To me, it's obvious that the reviewer has never taken in meshell's entire body of work. Each of her albums have had different themes.. "Plantation" was getting on white folks cases about racial intolerances that they helped perpetuate... She speaks the complete truth, so if it applys to you or if your overly sensitive hearing the truth, too bad!!! "Peace" was about Religious intolerance... and boy don't we see a lot of that nowadays with this right wing christian slant these day's. Bitter was relationship problems... In "Cookies" she got on Black folks cases in song like "Dead nigga blvd." and on and on... The only thing she hasn't done is a "Happy sunshiny day " cd,(which I wouldn't listen too!).... If she sings a lot about her personal angst, Its because this world gives her a lot of reason to!

hellomoto said:

hellomoto

while i understand and agree with a lot of what you said, and i personally live by that doctrine as well ("i am me and you are you NOW...lets really deal with each other NOW...not in what was done in the past, or is being done in the present by OTHERS"...and ..."Not every issue is a racial issue"... )...while i live by those rules myself, i do understand that there is also a true need to keep in mind that some of the CORE causes of said modern tension may be rooted in the past (or current) deeds done mainly by others unrelated to either of us... but i believe only through open and honest discussions and expressions of the longstanding (and still evident) emotional, psycological & sociological IMPACTS of those deeds on BOTH of us can get us to a TRUE sincere understanding, respect and love for each other. It's not so much the original deeds that we should talk about, but openly discussing the the modern day EFFECTS of those deeds can only help all sides see and feel more connected to each other, no?

ok...and now, as abierman said...back to the discussion at hand...Meshell..
[Edited 5/24/05 8:01am]

wow...a LOT of things to respond to in this one...i'll probably forget some point i wanted to make and start rambling but so what, here goes anyway...

so the 'reviews' that started this off...i guess thats been covered right? I mean, I think most of us are in universal agreement that those two folks either (A) never actually REALLY listened to the lyrics or (B) listened to the records but just misinterpreted the essence of what was trying to be expressed.

I’m not gay or a woman (I am black last time I checked) but even still it is transparent to me that …

Meshell is OBVIOUSLY NOT about hate. And, quite frankly it’s just silly to think that.

It IS obvious that she IS about absolute honesty in observation & expression...she seems to be about ‘Sincere Searching’ (sometimes gut-wrenchingly heartbreakingly so, sometimes shockingly so, sometimes even humorously so…) and she seems to be about ‘Continuous Growth’ (both outwardly AND inwardly… society-wise AND self-wise … her microscope may sometimes point outward but JUST as often she points it INward as well)…she seems to want to get to the ROOT and CORE of things, (NOT just gloss over the surface, or not even go NEAR the surface, as so many so called ‘artists’ do), no Meshell seems to always strive to get All The Way Down to the true SOUL essence of things…all things social, political, sexual, emotional…the good the bad & ugly…the whole enchilada of being a human being these days…and she often goes there on a VERY personal level (almost nakedly so sometimes)…and then OPENLY shares her own journey & experiences with us. She doesn’t hide, she doesn’t share ONLY the sweet, but the bitter as well.

What I like is that, in my interpretation at least, she doesn’t pretend t have ‘all of the answers’ as some artists tend to do… rather she excels at asking the intriguing QUESTIONS of ourselves. Questions that will spark more questions and lead to more discussions…that will inspire other journeys and explorations…all with a consistent ‘end goal’ being simply the increased appreciation of life & love. Oh yeah, did I mention that? She's about some serious LOVE too. Serious love. At least that’s what I get from her work.

These are all reasons as to why she is, in my opinion, one of those EXTREMELY rare artists that come along only once in a while...a 'voice of an era' type of artist as i like to call them. These types, as i said, are very few and far between…and I feel personally very lucky to be around to get to experience her work first hand.

She may not have the fame & popularity, the sales, the hype & publicity of many musicians out there…but I truly believe that HISTORY will look back and realize & recognize her as one of the TRUE legends in music. I know that sounds like perhaps an overstatement, but judging by her consistent catalogue of officially released work and her nothing less than BREATHTAKING live musical experiences…I really don’t think it’s an overstatement at all.

Oh yeah…heheh…I know we’re talking about the 'themes and lyrical content'…but I guess we oughtta talk a bit about the OTHER stuff that she ALSO does so well right?…the MUSIC itself?

The same way she approaches ‘themes & lyrics’…with a pure drive for honesty in expression and a passion for the craft of creating…THAT’s ALSO how she approaches her music. The range and depth of her musical scope seem limitless. She both drives & steers the music AND lets IT take her wherever IT decides to go as well. Just an amazing composer by anyone’s standards. From the grittiest funk, the deepest soul, the electrified rock, the breezy acoustic, the grooving reggae, the inspiring jazz…she ENGULFS herself in it ALL completely and thoroughly (again not just ‘on the surface’ like some artists tend to do…you know the type, ‘oh I should do a reggae type song here’..or ‘I think I’ll do a ‘jazzy’ type song’…and what we usually get is a corny imitation of life, a ‘faux genre’ tune.) Not with Meshell. Meshell LIVES and studies and emotes those different styles NATURALLY…with her its not some forced marketing, ‘whats the style of the minute’ thing…no, she is a true music child of many genres and she exudes them all unconsciously and respectfully in her own music…both on record and especially live performances where ‘improvisation’ is she and her bands strength (she’s had several GREAT bands over the years, an amazing core group known as the Bretheren whom she essentially played with for the first decade of her career, then she shook things up for a while and experimented with different groups of players (actually she always did some of that throughout the years), and currently she’s touring with a crew exploring the Jazz afrorythm type of sound). You just can never tell where they’ll take you next, and that’s the beauty of it for me. I always go to her shows with NO expectations at all, other than the fact that I’m going to hear some type of inspired passionate music PERIOD. Which ‘genres’ and ‘vibes’ I might get that night are ‘up in the air’…but QUALITY is pretty much guaranteed.

And on record… well EVERY album of hers is so solid through and through and each of the records have a few tracks that I consider to be just ‘top-of-the-line-handsdown-cant-be-messed-with / creations-for-a-timecapsule’ type tunes…I may go into a list of these extra special tunes at some point, but I’m already rambling more than I planned …so maybe in another post. But trust me musically she is JUST as amazing & fearless as she is thematically…and that’s whats so special about her for me…

Yeah, sometimes I can find an artist who, “thematically, lyrically” does it for me…but on the music side they may leave me wanting.

Other times I’ll find an artist who, “musically speaking” is intriguing and holds my interest, but thematically & lyrically just doesn’t do the trick.

Meshell has consistently given me the best of BOTH worlds.
That is why I am such a fan of her stuff. Its funny because even some of her work with no lyrics at all can speak to you as if there WERE lyrics…(her latest album is mostly Jazz and some of her INSTRUMENTAL work is just so emotionally filled with passion and amazing expressive playing that it moves you in ways that words perhaps couldn’t. (see “Papillon” off of the Dance of The Infidel record)

So yeah…she’s just a badass …for me she;s THE PREMIER badass…ain’t no way around it really.

Honestly, I know SHE doesn’t care, but I DO wish she received more credit and sales than she gets. She definitely deserves it. But like she has often said, as long as she sells just enough records for the record company to allow her to continue to make and explore music on HER OWN terms then she is alright with that.
I am too I guess…but still whether she wants it or not…this gutsy badass DESERVES some serious accolades in a big way…hopefully one day the masses will CATCH UP to her and appreciate the amazing work she’s created & shared so far…heheh…and by then she’ll likely have moved on to some new groove .
[Edited 5/24/05 8:08am]

damn..i am sooo out of the meshell loop these days...how the hell did i miss a new album from her?

is this a return to form for her or is it something experimental?

sosgemini said:

later....

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

This white boy digs her. Gonna see her a week from tomorrow, in fact.

Stax said:

you going to see her at yoshi's too? on thursday night?

sosgemini said:

I just checked my tix, it is the Thursday show I am going to, the late set.

Stax said:

\damn

im going to the 8pm show....

hellomoto said:

-----
Black people are angry about things that are going on right now. Not so much about somebody's granddad owning slaves but,at the same time you can't understand what is going on now if you don't understand what happen in the past.

In the USA we don't deal with the past or the present and we are definitely not ready for the future.

GrayKing said:

-----
Co-Sign. She is incredibly talented and her bitterness does not upset me but, this type of music has no appeal to the masses and people are going to be offended.

I can't figure out why anybody is surprised at those reviews. Even the record company dumped this CD in France before putting it out in the states. They don't have her back.

I dont think MeShell is racist at all.While many of her songs might be written from her veiwpoint...like many artists, she also writes from the veiwpoint of characters she has created...

sosgemini said:

I'll be eating sushi about that time. I'll keep an eye out for you between shows.
[Edited 6/22/05 6:49am]

hellomoto said:

Fuck 'em...
Let them miss out on one of the most talented musicians out there...
Let those idiots listen to all those Beyonces, Britneys and other talentless twats and hoes, that's probably more up their alley...

Neversin.

Neversin said:

I adore... let me say that again and this time a little louder:

I AD RE 'Comfort Woman'.

That is all - you may now continue.

BananaCologne said:

I do too For me this album is a little more special having gone to see her in a live in store appearance here in LA and she previewed it for the crowd and just hung out talking with us. I got her to sign my fave "peace beyond passion" to "Supa"

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Cool! I keep missing her when she plays over here, she seems to do real low-key gigs. I was chatting to Froggy about her the other night - He saw her at The Jazz Cafe in London last year lucky sod.

I have a signed copy of Comfort Woman