Concrete Love [SACD]

1	Love 4:32
2	Italy 3:41
3	Wake Up With You (The I Wanna Song) 4:29
4	Concrete Love / India.Arie 4:02
5	Missing Man 4:34
6	Foolish Thing 5:03
7	Butterfly 4:04
8	It's Another You Day 3:33
9	Something Right 3:18
10	Roadside Angel 4:08
11	Alleluia 7:33

Barnes & Noble

Blessed with a sensual four-octave voice and a talent for penning intelligent songs that touch on mature affairs of the heart, British singer-songwriter Julia Fordham has flown below America's pop culture radar. While Concrete Love won't be knocking Britney Spears or Jennifer Lopez off the charts anytime soon, the thoughtful, warm-blooded disc should win over fans of similarly mellow chanteuses like Norah Jones and Suzanne Vega. Tucking her glistening vocals into a warm production by Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell's ex), Fordham shines on the winsome confessional "Wake Up with You (The I Wanna Song)"; the Quiet Storm lament "Foolish Thing"; and the title track, a soulful duet with India.Arie. Elsewhere, she slips into a cool groove reminiscent of Sade's on "Love," buttressed by tasty Hammond B-3 organ licks and harmonies from Lyle Lovett background singers Sweet Pea Atkinson, Sir Harry Bowens, and Willie Green. Fordham tips her hat to the late Minnie Riperton on the shimmering tribute "Roadside Angel" and a hidden cover of Riperton's best-known song, "Loving You," which Fordham handles with suitable aplomb. A gorgeous display of this song stylist's many musical gifts, Concrete Love carries her songs' emotional weight with an airy touch. Dave Gil de Rubio

All Music Guide

English singer/songwriter Julia Fordham rediscovers pain and passion on her sixth album, Concrete Love. Four years since 1997's East West, Fordham has had plenty of time to experience love's greatest fun and fears, but she's also had time on her hands to perfect something more personal. Concrete Love is probably her most stripped album since 1989's Porcelain, and Fordham's honeyed, dark, four-octave brood is at its best. She and producer Larry Klein (he produced 1994's Falling Forward) collaborate again, crafting her songwriting into something delicate yet vast in bold hues of something shimmering and gold. Songs such as "It's Another You Day" and "Butterfly" are carefree with light, springlike jazz tinges. "Foolish Thing" changes tempo; the mood is sultry and Fordham's aching vocals question love's dramatic ways. She sticks with the soulful grooves throughout the entire album -- "It's Another You Day," "Missing Man" -- and breezy acoustics project a seamless composition overall. Concrete Love is an emotional record rich with layered musicianship, a signature of Fordham's, but nothing less than what listeners are all feeling. "Alleluia," the breathtaking collaboration with gravelly singer/songwriter Joe Henry, bridges Fordham's most heartwrenching moment. She's confident and Concrete Love is a sure sign of such intrinsic beauty and musical grace. [This version of the release is in SACD format.] MacKenzie Wilson