Judith Hill: Back In Time (NPG Records)
Born in California to musician parents – they both played with Sly And The Family Stone – Judith Hill duetted with Michael Jackson in 2009, sang at his funeral, has also performed with Stevie Wonder and Elton John and in 2013 was a contestant on the US version of The Voice. When she said in an interview that she'd love to work with Prince, he contacted her and this debut album is the result, co-produced by him, recorded at his Paisley Park studio in Minneapolis and released on his NPG label. Hill also guests on his recent HITNRUN Phase One album.
Predictably, then, the master's fingerprints are all over Back In Time, from the loose-limbed funk of openers As Trains Go By and Turn Up to the pheromone-laced Wild Tonight. Elsewhere, on brass-heavy slow jams like Cry Cry Cry and Love Trip, Hill exhibits a little more control as she nods to the classic soul and blues of Etta James, say, or newer voices such as Macy Gray and Amy Winehouse. Hill's voice is gorgeous, her lyrics well-polished and her compositions stately examples of pop classicism. But you do find yourself wondering if there isn't more of her own personality there to be mined.
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