ERAN JAMES
"TEN SONGS ABOUT LOVE"
(Heaven/Australia, 2007)
It's been suggested by at least one magazine article I've read lately that listening to music has turned into more of a passive activity than an active one, and it's certainly true ... mostly because the convenience of the MP3 era has relieved us of the torturous burden of physically getting up and putting a record on the turntable or a CD in the stereo, but also partly because we Americans have gotten into the habit of multitasking and are thus paying less attention to the music we listen to, even when it's chosen by us and piped through our own personal earphones. Well, if there's ever been an argument for devoting your undivided attention to a full album of songs, it's Eran James' new album, "Ten Songs About Love".
Could they have chosen a worse title for this album? It's misleading enough that I hesitated buying it, and I have to wonder how many other people have done the same. First of all, there aren't ten songs on the album, there are actually twelve. The song titles don't exactly lend credence to that fact: tracks 1 and 12 are honest-to-goodness, full-length songs, rather that the short "bumper" pieces that the words their titles start with ("Prelude" and "Epilogue") might imply. The other complaint I have about the album's title is, I'll admit, probably more due to my own short-sightedness -- I can't help but always think of a slow, quiet ballad when I hear the term "love song". Sure, I like a good ballad once in awhile, but I'd get bored rather quickly with a whole album full of strolling-in-the-moonlight songs.
Well, it turns out that my fears were unfounded, as the album's producers wisely livened up the proceedings with an equal share of bicycling-through-the-park-on-a-spring-afternoon songs. It makes sense: love can evoke carefree joy as much as cozy romance. Another reason I needn't have worried was the reason I was so eagerly awaiting this release in the first place: Eran's indescribably (but I'm gonna give it a try anyway) amazing voice, which has far more soul than an 18-year-old Australian white boy could possibly be expected to have. This is probably going to sound weird, but Eran has the kind of voice that I wish I could distill into a liquid and bathe in, it's so sumptuous to hear. From the soaring first single, "Touched By Love", through the Stevie-Wonder-style shuffle of "The Other Side Of Love" and the smooth jazziness of "I Still Do" (co-written by '70s blue-eyed-soul legend Daryl Hall), to the sensual sway of "We Can" and "Won't Even Try", Eran James effortlessly lifts a set of songs that would otherwise be quite ordinary to the level of Otis Redding's and Lou Rawls' best work.
Lest you think I'm overstating his vocal talents, take this into consideration: it's widely purported that a couple of years ago the late James Brown, Godfather of Soul himself, saw Eran James perform, went up to him afterward and told him, "Man, you sound blacker than me!" So, if you like classic-style soul music, or just great singing in general, you owe it to yourself to get this album. And if you don't take my word for it, take Mr. Brown's.
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