Its been years, five to be exact, since Joan Osborne impressed upon us her will of song. Her big booming voice brought religion without a face into our hearts and minds with her hit “One Of Us”. Righteous Love is her door back into music, and we wonder whether or not she can produce the same magic or if the first time was nothing but a lucky strike.
Osborne has kicked a few tracks that lack, mostly in verse or chorus. Its unbelievable because she has a huge team of writers, sometimes up to five people working on one song that ends up sounding completely average. “Safety In Numbers” with its Jeffersons vibe and “If I Was Your Man” and its indian tremble are both missing time and again lyrically. “Baby Love” has a dead center.
The good comes from “Righteous Love”, showing off her voice, even in a smoky bar atmosphere. The last two tracks are the sweetest. “Poison Apples” has a bitter taste. The good and the bad comes from “Make You Feel My Love”. The good is that its very soulful. The bad is that its a cover of Bob Dylans original track from Time Out Of Mind, an album released only a few years ago. Worse yet is that the cover is the best song on the album. Boo. For someone with so much talent, Im left pretty unimpressed.
+ rae gun
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