cletta1201's Full Review: Voyage to India by India.Arie
7. Seven. Siete. Sabat. In any language you say it resonates just about the same. The number, a reference to the number of Grammy statuettes India.Arie was nominated for but failed to capture was a shock to everyone. Even those who preferred media darling Alicia Keys had to admit that nominating someone for 7 awards and sending them home empty-handed is a bit surprising. The first words one hears when listening to Arie's sophomore album are: The only thing/ Constant in the world/ Is change/ That?s why/ Today I take life as it comes and with those words you know that Arie is okay.
With Voyage To India the comparisons to Keys will stop because Arie has definitely set herself apart from the more slick and stylized sounds of Keys and is really more like Tracey Chapman or the new Lauryn Hill than anything. With this album Arie attempts to show her growth and ability and regrettably, it doesn?t always come off as intended.
- Track Listing -
01. Growth (intro)
02. Little Things
03. Talk To Her
04. Slow Down
05. The Truth
06. Beautiful Surprise
07. Healing (interlude)
08. Get It Together
09. Headed In The Right Direction
10. Can I Walk With You
11. The One
12. Complicated Melody
13. Gratitude (interlude)
14. Good Man
15. God Is Real
16. Bonus Track: Interested
It appears that with 13 full songs that there was a storm of creativity behind Arie and that might be a bit of a curse depending on your preferences. The songs are super-extended but the album begins to wear somewhere around tracks 11 and 12 where you simply want to wrap the experience up. It's not even that the latter material isn't good, it's that there's just too much material period.
Little Things is the lead single from Voyage To India and honestly - I think it's a quite pitiful attempt at being polished and radio-friendly and sounds ultra-contrived and silly with it's little samples of a baby's voice and its drum machine. If I wasn't a solid music fan than I might have passed on the album from this track alone. Talk To Her isn't much better with its message of treating a woman right. It's no "Video" and it's so produced that it really hurts the heart.
Thankfully Arie does redeem herself with Slow Down which is one of few songs that are reminiscent of her debut album. It's still very produced but the beat, background vocals and pseudo spanish guitar meld together well. Having compared Arie to Tracy Chapman, fans of her guitar styling will be disappointed since she only plays on 6 of 16 tracks, a bit of letdown since the guitar is part of the real appeal that Arie possessed. What not playing the guitar allows for however, is a viable showcasing of Arie's vocals which were glossed over for the guitar talent and approachable lyrics.
Get It Together is a real treat musically and I feel it should be a single (if not should have been the lead). It's just polished enough to appeal to people who don't get folk and not so glossy that the neo-soul folk get upset. If you take a moment and think about Arie the word that come to mind are probably Alicia Keys, Grammy, Guitar, Video and Singer needs to be added to that list because she has a great range.
Headed In The Right Direction reminds me of Phil Collins for some reason. The sound resonates and sounds very '88 but the song is solid. The 80?s jam session keeps on keeping on with Can I Walk With You which is just a bit much. The music conjures up horrible images and sounds just about that bad. The voyage does get back on track with The One which features a background singers presence so strong that it could almost be a duet. That aside, it's a classy song that shows Arie is an adult exploring love and life.
Good Man is Voyage's Brown Skin. An excellent song about love and loss - this is what I imagine Arie is capable of and should be doing. Songs that are introspective, crisp and beautiful. For those of you who are into freebies the "limited edition" version has a bonus track in "Interested" which is another throwback to old Arie and it should have been included on all the albums not just the "limited edition".
- Final Thoughts -
I honestly like Arie and I applaud her balls out audacity to release an album that isn't much like what she first offered. I understand it's an attempt to show her flexibility and diversity but sometimes it just comes out sounding convoluted and hurried. The problem remains though, that the good songs are outstanding and the bad ones stink like poo. Approach the album with caution - I would only recommend this album to people who are open to artist change and won?t mind the polish but for now, I'm going with not recommended and 3 stars.
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