Simply put, Concrete Love, the beguiling new album from British vocalist and songwriter Julia Fordham, floats like a butterfly and delivers like a ton of bricks.
Scheduled for release on Vanguard Records, Concrete Love was produced with characteristic perception by Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell) and features, among its stellar ensemble, seven-time Grammy nominee India.Arie, who joins Julia on the title track, "Concrete Love." The pairing of their unique sultry vocals is an extraordinarily emotional and spiritual moment. The album also highlights a memorable duet with Joe Henry, who according to the Los Angeles Times "is more than simply a talented singer-songwriter. He's also fearless, risky and enlightened." Also lending their talents is the instantly identifiable virtuosity of the legendary Billy Preston on Hammond B-3 Organ and Wurlitzer Electric Piano, along with dynamic backing vocals by Sweet Pea Atkinson and Sir Harry Bowens (Was (Not Was), Bonnie Raitt). Concrete Love, to be released June 18, 2002, represents both a seamless continuum and a quantum leap for this gifted artist.
The continuity can be traced through five previous releases on Virgin Records and an exemplary Best Of collection - an impressive body of work that attests to a calling and a career that began at the tender age of 12 on England's south coast. Julia has enjoyed the usual milestones that measure musical success - the 1988 hit single "Happy Ever After," a reputation centered on a frenetic international following, and lavish critical acclaim. It's no small wonder that she has always made music for the purest of all possible reasons - its own sake. Her uncompromising approach has proven to be its own reward for both Julia and her audience.
This brings us to the quantum leap: "I decided that the best way to kick-start myself in an entirely new direction," she explains, "would be to invite others into the process."Julia enlisted two trusted collaborators - songwriter Gary Clark (Danny Wilson, Transistor), who co-wrote four key tracks with Fordham and Larry Klein, to whom she credits the album's distinctively "groovalicious" ambiance. The result is an unquestionably inspired departure, evoking everything from Dusty In Memphis to classic Torch and Soul traditions to the ineffable pleasures of Fordham's own, precisely calibrated, four-octave range. The album's 11 selections comprise a brilliant advance for an artist whose richly textured melodies and emotionally resonant lyrics have been given potent and persuasive new stylistic settings.
Concrete Love showcases, with stunning cinematic clarity, Julia's deceptively simple celebrations of love and longing. Tracks such as the evocative "Italy" and exultant "Wake Up With You" cleverly contrast the soulful "Foolish Thing," "Missing Man," and "Roadside Angel," her musical valentine to the late Minnie Riperton. Concrete Love is anchored to such pure pop delights as the sparkling "Butterfly," the engaging word play of "It's Another You Day," and the exquisite "Something Right."
Julia currently resides in Southern California, and, with a series of U.S. performance dates in the offing, she is poised to begin a whole chapter in a life of music, opening on a breathtaking collection of new songs that carry the full weight of her light touch.
Source: http://www.juliafordham.com/
