Relish (Mercury), Joan Osborne's debut with the ubiquitous hit "One of Us," was a pleasing hunk of platinum. But the playing and writing of ex-Baby Grand and Hooters go-gitters Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman was so pervasive it seemed like Osborne might be a Stepford singer. Five years later, Osborne's follow-up, Righteous Love, proves the soul in her sistah-ly howl 'n' growl is real.
Osborne has been on a personal and musical odyssey, traveling the globe to absorb the sounds and spirituality of the East, and performing with the likes of the Chieftains, Pavarotti, and Dylan. This bubbles up through Righteous Love in interesting ways. Even rockers "Running Out of Time" and "Safety in Numbers" reveal flashes of the shimmering cadences of the qawwali singing she had studied with the late master Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. And "Grand Illusion" draws on Hindu philosophy for its message about identity, while deftly pairing such seemingly disparate elements as buttery George Harrision-style slide guitar and synth-pop keyboards. There's also "If I Was Your Man," which cloaks the classic R&B notion of its title in Asian trappings. Osborne's delicious delivery of its chorus, drawing on the Ganges and Mississippi Deltas, is among the album's highs.
The splashes of fine-cut gravel in Osborne's throat keep nearly everything in a soul-music context -- as does the swoop and glide of her phrases and her thoughtfully flattened notes. The ballad "Angel Face" offers a straight-up take on simmering R&B, allowing Osborne to bring her blues-club-honed voice home. Nonetheless, "Hurricane," which was inspired by Howlin' Wolf, is closer to Tin Pan Alley. So is "Righteous Love," with its '50s girl-group approach. The former is one of the album's few missteps; the latter another of its many welcome exercises for Osborne's impressive pipes.
On Relish Osborne covered Dylan's "Man in the Long Black Coat." Here she goes back to Bob with the closing "To Make You Feel My Love." Osborne and producer Mitchell Froom, an eclectic and inventive helmsmen, turn the ballad into beautiful country hip-hop. Osborne caresses plainspoken lyrics of devotion over a naked kick-snare beat, eventually joined by singing steel guitar.
There's something poignant in hearing Osborne's voice so alone.That's the way Righteous Love was made: carved from her self-discoveries, financed out of pocket after her old label, dissatisfied with false starts, released her contract. It's the sound of artistic vindication -- something we can all relish.
