Jay Nemor Electrified [2021] - Alive [Tesla Groove #TSL009] (Full Album)

Jason 'Jay' Nemor Harden (aka Jay Nemor) was born in Houston, TX. He learned bass and saxophone at a young age, but pursued a career in basketball which brought him to Iceland aged 17 (in 1998). With spare time being a basketball player he reconnected with music and in 2003 he was encouraged to join a Motown tribute band. 

He released a self produced debut album "Just Sayin'" in 2014 and a few singles which caught the attention of Alberto Zanini of Tesla Goove (Cannonball) who signed him to the label in 2018.

His latest album "Alive" has been at least two years in the making and was released digitally on 7 Aug 2021 with vinyl copies being available in October (from Tesla Groove). It contains two singles "Break Free" and "Sitting On Top Of The World" and a cover of Massive Attack's 1991 hit "Unfinished Symphony", then just called Massive, which featured Shara Nelson on lead.

His deep voice is a modern day Bill Withers with elements of Gil Scott-Heron.

A small gripe: £18 seems excessive for a ten track digital album when most sell for less than half that price!

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Details

Rating:	8.2
Genre/Style:	Classic Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	Tesla Groove
Cat No:	TSL009
Date:	07/08/2021
Value:	£18 / £26

Jennifer Hudson [2021] - Respect (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Epic] (Full Album)

Having already pre-released three singles prior to the official release of the "Respect" soundtrack and the movie, the full album (and movie in US) was released on Friday 13 Aug 2021.

Columbia has confirmed that the movie is to be released in UK cinemas on 10 Sep 2021.

I have to say that I'm rather disappointed with the album, but then anyone trying to emulate the great Ree Ree, who as far as I'm concerned is probably the finest vocalist of all time, as good a singer as Jennifer Hudson is, is a tall order, as she was a unique talent, possibly never to be equalled. It's not so much JHud's vocals as much as the instrumentation which just doesn't sound authentic to my ears!

There is only one original (i.e. non Aretha track) on the album "Here I Am (Singing My Way Home)", which was the first track to be released from the album (18 Jun), but a new video for it was published to coincide with the film's launch on Friday.

On another note it seems odd that it's cheaper to buy the CD (£9.99) rather than the digital (£10.99)! I double-checked thinking perhaps the CD didn't contain the full 18 tracks but it does! Vinyl hounds will have to fork out £24.99.

According to the BBC, Jennifer Hudson has received praise for her performance but the film itself has received mixed reviews and has rating of 7/10 currently in IMDB and 63% on Rotten Tomatoes

A few reviews:

BBC: "Jennifer Hudson earns praise for Aretha Franklin biopic"

The Guardian: "Jennifer Hudson tries her best with a disappointingly rote retread through cliches of a well-worn genre"

Rolling Stone: "Aretha’s Music Carries This Biopic"

Full Circle: "A Frustratingly Formulaic Biopic”"

ScreenRant: "Aretha Franklin Deserved Better Than A Surface-Level Biopic"

I completely agree with the last statement if all reviews are to be believed. Surely the undisputed Queen of Soul deserves better than this?

Not many reviews I've found are particularly favourable. So perhaps save your 'hard earned' and don't rush to the cinema to view it and wait for it on free streaming services!

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Details

Rating:	7.4
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Album/Soundtrack
Media:	Digital/CD/LP
Label:	Epic
Cat No:	None
Date:	13/08/2021
Value:	£10.99 / £9.99 / £24.99

Vera Delacruz [2021] - Let Me Be (En Vivo) [LaCosta]

Here's a bit of a left fielder. I'm not able to find much information about Vera Delacruz who I discovered is from Bolivar, Venezuela. This appears to be only her second release, the first was "Sunday" in Jun.

Her sophomore single "Let Me Be (En Vivo)" was recorded live, sung in 'Spanglish' and released on 12 Aug 2021 with a video to go with it which premiered today (16 Aug).

When I first heard it I thought perhaps she was from London as the English sections sound, well, English (vs American) .. and it's also got that London feel!

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Details

Rating:	8
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	LaCosta
Cat No:	None
Date:	12/08/2021
Key/BPM:	3A/72
Value:	£1

Novine [2021] - Pretender [Self Released]

Novine (Posch) is an artist featured here back in April with her EP "State Of Mind" which I rated 9! Since that post she has only recently (16 Jun) published a video for one of the best tracks "Over The Blues" so I'll take this opportunity to also post it, seeing that there is no video yet for her new single.

Her latest single "Pretender" was released on Friday (13 Aug 2021).

Novine is from Berlin of German/Jamaican descent and debuted in 2017 and this will be her ninth release. Her sound is very reminiscent of Sade.

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Details

Rating:	8
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	13/08/2021
Key/BPM:	9A/85
Value:	£1

Nadira Norjahan [2021] - Return To Alkebulan! [Self Released] (Full Album)

A BandCamp only release (so far at least) from Philly's Nadira Norjahan. The album is titled "Return To Alkebulan!" which has a couple of tracks of interest "Nostalgia (Philly Phorever)"and "I'm Here For You". All songs were written by her with Samuel Archer who also produced all but one of the tracks.

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Details

Rating:	7.4
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	31/07/2021
Value:	$10

Sofyaah Lynn [2021] - Pain 2 Happiness [Platinum20 Records] (Full Album)

Sofyaah Lynn (aka Ohemaa Sofyaah - she changed it last year) is Sophia Monique Lynn Falwell from Trenton, NJ who states her musical inspiration as Anita Baker, so that can't be a bad start!

I came across her debut album "Pain 2 Happiness" last week (released 6 Aug 2021) but with sixteen tracks I didn't find the time to explore it fully but left it playing a few days ago whilst doing something else and I have to say that it's a pretty good 'listening' album. She wrote all the songs motivated by the breakup of her marriage. 

The album includes all three singles she's released under her new moniker i.e. "Drifting" (09/2020), "Better Days" (11/2020) and "Toxic" (12/2020). It looks like "Found My True Self" is set to be the new single as she has produced a video for it on 9 Aug, although it isn't listed on DSP's yet.

A few tracks which stood out to me were "The Best", "Watch Pot", "Forbidden" and "Found My True Self" but there are many other good tracks. The title track has that reoccurring sample which seems to crop up regularly!

NOTE if you attempt to find the album on apple it's listed as Ohemaa Sofyaah not Sofyaah Lynn!

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Details

Rating:	8.8
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	Platinum20 Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	06/08/2021
Value:	£7.99