Jessie Ware - 110% (and everything else she's done)

Alfred hasn't linked his review? http://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/jessie-ware-lydia-loveless/

My attempts on Twitter:
Jessie Ware Tough Love impulse vs. control sometimes a draw, but focus sure can spark, esp. bootheel & leverage of "Say You Love Me." DJs!

Jessie Ware, Tough Love cont. Descendant of Prince, Sinead, Sade, understandably cautious vs candid stream: http://n.pr/1phv7BE
That's NPR's First Listen, so prob inactive when alb released domestically. Really like the title track and several, maybe most others, though overall proximity/familiarity might be less of an impact-buffer if heard as singles, EPs than a whole album at once (though only LP length, which is good)

Like she doesn't want dramatic tension of impulse vs. control, candor vs. caution to turn into drama in the pejorative sense

or even perjorative

Disproportionately irritated at Miguel for lazily reusing the Jamie, Johnny and Jack line here.

― Matt DC, Sunday, October 19, 2014 6:03 AM Bookmark

if Smokey could reuse his Pagliacci line...

rest of album around it + listing of names + the kinda inverted commas plastic cosyness of their delivery (not actually hitting the bottle, just cute songwriting for "i feel sad" vs miguel's original flamboyant dress-up biker blues) somehow gives that line a weird mondeo-pop side effect of evoking 'running in the family' or 'johnny & mary' or something idk

she sings them like she's singing about an old MOR pop group. "crosby stills & nash" or something

like, i knew the orig miguel line but just didn't parse it as that for several listens on this

speaking of, it would feel cruel to bump miguel's own thread, but omgggg his chemical bros collab for the hunger games soundtrack is so bad

hahahahahaha listening now it is badder than i could ever dream

Tough Love samples Little Red Corvette, right?

So far, I think my favorite song on Tough Love is "Want Your Feeling," and yes, I know that is the one cowritten by Dev Hynes.

Share it all and Midnight caller are better than half of the album.

nah, The Way We Are is clearly the best bonus track

"midnight caller" is properly incredible, the other bonus tracks are pretty forgettable (in that i have already forgotten them)

"12" is lovely as well

all in all i think this is probably more of a disappointment than little red, which at least had a pretty good album hiding in a botched package, and one that seemed its own satisfying, if muted, thing - the few genuine highlights on tough love make the rest of it seem worse because they stick out so much

like, the less immediate/hooky cuts on devotion did a really good job of bolstering "wildest moments", "running" etc. calms between the storms but cut from similar enough cloth that it all flowed really satisfyingly. here, cuts like "you & i" and "cruel" are ok, adequate, but between "tough love" and "champagne kisses" it's like, what's the point of these again?

Crossover.

i thought that was the point of "say you love me" (blech) and "pieces". who will "you & i" or "cruel" cross over to?

"cruel" just makes me think of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUH5C_EKYKY

which i guess was also a crossover attempt, although not one that worked

idg the response to this record at all. it seems totally of a piece to me, even moreso than Devotion? (although the highlights aren't as high) "Wildest Moments" sounded more like a crossover attempt to me than anything on this record.

Wildest Moments is the only Jessie Ware song I've ever heard that I don't like.

Everything else from both albums is a keeper.

you're the only Johnny I know that I don't like.

I'm not huge on it, definitely my least favorite of the singles from Devotion xp

it seems to be the least 'jessie ware' of all her songs if you know what i mean but i still like it. anyway this album is a keeper imo.

"Wildest Moments" is as inessential as "You & I" but it's a lot more listenable.

even though i don't think this album is perfect i find it very listenable and it'll still be among my year end favourites. my hope is that she'll be a little bit more adventurous with album 3 given that this second one hasn't set the charts ablaze like maybe she thought it might.

shift k3y remixes "you & i forever" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcG1UyziP0w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS0c-bE6RWs

predz absolutely duppied this, so good

I love every goddamn song on this album.

same

the rhythm track on the title tune is taken right from "little red corvette"

i approve

whole album is a grower IMO

Sweetest Song was my favorite from the first time I heard it, so much so that I probably neglected really enjoying the rest of the record. When seandalai made mention of Champagne Kisses the other, I heard it with fresh ears and now it's also my favorite. I expect every other song to become a co-favorite before long.

i don't hate any song on this record but idk

"champagne kisses" is wondrous in a very expected way but the one true revelation on this is the title track imo

xp otm :-/

I'll have to give this one another listen but it didn't hold together as a record anywhere near as well as devotion did, for me.

the one true revelation on this is the title track imo

otm

I love "You and I Forever" – the bets Miggy guest appearance since his bit on the Monae single.

i don't like that song at all

"kind of sometimes maybe" was a true revelation for me (good song to listen to loud) & "keep on lying" is a great tune

though you guys reminded me i had never listened to the bonus tracks. i love "all on you"! really precise post-disco approximation

"Midnight Caller"!

was also surprised to find myself liking the romy song this time

title track is the most effortlessly replayable song of the year for me

like it generates no friction so it requires no expenditure of energy to listen repeatedly, lost track of my plays at this point

"Pieces" threatens to turn into Rod Stewart's "My Heart Can't Tell You No" every time the chorus strings bend in a certain melodic direction.

"kind of sometimes maybe" was a true revelation for me

yahhh this is the best song imo

that arpeggio!

the album is def. too long, and it has the same problem as the first album IMO, which is that for all the precise and seductive arrangements the songwriting is often just too thin to sustain as much interest as it should. but she works in a really tricky idiom, and i'm just sort of grateful for what she has achieved. and the title track is wonderful..

this album isn't too long at all!