LP1

Drive All Night, with its chilled-out jazz backbeat, is a standout among her sultry tales of love. [29 Jul 2011, p.72]

In a world where machined dance fodder, rap-deckled pop and lumbering rawk dominates, a genuine article of soul music-especially one where the thick bass, tumbling Wurlitzer and bright guitars set the tone-is a joyous noise, indeed.

LP1 doesn't always achieve a balance between the two extremes, not to the extent Stone and Stewart desires, as some of the ballads are a little formless and some of the funk a little too restricted, while some of Joss' posturing is a little affected, but it has more moments that work than anything she's done since her actual debut in 2003.

Her voice is a loose cannon; LP1 figures out how to aim it.

She's got soul all right. [Sept. 2011, p. 94]

There is an occasional excess of histrionics, particularly on "Boat Yard," but her teenage talent has found a convincing adult path. [Sep 2011, p.96]

This feels more like a palette cleanser, a statement of intent that Stone has ditched the commercial gloss.

Stone is best when she's rawest, bookending LP1 with "Newborn" and "Take Good Care," stripped-down tunes where her howl goes from plaintive to bone-shaking in a few lovesick heartbeats.

Recorded over six days in Nashville with Dave Stewart, the debut release on Joss Stone's own label is, she claims, the first on which she has exerted total creative freedom.

The writing is generic, the studio-craft impressive. Enjoyment will depend on how you get on with the voice and its hooting cannonade of mannerisms.

Stone packs all the power you expect, but her control misfires enough for some of these tracks to never quite click as they might.

LP1 is an almost shockingly forgettable slab of forced adult-contemporary rock, destined for a Whole Foods aisle near you.

The result, surprisingly, is Stone's most conventional record yet: handsome soul singing, sturdy blues-rock arrangements, lyrics about refusing to cry oneself to sleep.

This a wholly acceptable effort, but it makes it clear that Stone is stalling out a mere decade into what looked at first like a promising career. It's time for her to throw the throwback shtick aside and really figure out what kind music she'd like to make.

Devon soul woman meets Dave Stewart, in Nashville. [Sept. 2011, p. 118]

Sadly, the final product is so familiar and so shorn of genuine emotion that LP1 quickly loses any sense of identity and becomes standard fare, indistinguishable from any number of other recordings.