Joan Osborne Albums (8)
What The Critics Say
When Joan Osborne released her chart-topping Relish album on Mercury way back in 1995, she worked with the production team of Rick Chertoff, Rob Hyman, and Eric Bazilian. That album yielded the single "One of Us," which has become a culturally ubiquitous song. It points to spiritual questions and ambivalence, but it also underscores the Lilith Fair period in pop music. Since that time, Osborne has recorded five more albums of varying quality (including a Christmas record), issued a greatest-hits comp, and was an integral part of the film and soundtrack for Standing in the Shadows of Motown; she was also an occasional member of theGrateful Dead's touring ensemble for a couple of years. She's done soul, singer/songwriter, and adult pop albums, but none of them, despite their aesthetic merit, have ever scored anything close to the popular acclaim as Relish did. On Little Wild One, released on her own Womanly Hips imprint, Osborne reunites the award-winning team that produced Relish and has written 9 of 11 songs with its various members. The album is consciously directed less at showcasing the force of nature that is her singing voice, and more toward showcasing her as a chanteuse of sophisticated, songwriter-oriented pop and soft rock. As a group, this quartet works well together. There is a seamless quality to these songs and their performances that is cohesive yet fluid. The opening track, "Hallelujah in the City," is a clear stunner; both a prayer to some nebulous spiritual force and a revisiting of "One of Us"'s spiritual ambivalence from the other side; there is real reverence here, but ultimately we have no idea who this statement of need is directed toward: God? A betrayed loved one? A Muse? Its military snare, open, ringing electric guitars, hurdy-gurdy, and piano offer a framework for an anthem and Osborne delivers it but subtly. Her voice is wide and clear, singing both to the heavens and to her adopted hometown of New York City, which is both a topical and a poetic muse on Little Wild One and is referenced on numerous cuts. It gives way to "Sweeter Than the Rest," a midtempo, minor-key rocker that, because of its electric 12-string electric guitars, is reminiscent of some of Tom Petty's earlier work -- jazz bassist Mark Egan also returns from the Relish roster to play bass here and on other select cuts on the disc. The title track features Osborne on vocals and Bazilian on everything else. It's a paean to wild desire delivered without overt force that contains a maximum of direct, unsubtle sensuality. There is a conscious debt to Bo Diddley on "Rodeo," it's framed with that wonderful, shuffling rhythmic structure and expands from there. One of the covers here is a contemporary -- nearly unrecognizable -- reading of the Rev. Gary Davis' "Light of This World." The set closes with an old-timey, gospel-style ballad called "Bury Me on the Battery," another homage to New York. Only Hyman accompanies Osborne and her guitar on his warm, upright piano. It's a beautiful closer to a varied set of tracks that does nothing to put Osborne in a cage, but serves to give notice that in her ongoing restless career, she's not above revisiting periods where the creative process of collaboration was symbiotic as well as successful. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Christmas Means Love'
Release Date 9/11/2007
Tracks 12
Label Time Life
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Issued originally in 2005, Christmas Means Love was a Barnes & Noble exclusive. After signing her, Time Life decided to widely reissue this 11-song Christmas album by Joan Osborne. Is it necessary? Not really, but no one really needs any Christmas record. Osborne's voice being what it is, she could sing the back of a cereal box and make it interesting. The program here is diverse, centered on rhythm and blues, with gospel tunes, carols, and blues rounding it out. Osborne contributed one song to the mix, her own blues "What Do Bad Girls Get," which is a new take on an old theme. As for the traditional carols, there are five, including a country version of "Away in a Manger," a beautiful gospel rendering -- inspired no doubt by Mavis Staples' reading of the song -- of "Silent Night," a folksy version of "Angels We Have Heard On High" with so much reverb, her voice is indistinguishable from Emmylou Harris'. Bummer. Far more successful is the radical revisioning of "Children Go Where I Send Thee" full of blues and funky gospel. Better still is her version of Robbie Robertson's "Christmas Must Be Tonight" with its world-weary ethos imbued with just a glimmer of hope, and the breezy "Christmas in New Orleans," written by Joe Van Winkle and Dick Sherman. On "Great Day in December" Osborne wears the deep influence of Etta James on her sleeve, and the Andrews Sisters-sing-the-jump-blues version of "Santa Claus Blues" is solid, if a novelty tune. It's a mixed bag, to be sure, but still unlikely to be like "all the other" Christmas records on your shelf. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Finally, Joan Osborne has come to her senses and recorded a soul record. Ever since she performed in Standing in the Shadows of Motown -- those performances are tacked on here at the end -- one thought that Osborne (the most gifted vocalist of her generation and a singer who understands the nuance of phrase, time, and elocution) would return to her own roots as a soul, R&B, and blues singer, the one not often heard by mainstream America but who was evidenced on her first two self-produced recordings on her Womanly Hips label. That didn't happen right away. She recorded the faux-Americana set Pretty Little Stranger, which did not offer listeners her voice but rather her refined restraint on a rather forgettable collection of songs. Even her first attempt at soul covers, 2002's How Sweet It Is, held to very modern production techniques and, despite her ability to make the material shine (check her reading of Thom Bell's "I'll Be Around" or Barrett Strong's "Smiling Faces Sometimes" for proof), the rest of the album imploded on itself. Breakfast in Bed is closer -- much closer -- but not there. Osborne splits the album between soul classics and self-penned tunes in the vernacular of that music. First the good news: she allows her voice some room here, and can get inside the material when she's not intimidated by it. She also sticks closer to the slicker Philly soul side of the fence rather than Stax/Volt or Motown (though she does cover Eddie Hinton's "Breakfast in Bed"). To her credit, she picks tunes that have already been defined by the original artists who recorded them. This is both a plus and minus. She digs deep into Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" and Hall & Oates' "Sara Smile," and even Blue Lovett's "Kiss and Say Goodbye," and expresses the discipline and quiet power in her voice. Elsewhere, however, on such stalwart monolithic tunes as "Breakfast in Bed" (is anybody ever going to forget Dusty Springfield's version? It's almost holy), "Midnight Train to Georgia," and Charles McCormick's "Natural High," she shies away from deeper emotions, such as the alternatively more desperate, bittersweet, or erotic seductiveness that the aforementioned three tunes call for. In other words, Osborne doesn't go as far as listeners know she can in delivering them. For evidence, check out the abandon and sensual power of "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" or the celebratory eroticism in "Heatwave," which she did with the Funk Brothers. Granted, these last two were recorded live, but it's the voice that gets the material across. That said, some of Osborne's originals, such as "Cream Dream" (featuring that Stevie Wonder harmonica line, a B-3 played by Ivan Neville, and Steve Cropper-style guitar by Jack Petruzzelli), with its sultry female backing chorus (her own voice), is as sexy a blue-eyed soul tune as you're likely to hear. It's a quiet storm stunner. The beautiful horn weave that introduces her "Heart of Stone," layered with strings, tunnels into the heart and brings up the raw material; in this case she's showing the blood, brokenness, and desperation required by her lyrics. The sweet, mysterious, slightly funky horn section that opens "Eliminate the Night," brings the blues into soul and vice versa. This is a late-night confrontation song. This is a woman, obsessed and hurt, who is trying to find a solution to her dilemma, and both her body and mind twitch against the backbeat. Again, the eros and raw need in the tune are expressed with the full expressive power of Osborne's gift as a singer as well as a writer. The backbone-slippery groove on "I Know What's Goin' On" has the late-night funk despite the canned backbeat. Her voice literally dives into the rhythm section's pocket and comes to the listener unhinged and wise to the fooling around of her lover. Hands on hips, she uses the groove to express the sumptuous sexuality that can only come from her own protagonist's hurt and want: "I'm so angry I could murder/And I'm so lonesome in my mind/I sure wish I didn't love you baby/But you've got me hangin' on your line...." Her own contributions end with "Alone with You," which captures the vibe whole, pure, and simple. This is Philly soul that would make Gamble & Huff proud -- a smooth, hooky love song that floats to the listener. It's the sweetest kind of seduction, where innocence and desire are entwined. The strings play their real part for perhaps the first time on the set, and the rhythm section lets the singer really take the lead, but gives her enough room to stand up tall. What it all means, actually, is that Osborne has developed into a great modern soul songwriter in the grand tradition. But she still needs some help in picking her material, and needs her producer, Tor Hyams, and string arranger, Tim Davies, to get grittier and loosen the reins -- everything is way too clean and compressed-sounding and doesn't always suit the material here, and there should be more room for surprise and synchronicity between the strings and rhythm section. The great Philly soul records kept an element of grit, as did Motown, because of the live feeling their best records always brought out in the grooves, and Stax was built on pure groove and grease. The horns here, which are arranged impeccably by Greg Osby and Gary Schreiner, should be allowed a place higher in the mix to push the singer. Hyams needs to let Osborne's instrument roam a little more freely and dig even farther into the groove and face off against the rhythm section, because her phrasing and sense of time are unstoppable. This is a solid effort, primarily for the surprise of Osborne's excellent songwriting and backing vocal arrangements. She is the most naturally gifted and disciplined singer of her entire generation, and perhaps one of the last real soul singers. She's still not letting her hair down all the way in the studio, but perhaps the time is coming when she can choose a producer who will push and challenge, not restrain her. In the meantime, this is Joan Osborne's best overall recording, and is highly recommended despite its few shortcomings. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Pretty Little Stranger'
Release Date 11/14/2006
Tracks 12
Label Vanguard
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Pretty Little Stranger is Joan Osborne's Vanguard Records debut; it is also her country and Americana record. She's cut soul and R&B, she's sung with Stevie Wonder, the Funk Brothers, the Grateful Dead and Phil Lesh & Friends, fronted the Holmes Brothers (and she's produced their finest record to date), had one of the hugest hits of the '90s (that has been a millstone around her neck ever since), and just dug into just about every area of American music. Country, given its steady high profile popularity in the current consciousness, seems like a logical step. Pretty Little Stranger was produced by veteran and Grammy winner Steve Buckingham. The song selection is terrific. Osborne wrote six of the album's songs, and she covers Kris Kristofferson's "Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends," Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter's "Brokedown Palace," Patty Griffin's "What You Are," Beth Nielsen Chapman's and Harlan Howard's "Time Won't Tell," the Red Lane/Larry Henley number "'Til I Get It Right," and Rodney Crowell's "When the Blue Hour Comes," (co-written with Roy Orbison and Will Jennings; Crowell guests on the track as a harmony vocalist). Other guests include Sonny Landreth, Alison Krauss, and Vince Gill. Those are the particulars. The laid-back approach Osborne takes on this set is radical, a shock to the system even. With that big, ringing, soulful, bluesy voice, she's chosen understatement in the face of the great trend in modern country toward female singers who express themselves in that way -- check Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland, Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town, Gretchen Wilson, and Danielle Peck to name four. Osborne's instrument is a natural for the music, in theory at least. The record is not tailor-made for the CMT or GAC channels perhaps, or even country radio for that matter, but it sounds like there is another theory at work here. Osborne's showcasing her own songs on this record. Just as the late Lowell George's Thanks I'll Eat It Here was a singer's record, Osborne's Pretty Little Stranger is a songwriter's record. It's true that she may be too subtle in her approach on songs like the Griffin, Crowell, and Chapman/Howard cuts. She does a fine job of re-reading the Garcia-Hunter number because "Brokedown Palace" should have been a "real" country song in the first place. Her version of Kristofferson's classic "Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends" has little of Brenda Lee's drama or Rita Coolidge's deadpan grace. What it does possess, however, is the matter-of-fact hangdog directness that the songwriter intended. While it remains to be seen what Nashville will do with Osborne's record, it hardly matters. The production techniques used by Buckingham are for posterity; in ten years, Pretty Little Stranger will sound as contemporary as it does right now. Osborne's less aggressive approach suits the material very well, even if there is less distinction between some of the songs than there has been on her previous recordings. There is one number that does dig into the singer and songwriter's garden of roots and branches, and that's the slippery "Who Decided." Its electric piano, backbeat strolling guitar, and big snare underscore Osborne's funky, soul strutting voice. Even if the refrain is closer to contemporary Nashville, the tune itself is gritty; bluesed-out and utterly real. She swings and swaggers in all the right places. When the Hammond B-3 kicks in, it's easy to hear Osborne's R&B roots shining through in the sultry darkness and the brokenness in the grain of her voice. This is the voice of want, pain and thwarted desire. She follows it up with the glorious "Holy Waters," a pure country song that brings her into the terrain of true greatness as a gifted songwriter. Ultimately, Pretty Little Stranger is very good indeed; it is still not the record this gifted vocalist and songwriter could make, but it's solid, bittersweet, and crafty. It's a winner that keeps its best secret for last: that most of the best songs on this little platter are Osborne's. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
While 1995's Relish proved Joan Osborne was a smart and idiosyncratic lyricist with a big, strong and soulful voice, the unexpected success of the album (and the single "One Of Us") proved to be as much of a burden as a blessing. Touring kept Osborne out on the road for the next few years, and troubles with her record company prevented her follow-up, Righteous Love, from arriving in stores until 2000, after which it died quickly on the vine (though the album deserved a better fate). As Osborne was blocking out plans for her next album in the fall of 2001, the terrorist attacks of September 11 upended her musical priorities, and for How Sweet It Is, Osborne has indulged herself in the musical equivalent of comfort food by cutting covers of a dozen classic soul and R&B tunes from the 1960s and '70s, with the exception of three reworked rock numbers (Dave Mason's "Only You Know and I Know," the Band's "The Weight," and Jimi Hendrix's "Axis: Bold As Love"). While Osborne devotes herself to vintage material here, for the most part she avoids a retro vibe and, thankfully, avoids the contemporary failing of proving one's soulfulness by bending vocal lines into uncontrollable spasms of melisma. Here, Osborne merges passion with simplicity, while most of the tunes are recast in clean, spare arrangements which capture the classic lines of their melodies without sounding like retreads. And in a season of loss, fear, and mistrust, "Smiling Faces Sometime," "Why Can't We Live Together," and "Love's in Need of Love Today" sound potent and almost painfully relevant in this context, while the bluesy pleasures of "These Arms of Mine" and "I'll Be Around" feel as comforting as a hug and a cup of cocoa. How Sweet It Is is a rare example of an album of covers that doesn't sound like a holding action, and makes clear Joan Osborne is still an artist well worth watching. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Five years after scoring with the mega hit "One of Us" and becoming the topic of more than a few religious conservatives' tirades, Joan Osborne returns with Righteous Love, sporting a more polished feel than on her debut, Relish. Producer Mitchell Froom brings along a few of his Los Lobos/Latin Playboys pals (Steve Berlin, Louie Perez) and adds some taut muscle to Osborne's songs, but at times comes close to overshadowing her work. Mitchell ropes in the loud blues and soul leanings that made her previous album so much fun, and the singer herself emotes in a much more restrained pop vein. An awkward cover of Gary Wright's "Love Is Alive" seems like a bit of a misstep, and Osborne manages to squeeze the last remaining bits of emotion out of Bob Dylan's " To Make You Feel My Love," a tune that even Billy Joel or Garth Brooks' adult-contemporary stabs couldn't ruin. Her reading is by far the best of the three. Don't expect a blockbuster hit on the level of "One of Us," but Righteous Love, for all its woes, holds enough treasures of its own. ~ John Duffy, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
"Relish" can be a sharp, bittersweet condiment; it can also suggest a determined gusto to live to the fullest. Combined, these two images provide a good taste of Joan Osborne's major-label debut (the live Soul Show was self-released in 1992). Grounded in blues, soul and gospel, the Kentucky native wields her gritty voice with personality and forceful presence, kind of Melissa Etheridge meets Sophie B. Hawkins with a splash of Jann Arden. Osborne's passion for life oozes from the grooves. There's an uplifting fervor to her material and delivery, as if every second, every note was being individually savored. Key track "One of Us" sets the disc's optimistic tone. It's a simple, direct statement of faith, honest and unadorned, one framed in a near-perfect chorus and delectable Neil Young-ish guitar riff. This isn't one of those sugary, superficial, goody-two-shoes Amy Grant kind of deals. "Right Hand Man" and "Let's Just Get Naked" confirm that Osborne's earthy, enlightened spirituality shares the same bed with sensuality and sexuality. Well-rounded both lyrically and musically, there's also no contradiction in this universe between "Lumina"'s thoughtful balladry and the wailing harp and acoustic slide bursting the seams of "Help Me." ~ Roch Parisien, All Music Guide
'Soul Show: Live at Delta 88'
Release Date 1/1/1991
Tracks 11
Label Womanly Hips Music
See Album Tracklist and Review
