Joan Osborne
Relish (Blue Gorilla/Mercury) (star) (star) (star) (star)
It’s possible to recommend this terrific album simply on the basis of a single tune, heard on the radio once and immediately etched on the mind. The slacker hymn “One of Us”–written by Eric Bazilian, formerly of the Hooters, and sung with tenderness by Osborne–is a moving, hook-filled tune that addresses both the loneliness and wonder of a generation left behind: “What if God was one of us,” goes the chorus, “Just a slug like one of us/Just a stranger on the bus/trying to find his way home . . . back up to heaven, all alone . . . like a holy rolling stone.” Osborne, in her major-label debut, does more with a “yeah, yeah, yeah,” than almost anyone since the Beatles. Fortunately, the album contains a number of other memorable numbers, including the soaringly imagistic “St. Teresa,” and the sexy “Right Hand Man” and “Let’s Just Get Naked.” The whimsical, R&B-colored “Spider Web” opens, “I dreamed about Ray Charles last night and he could see just fine. . . . No `Georgia on My Mind’ no more/I stay in bed with MTV.” At a time when young, soulful singer-songwriters seem to be arriving by the busload, here’s a unique and explosive new talent that demands to be heard.
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