B garbage, especially on the chorus. It doesn't take very long for India to redeem herself though, and in a big back to back way.

I'm talking about Back to the Middle and Ready for Love, a pair of gorgeous acoustic ballads. Back to the Middle is a great song about the ups and downs of life, how one minute it can be the most joyous thing on the planet, and the next, the most depressing.

Ready for Love is a song that should've been nominated for song of the year, but wasn't because, to my knowledge, it wasn't released as a single. It's much like Back to the Middle, except that it deals with love rather than life. Just India's gorgeous voice and some simple instrumentation. Now this is some soul music, maybe not in the most traditional sense, but soul music nonetheless.

The second half of the album takes on a much heavier hip hop vibe, and I think it suffers because of it. Regardless, there are still a couple of standout tracks, namely Beautiful, another simple acoustic ballad that doesn't get caught up in the overdose of hip hop flavor that permeates throughout the songs around it.

The Stevie Wonder Dedication track Wonderful isn't anything that special, which is disappointing. If you're gonna pay tribute to Stevie, you have to do it right: even this suburban white boy knows that!

All in all, Acoustic Soul is a very good album, although the second half does bring down the spectacular first half just a bit. The Intro, Interlude, and Outros are all rather annoying to me as well. Just write another song rather than take up 3 trackspaces with filler.

The breakdown:
Song You Heard on Radio/MTV: Video
Songs You Should Hear on Radio/MTV: Back to the Middle, Brown Skin, Ready for Love
My fave: Beautiful
Avoid: Nature, Always in My Head






Recommended: Yes