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

I love both for discrete reasons and otm

This album is still more 80s than 70s but I do hear flashes of Salsoul, Cerrone, Patrick Adams,...and I hadn't really thought much before about how novel that is.

I have thought abt this a lot, I can't remember if I already said this upthread but this album is so reverent of its source material, she has clearly taken the time to learn the history in a way that few of her peers have, it is why this record is so sumptuous and such a treat and avoids cheesy pastiche

Anyone catch how a string section at the 1:42 mark in "Save a Kiss" evokes "Jive Talkin'"?

I have thought abt this a lot, I can't remember if I already said this upthread but this album is so reverent of its source material, she has clearly taken the time to learn the history in a way that few of her peers have, it is why this record is so sumptuous and such a treat and avoids cheesy pastiche

― vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, July 6, 2020 12:48 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i feel like this is saying exactly my criticism but as a compliment!

I think there are obvious reasons to compare this & dua lipa even though yes they're doing different things w different ways ... disco is obviously a common touchpoint. but yes its pointless to say which is 'intrinsically more valuable' sure.

I think there's a lightness of touch which I find personally more exciting w/ the Dua album, which has these kind of strictures that force it to sound a bit more of-its-time, certain melodic choices it makes, the way it cuts quickly and makes some unconventional harmonic/melodic moves for disco while not really going full-blown generic pop, that make it feel less like periodicization and instead like a kind of weird hybrid. at least at its best

i like "Cool" which is more an 80s thing i suppose but thats another enjoyable aspect to me is its sense of nostalgia is more in a jukebox style
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY8tAKDVxK8

ironically i remember worrying to brad & tim that "Don't Start Now" was kind of disappointingly mannered nu disco when it was released as a single which felt kind of like a backward step after "one kiss" & just pure pop (coughs in regretful coinage) like "new rules"

ends up the album short circuits these kinds of limitations by lifting from a sort of nostalgic pastiche that isn't quite as laser focused as jessie ware's

@flopson "Cool" "Physical" "Levitating" "Hallucinate" ofc, "Love Again" flipping the same sample as White Town lol ... it has a kind of whimsy

this is all a matter of personal pref of course, and as I said there's songs on the jessie ware album i love ... but its historical precision is the least interesting aspect of it imo, i think i'm drawn maybe to its perfectionism not bc of how accurately it conveys abcdefg cliches (though it does) but that as a side effect of how much i guess...passion? is required to take it to the limit like that, i think that kind of bubbles over in the elaborateness of the songcraft

also maybe understating the persona appeal of both artists

i'm really falling for what's your pleasure, yeah i know i'm late to the party. it's just so romantic and in spite of the maxed out (gorgeous) production choices the melodies are often very urgent and straightforward. there might be a little placebo in this but i bought a hi-res digital download of the thing and my god the spatial dimensions are super lit, it really sounds amazing. also i feel like the classical disco influences aren't as present as like the last 15-20 years of super lush nu-disco.

man, "in your eyes" ...

there's no weak spots on here

I keep finding new favorite songs in here. “Step Into My Life” was one of the songs I didn’t care much about the first couple of spins but right now it’s my favorite one.

I'm feeling this with the title track! "Read My Lips" remains my personal fave of the moment

love how the last minute of “step into my life” calls “is it love you’re after?” by rose royce to mind

this reminds me of that kathy diamond record

Better.

i'm checking out some kathy diamond tracks based on the mention... is it just me or is she .. a pretty bad singer? lol

jessie ware is a GREAT singer.

it's sort of crazy how this album has finally bowled me over in the last week or so. i don't know how to account for it. i'm just totally awe-struck.

i still think the 'classic disco' angle doesn't really capture makes this thing so special. i guess it has some classic elements in the appearance of certain instruments and in how the vocals are produced (they aren't these bright monochromatic slabs, they sound like human mouths singing human words) but there are also bracing, modern elements, like the last bit (coda?) of 'ooh la la' with the high synth colors that sound like the feeling of driving really fast and taking a hit of nicotine. the strings are also more inventive than a lot of classic disco imo, even patrick adams.. they're very imagistic and have a swirl to them that reminds me of scott walker arrangements.

ya it bangs - have you subbed in the single edit of spotlight for the album version?

I mean has everyone already

kathy diamond rocks but feels p different to me

i’ve listened to the single edit and album version of spotlight back to back to figure out what people find radically different about them and am at a loss

map otm that the strings are where it’s at

Miss Diamond To You is near the top of my all-time favourites, but her voice isn't the point

i like the album take better for Spotlight; more room to lounge and soak

Tbh this feels less like the Kathy Diamond record specifically and more just, like, a Maurice Fulton production in general

steve do you love the new boof album?

lol this is pretty great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLhfECsvzvQ

weird to see dominic cummings in a jessie ware video

I think there's a lightness of touch which I find personally more exciting w/ the Dua album, which has these kind of strictures that force it to sound a bit more of-its-time, certain melodic choices it makes, the way it cuts quickly and makes some unconventional harmonic/melodic moves for disco while not really going full-blown generic pop, that make it feel less like periodicization and instead like a kind of weird hybrid.

I think this is generally true about the differences between the two records, and while I like the Dua album a lot it has about as much lightness of touch as a force-ten gale and that's part of the appeal.

yah tho i specificially meant that about the sort of unpredictable almost whimsical way it plays w different era pastiche's i agree calling the album 'light of touch' outside that extremely narrow strata seems kind of off tm

for those who were as swept up by what's your pleasure as i was, may i recommend
Azana - Ingoma

my feelings exactly :-)

i would fuck with the afrobeats tunes so much more if there were high-res downloads available

Jessie Ware has afrobeats tunes?

Anyway, everyone should check out the Azana album (which is not afrobeats but gorgeous South African soul and house)

seems cruel to edit even a second from this song but i guess i can overlook it if we get latex gloves & huge hair moments instead

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

So good. I think clips like this kind of validate but also respond to deej’s point about these songs being mannered - like, yes they are and she fucking loves it

There was already this video (Ware-approved and/or -commissioned, it's on her YT):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS_o7XpnEqA

yeah, i have much preferred the individual dancer videos, they seem to capture the vibe of the moment much better

guys one thing has come to my attention after repeated listens to the album, and that is ...

the lyrics are (mostly) bad :(

They serve the beats.

i need the whole package

it's quarantine, honey. Use your imagination like the rest of us.

jessie ware has never been a lyrics-forward artist anyway

there's an art to unobtrusive lyrics that don't actively detract from the experience!

A craft at which even Bernard Sumner failed sometimes.

and I like the lyrics of the last two tracks just fine

i take it back about the lyrics, they're good actually, i just heard a few clunkers on "read my lips" the other day and extrapolated

any good remixes so far? the album has if anything just grown on me more over the course of the summer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHwsQHvmQ-c

i think that's literally the only one though? (i wish i liked it more.) hoping for more.

jessie needs rave synth drama not a moodymann-lite treatment imo