SOLANGE: SOL-ANGEL & THE HADLEY ST. DREAMS [ALBUM REVIEW // NEW PHOTOSHOOT]......

As Solange's album 'SoL-AngeL & The Hadley St. Dreams' was released today in the UK, I guess a good job was done on the album not leaking before it's time although half of the songs have been doing their online rounds these past couple of weeks. However, the album doesn't drop in the US until next week (August 26th). So for those that plan on waiting until then, what lies in store regarding Solange's sophomore album SoL-AngeL & The Hadley St. Dreams? For starters, she's worked with some of the finest producers such as Jack Splash, Soulshock & Karlin, The Neptunes, Cee-Lo Green and Mark Ronson. There are also guest appearances from Lil' Wayne and Bilal. The album as a whole has a Dusty Springfield type vibe with oldskool specks of jazz/blues/funk and Soul-pop integrated with 60's/Motown influences. The 22-year-old has entered a musical direction which is not at all customized to what is popular today. It appears it was all a bid to separate herself from her famous big sister as well as the conventional female R&B/Pop singer of today, which she has successfully done.

The opening track, 'God Given Name' is a soulful mellow number which is lyrically appetizing. Solange is no stranger to not sugarcoating her true feelings. The second following 'T.O.N.Y.' is one of my favourite songs on the album, because it's fun and groovy with lots of spunk and the beat rides quite hard. Vocally, she entertains the song to the fullest. 'Dancing In The Dark' is a very uptempo jazzy number with lots and lots of live instrumentation. I found myself contagiously bopping my head to this. It's very oldskool but still contagiously catchy, although not at all radio friendly. The pleasant 'Would've Been The One' is a great R&B/Motown-Pop inspired track which I found myself putting on repeat. Weaker segments reside in 'Valentines Day' and 'Ode To Marvin' which were cool but lacked the oomph, infectiousness and thrill that's prevalent in current singles 'Sandcastle Disco' and 'I Decided' both of which have that sassy edge. 'The Bird' drags on way too much until you're in the land of snoozefest. It's not even compelling enough to keep you interested. This is probably the only track I ended up skipping halfway through. However, the bluesy '6'O Clock Blues', the brassy 'I Told You So' and the Soul/Electronic-pop 'Cosmic Journey' (featuring Bilal) are very enjoyable as well as the Lil Wayne-assisted 'ChampagneChronicNightCap'.

My final thoughts on the album is that it was a very nice effort. Some would say she didn't do anything that Amy Winehouse hasn't done but she put her own contemporary spin on some of the tracks. In some places, she tended to go above what her vocal range could deliver only emphasising that some tracks would have served better justice had her sister recorded them. The fact is, no one took Solange seriously as an artist until now. She put her heart and soul into different variations of music that she felt passionately about, and not the cliche music that's been dominating the current airwaves as of late.

Rating: 4/5

More Solange after the fold....

Here are a couple of pictures from 'Sol-AngeL and the Hadley Street Dreams':




Nice!!!!! Don't forget, the album drops August 26th! It's worth picking up!!!