Jully Black - Revival

4 stars out of 5

Jully Black, a Toronto native, burst onto the Canadian music scene with her 2005 album This is Me. Jully’s debut album was full of urban beats an R&B ballads, but with her sophomore effort she has taken a more mature and soulful approach.

This media regular, frequently reporting for eTalk on CTV, introduced us to Revival with her first single, and 1951 Etta James cover tune, “Seven Day Fool”. This is a strong and catchy song with an Amy Winehouse flare. After hearing this song on the radio, I held high expectations to the disk.

The CD’s opening track, “DJ Play My Song”, is an upbeat dance anthem that makes you want to move. Next comes the stand out single “Seven Day Fool”. At this point, Revival starts to mellow down and loose a cohesive flow between the rest of the songs. The remaining songs are done in more a of a ballad style with some mid-tempo tracks thrown in. Sandwiched between two slower songs is “Never Lose My Sight”. This song had a much different quantity than the others, it seems to have a bit of a harder edge and more power. I did like the song but found it to greater show the lack of flow on the album.

Although R&B is not my choice when it comes to music, I still found myself enjoying Revival. The songs were well written and greatly showed the talents of Ms Black. I would suggest Jully Black’s second album to those who are fans of Alicia Keys, Amy Winehouse, and KT Tunstall.