The times are dark for pop music. I believe I can speak for fellow pop-enthusiasts in saying we are ashamed of our genre. We have dumb blondes (and their sisters) and well... Usher, dominating our charts. It's quite sad really. I can't tell you what's going on, I can only wonder as I lay awake at night and cry...

But don't give up hope yet, fellow pop followers (and anyone else who may be reading this review.) There is a glimmer of something promising. And that is Miss Joss Stone.

Joss Stone is 17 years old, English, and all chock full of soul. Miss Stone scored a record deal to create an album of original material, but became enthralled with a side project that would become The Soul Sessions. Joss took on crooning classic songs from the likes of The Isley Brothers and Aretha Franklin, and in a few short weeks, created an album that next to its competitors is in one simple word, refreshing.

Stone has a voice that is gentle at times, but a powerhouse at others, finding the perfect medium and always getting there at the right time. Even those with great voices (Jessica Simpson, for example) can screw them up at times, blaring out unnecessary notes or just plain whispering. But Stone sounds like she's been at it for much longer than her 17 years, placing her volume, her dynamic, perfectly in tune. But it's not only the quality of Stone's voice, it has an indescribable quality. It doesn't just sound nice, it manages to transfer you. Transfer you to a different time and place. A time and place where music atop the charts didn't suck.

On songs like the laid back Dirty Man, she sounds absolutely enthused to be singing this soulful song. Like with most times, her voice is absolutely perfect over light drumming and a bluesy guitar line. Keeping on the balladeer front is the amazing I Have A Dream, where her voice is soft and supple, and absolutely impossible to resist. You forget that you're listening to a 17 year old girl, all that matters is listening to it. The same is with the otherwise boring For The Love Of You. Joss makes this somewhat of a sleeper and manages to keep the listener enthralled for th entire seven minutes.

When she gets the tempo up, she shifts into another character. On the lead single, Fell In Love With A Boy, she keeps it funky and puts herself right into the groove so the listener gets there too. On Super Duper Love, she sounds so excited that it's hard not to shimmy your hips with the old school groove. And although she can't out-Aretha Aretha, she pulls off a respectable version of All The Kings Horses, taking her voice to gentle and subdued to a force to be reckoned with.

Joss does have her missteps, but they are few and far between. The most notable is Some Kind Of Wonderful, a song that doesn't vary much from the original and falls somewhat flat. The song isn't that great anyway, and Joss seems to be less enthused. But it's forgettable among the rest of the wonderful tracks.

The main thing to marvel at with Joss Stone is that even though not one of these songs is her own, she manages to make it sound like it was written specifically for her to sing. She wraps her voice around a song and woos it into her own. And that is a talent in itself.

Even if Joss's first album of original material falls flat (which I don't find likely), The Soul Sessions is an offering impressive enough to make her a potential pop music force. And besides, any way you look at it, she's better than Usher.

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Track Listing
1. The Chokin' Kind
2. Super Duper Love
3. Fell In Love With A Boy
4. Victim Of A Foolish Heart
5. Dirty Man
6. Some Kind Of Wonderful
7. I've Fallen In Love With You
8. I Had A Dream
9. All The King's Horses
10. For The Love Of You

Repeat It: The Chokin' Kind, Fell In Love With A Boy, Dirty Man, I Had A Dream

Skip It: Some Kind Of Wonderful

Great Music To Play While: Breaking your radio in frustration from hearing Usher's song Yeah for the gazillionth time.

Recommended: Yes