DVDfever.co.uk - Jessica Clemmons: Permanent CD reviewDVDfever.co.uk - Charts, News and Reviews of Blu-rays, DVDs, Games, CDs, Hardware, Laserdiscs, Cinema Films & more
With one of the best pop-soul singers in the world right now struggling to make her commercial impact in the UK– Solange Knowles (Beyonce’s younger sis) what chance does Texas blonde-bombshell Jessica Clemmons stand?
From the CD packshot, it seems they (Johnny Boy Records) haven’t been too creative or, er, lavish – white back ground, simple lettering and a T-pose by Jessie togged in black. So far, things don’t look too good. It looks like the sort of thing you’d see in some CD ‘budget bin’, if they still exist.
That would seriously under-value this reasonably good album, but despite the heavyweight production behind Beyonce, Janet Jackson, R Kelly and Justin Timberlake, there’s something missing – that once special moment when you say, ‘Yes!’
Everything is neat and tidy, very professional and all that, but it would have paid to get some biggie songwriters to go beyond what’s on offer.
Here and there, you get some very good ones like catchy country-tinged Here I Am, self-penned (echoes of Shania Twain – whatever happened to the gorgeous one?) and the stylish pop gem Hypnotise Me.
Elsewhere, she experiments with various styles, which for me anyway, doesn’t quite work, like slushy ballad Promise You with splashes of R&B, and filler tracks (as is common with many albums, especially debuts), in this case girl-band fodder Let Me In, and dire power ballad I Can Do Anything With You.
One thing in her favour she can write her own stuff, as a collaborator at least, (there’s 6 by her and co, and they are the better ones), even if she’s yet to make that killer track, that this album is crying out for.
Big time chances? Not much.
1. Permanent
2. Promise You
3. Hypnotise Me
4. Let Me In
5. I Can Do Anything With You
6. Relentless
7. Open Up Your Eyes
8. Part Of You
9. Here I Am
10. That’s All There Is
11. It’s Over Now
12. What Do You Think About That?
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.