This isn't the first time you've seen Ledisi's name on MISB, and I'm sure it won't be the last. I wrote about her third album Lost & Found back here, her Christmas album back here, and today it's all about her latest album, Turn Me Loose. And all it takes is to look at the cover and you can tell that she has truly turned it loose on her latest batch of songs.What initially drew me to Ledisi on her third album was the well measured mix of soul, hip hop and R&B, all behind a beautiful voice that beguiled my ears. The Christmas album changed gears and snagged me with its jazzy undertones. On this latest album Ledisi once again turns my expectations on edge and comes back with something fresh and wild. Just look at her on the cover, getting her Tina Turner / Chaka Khan thing going on, and you know that she's gonna come at you with something you best be ready for. And she does. Heck, look at the track listing and you'll find four cuts with the word "change" in them. If that doesn't tell you something, well hit yourself in the head with a hammer a few more times. The impetus for this revelation of an album: Buddy Miles' 1970 soul-rock classic, Them Changes. When faced with writer's block, Ledisi was given the album and it inspired her to crank out what would become Turn Me Loose. In fact, she covers the title track of Miles' album on her album.
The result of her Buddy Miles muse is an album that really snaps fulls of vibrancy. Where as her previous one drifted down a more soulful tributary, this new one rides the rapids head on. Even the slower ones here just feel bigger, fuller, more contemporary perhaps. It's a fiery album that absolutely shows a different side of her that wasn't revealed previously.
and the inspiration:
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