Leela James: A Change is Gonna Come

Herald rating: ***

You know what they say about a woman with massive hair. For soul singer Leela James that unruly Afro is just an extension of her voice.

Best described as a combination of Tina Turner and Beth Orton, James is an old-fashioned diva who sounds as though she's been drowning her musical sorrows by immersing herself in Aretha Franklin, Al Green and Chaka Khan. "Can we just put the thongs away?" she sings on Music.

It's a complaint that suggests she's here to rescue us from a generation of artists who've forgotten what's real. And yes, A Change is Gonna Come does ooze the kind of old-school vibe and heartfelt delivery that makes it easy to believe her when she sings about crying into her pillow.

But while producers including Kanye West and Raphael Saadiq try to mix up her styles - from the amped-up hip-hop groove of Good Time to the hicksville blues of Soul Food to a rootsy cover of No Doubt's Don't Speak - there's little to distinguish each song from the next. Somewhere between the slow to mid-tempo tracks and back porch tales of hardship you discover that a distinctive voice does have its disadvantages, and by track 10 you'll find she's as grating as a whole lot of Orton.

Label: Warner

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