Artist : Fried
Album : Things Change
Label : RCA
Genre : R&B
Bitrate : 181 kbps avg
Source : CD (LP)
Playtime : 00:44:57 (61.3MB)
Rls date : 2007-06-12
Store date : 2007-07-09
[Track List]
1. You're With The Wrong One 4:04
2. When You Get Out Of Jail 3:34
3. Walk Don't Run 3:35
4. Back From The War 4:15
5. Things Change 4:03
6. I'll Be There 3:12
7. Sugar Water Days 3:12
8. Love Is A Stranger 3:33
9. Whatever I Choose I Lose 3:48
10.Ain't You The One (I've Been Looking For) 4:09
11.Friends In Lo Places 4:14
12.Sorry If I Ruined Your Life 3:18
It`s autumn 1992 and David Steele - one-time bass-layer
and principal songwriter with world-conquering Eighties UK
trio Fine Young Cannibals - has just finished working with
Al Green on said Memphis soul/gospel legend`s `Don`t Look
Back` album and is finally beginning to realise there`s a
lot more to making R&B than the Cannibals` trademark
stylised pop take on the soul greatsα
α ⌠I knew there was another level I could go to, and I
also knew it had to be with somebody who wasn`t famous -
because working with legends you`re too respectful÷,
recalls Steele today: ⌠So - though it seemed a bit insane
- I basically set out to find the new Aretha Franklin, no
less! I was looking for the sort of old soul voice that
today`s hip hop people would sample.÷
And indeed, as the 21st Century rolled around, an
unhurried-yet-determined Steele was still lookingα Until
finally, in the summer of 2001, a lengthy stay in New
Orleans - centred around the city`s annual Jazz Festival -
brought him into contact with a young local gospel
vocalist, Jonte Short. One of the stars of the local
Ebenezer Baptist Church choir, Jonte was also singing for
pop audiences in night clubs to pay the rent. And, like
many great gospel voices in America, hers was part of a
family inheritance - having started singing aged just two
with her brothers and sisters in a group run by her
mother, Pamela Landrum. Immediately singling Short out as
⌠the right one", Steele straightaway invited her to the
home-studio of his house in The French Quarter where the
musical chemistry between the two would prove instant and
enduring.
Calling themselves Fried after Southern US cooking, the
duo at once began both writing and recording together in
New Orleans and set out to secure a record deal.
Nevertheless, from the off, the project would endure more
than its share of setbacks - starting with Fried`s first
potential A&R exec arriving in New Orleans in early 2002
to startlingly discover a heavily-pregnant Jonte singing
so hard she ended up getting contractions and being rushed
to hospital. Meanwhile, even after Jonte`s baby-son
himself being safely delivered, the project`s own birthing
problems would continue and soon be re-focusing on the
financial woes of an ailing, rudderless record company:
⌠With the first record company we signed to - London
Records - it just didn`t work out well at all÷, insists a
slightly-shy and down-to-earth Jonte: ⌠A lotta people were
losing their jobs, everyone was pressed for money - and
there was basically no-one to promote our record. But,
while we were very unlucky on that score, in August 2005
London did agree to graciously let us go. Whereupon we
were quickly picked up by Sony/BMG, who've already started
promoting us like crazy! You know, we`ve been able to
revise the music; we`ve added two new tracks to the album.
And, while the whole London Records situation got me very
depressed and upset at the time, in hindsight it`s
certainly proved worth the wait! Because, not only does
the music itself now sound a lot better, but the fact I`ve
since gone through a lot more in my life - divorce, single
parenthood - means I can now put much more feeling into my
vocals too.÷
With a big-haired Jonte now being pushed into the
limelight as the sole face and spokesperson for the band,
Fried`s long-overdue debut album `Things Change` was
finally completed in London earlier this year with the
additional help of Sade`s Andrew Hale plus key
contributions from former Portishead songstress Beth
Gibbons and Wu Tang Clan`s head-honcho-cum-rapper, RZA.
All resulting in a song-driven and highly-marketable,
quality contemporary soul album with occasional murky hip
hop undertones: ⌠Yeah, with soul going with hip hop so
easily, David and I definitely tried to make an album that
we`d rather have sampled than have a bunch of samples on⌠,
continues 27-year-old Jonte: ⌠He`s the one who does all
the music and studio production; we both share
responsibility for the lyrics; while I`m the one who does
all the singing and melodies. And vocally I don`t think I
sound like anyone else. I`m not a whispery kinda singer;
I`m not the manufactured norm. I am just who I am, which
includes a bit of the church along with influences from
the old soul I listened to as a little kid. So overall,
while the music is serious and quite mature, it`s also
commercial. While lyrically, along with fictional stuff
that we felt a lot of people could relate to like `When
You Get Out of Jail ` - we also have a buncha concepts
that ironically became quite prophetic. Like `Back From
The War` which, although we were focusing on the Viet Nam
War at the time, can now definitely be applied to The Iraq
War too.÷
Indeed, with lyrics personally recollecting Jonte`s
childhood, the shuffling `Sugar Water Days` is another
track whose message has taken on a new meaning following
recent events - namely she and her family being rendered
homeless (along with most of New Orleans` inhabitants) by
summer 2005`s Hurricane Katrina: ⌠Yes, that song means so
much more to me and really hits home now that home for me
is simply a memory÷, she observes soberly: ⌠Originally I`d
just written it about enjoying my childhood while not
realising how poor we were. But, now that I go home and
none of those neighbourhoods are there and there are no
pictures, so many things come back to me that I previously
took for granted - and I`m able to add so much more
emotion to the track. You know, all of my family either
lost everything or ended up having to move away. My mom,
my kids and my brother are all still in Houston - and it`s
just so hard to start over when you`ve been left with
nothing. Plus, at this point, a lotta the financial aid
that we received they`re now expecting back. So, not only
do you have to start over, but you have to pay that back
too! But we`re all trying to cope with it the best we can.
And, with me being one of the lucky ones who still has a
job, I have to do my best to carry the torch and let
people know there`s still hope.÷
Musically, meanwhile, many of Jonte`s earliest memories
revolve around her mother having sung back-ups in
internationally-successful blue-eyed soul-man Boz Scaggs`
touring band: ⌠Yeah, I remember clearly her being away,
doing shows overseas with Boz. She`d call all the time to
check on us, then she`d come home and talk about her
experiences and what she`d seen. And from that time on -
maybe seven or eight years old - I knew singing
professionally was what I wanted to do and that I wasn`t
gonna waste my time on anything else÷, recalls Jonte: ⌠But
then that in turn made me very much the odd-one-out from
my siblings, who are all in the church and in the
ministry. And, with me being the youngest of the family,
my choosing to sing secular music - and not gospel -
professionally basically just led to everybody thinking
`oh, she dosen`t know what she`s doing so we`ll have to
think for her!`α But, while them not liking me singing in
local clubs and not coming to any of my shows didn`t
surprise me, when I did eventually sign a professional
contract I did expect them to be excited. But at first it
just didn`t work out that way. So I basically just
realised I was just gonna have to prove myself through my
work. And now, six years later, they have finally come to
accept it! You know, I have explained to them that I am
doing serious music and that I`m a singer not a stripper.
So they don`t need to worry about seeing me naked! And
through all that I have now finally gained their trust.÷