FEATURE:
Second Spin
Jill Scott – The Light of the Sun
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I wanted to take a closer look…
at Jill Scott’s fourth studio album, The Light of the Sun, as it was an album recorded after Scott's four-year break from her music career and the departure from her former label, Hidden Beach Recordings. The Light of the Sun was recorded at several studios and produced primarily by Scott and JR Hutson - a songwriter and producer who had previously worked on her 2007 record, The Real Thing: Words, and Sounds Vol. 3. I think the album marked a bit of a departure, as it was more improvisational and, sonically, it trod more in Neo-Soul territory than her previous work. Released on 21st June, 2011, I feel some people undervalued The Light of the Sun. It is an album that sounds great ten years after its release! One can approach it new and get something from it or, if you have not heard it in a while, revisit it and the music will definitely make an impact. In terms of choosing a definitive Jill Scott album, I would say her 2000 debut, Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1, is it. I feel The Light of the Sun is one of her more underrated efforts; it definitely warrants some new inspection. Containing great tracks like Blessed, and So in Love, it is a tremendous album that provided plenty of highlights! I wonder whether Scott will release another album as her fifth studio album, Woman, arrived in 2015 – let’s hope she does follow it up at some point, as she is an exceptional songwriter and poet.
I want to bring in a few reviews for The Light of the Sun: two that are more mixed, and one that is positive and gets to the real heart of the album. In their review, this is what Rolling Stone noted:
“It's impossible not to root for Jill Scott. The 'Illa- delphian R&B vet is a self-described "grande dame queen beast" in a genre of models, putting her often-messy personal struggles right up front. The Light of the Sun, Scott's first disc since splitting up with her (now-ex) drummer, recalls that relationship with jazzy, good-natured candor on "Quick." Elsewhere, Scott assays life back on the market in her trademark warm and inviting, if rarely thrilling, neo-soul style – from the old-school hip-hop jam "Shame," which excoriates a man who didn't want her, to the jazz poem "Womanifesto," an ode to her "strong legs that stroll off the 33 bus" and desire for "the rhythm of my space." Scott proves it's a nice place to spend time”.
It is a pity that many reviewers did not expend more words or provide a higher rating to a terrific album from Jill Scott. In a similarly brief look, The Independent were a little muted:
“Jill Scott is perhaps best known now as Precious Ramotswe in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and spends an increasing amount of time acting.
Perhaps too much time: judging by The Light Of The Sun, she's expending precious little energy on songwriting and recording, allowing her natural inclination to extemporise far too free a rein. Hardly any of the 15 tracks is developed much beyond a languid soul-jazz vamp, over which Scott asserts her right to personal fulfillment, and celebrates her position as "a grown woman, making decisions and choices, utilising everything inside of me, my soul, my heart, my mind, my voices," etc. The earlier tracks have a certain focus – "Shame" has a great shuffle-funk groove, and the Anthony Hamilton duet "So In Love" lopes coolly like a Bill Withers cut – but things soon dissolve into a sticky puddle of self-regard”.
I have a lot of time and affection for Scott’s The Light of the Sun. It is a rewarding album that has so many interesting songs. My favourite is, perhaps, the sweeping and emotional Hear My Call – though the whole album is pretty terrific. In their review, AllMusic pointed out some positivise:
“Jill Scott has been through many changes since 2007's The Real Thing: Words & Sounds, Vol. 3: a divorce, a brief but intense love affair that produced a child, acting roles in Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? and Hounddog, her starring role in HBO's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and signing with Warner Bros. The Light of the Sun is a record of the rocky road to empowerment. Scott and Lee Hutson, Jr. are the album's executive producers; they also collaborate in songwriting and arrangements on numerous selections. Opener "Blessed," produced by Dre & Vidal, kicks it off in slippery, hip-hop soul style; a harp, strings, and a fluttering dubwise bassline underscore the shuffling rhythm. Scott expresses spoken and sung gratitude for and about her new baby, career, life, and support system. Poetry and song are woven with elegance in a nocturnal groove. The hit pre-release single "So in Love," produced by Kelvin Wooten, is a modern Philly soul fan's dream, with its lithe, fingerpopping bassline, shimmering drums, and seeming bliss arising between Scott and Anthony Hamilton, who turn in a grand duet performance. "Shame" (featuring Eve & the A Group), is grand, old-school funk with killer backing vocals that range from P-Funk-esque vocal choruses to doo wop with sampled classic ska as Scott raps defiantly with Eve.
One of the sleepers on the set is the stunning "La Boom Vent Suite," a sultry number produced by Scott and Hutson. It's a militant, funky soul, kiss-off tune, that declares: "I've been waiting for so long/but somebody else has been sniffing at my dress." "Hear My Call" is literally a prayer for healing; with its elegantly arranged strings, it's as heartfelt and humble as desperate need can be. There is one misstep here: "So Gone (What My Mind Says)" didn't require Paul Wall's tired, generic, boastful rapping to work. That said, the rhythm collision with human beatbox Doug E. Fresh on "All Cried Out Redux," complete with ragtime piano sample, is a novelty number that works. After the album's first third, it's all Scott, and (mostly) all sublime. The sparsely produced "Quick" (produced by Wayne Campbell) records the heartbreak in the brief relationship that produced her son. "Making You Wait" is another self-determination anthem that addresses romance, with spacious Rhodes and synth strings weaving beats together. Scott lays down the spoken word "Womanifesto" that recalls the poetry of her early career, just before the steamy, sexual "Rolling Hills" touches on jazz, blues, and late-'70s soul with effortless ease to close it. On The Light of the Sun, Scott sounds more in control than ever; her spoken and sung phrasing (now a trademark), songwriting, and production instincts are all solid. This is 21st century Philly soul at its best”.
I think that everyone should check out Jill Scott’s amazing The Light of the Sun. It is an album that sounds stronger the more you listen; maybe that accounts for some more mixed reviews back in 2011. Considering the passion and power that one can hear on the album, let’s hope that we hear a lot more music…
FROM the incredible Jill Scott!