::ALBUM REVIEW::
by J Matthew Cobb
Posted: April 30, 2009

Whether she’s doing mainstream or gospel, Ann Nesby is a force to be reckoned with. Her voice, bubbling with the soulful connections of Aretha Franklin, is highly distinguishable and remains synonymous with the Sounds of Blackness’ glory years. Her tenure with the group, although quite short in the eye of mainstream pop music, is extremely relevant for her career; breaking her into big R&B hits and even placing her in the company of super tag-team producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. After her two-album deal with Jam & Lewis’s Perspective label, she hit the independent scene and even made her mark on the dance world with blazing recordings with house mixer DJ Spen (Jasper Street Company) and her #1 club hit “Lovin’ Is Really My Game.” The tedious journey led her to a cameo appearance in the motion picture The Fighting Temptations, a successful gastric bypass surgery, a GRAMMY-nominated album (This Is Love) and a most-recent label signing with Tyscot Records. On her first Tyscot album, The Lula Lee Project, Nesby takes the high road into superfluous alter-egos learning from the likes of Beyonce’ (Sasha), Mariah Carey (Mimi) and Tonex’ (too many names to print) by introducing us to Lula Lee. But thankfully for a 54-year old grandmother and an established veteran singer in the gospel world, the backdrop of the story isn’t as shallow as it may appear. Lula is the first word of her birth name and Lee is the last name of her husband and manager, Timothy Lee. Still, the super move along with the glossy photos and the recent music video seems to stir up the idea that Nesby may be playing with the familiar tactics of most sophisticated and established diva personas.

The album opens with “I Found a Place;” a song that generates all the right familiarities of her beloved SOB days. Produced and penned by Tonex’, Nesby digs into a delicious funk that sprouts with deep bass lines and vibrant Minneapolis R&B fun. “Too Late” explores more of Tonex’s punk rock side with its loud synths, capped with Nesby’s outrageous pipes and a nastay sample of Nesby’s roof-raising vocals from “The Pressure.” But the song, too radical for radio, evolves around the looping chorus and Nesby’s out-of-control shouts.

The rest of the album, calmer in nature and lean on super street beats, reunites her with a few of her former recruits (Roosevelt George, J.P. Isaac) and a few more . The Herb Middleton-penned “Sky Is the Limit,” soaked in Al Green organ bursts and the mature R&B grooves of latter Aretha, brings home a relevant message of hope set to a soothing angelic chorus. As the songs parade on, the strength of the songs fall between quickly-assembled urban soul and inspirational ‘80s-sounding R&B. Through it all, Nesby maintains her infectious spark and satisfying vocal deliveries. Regardless of how much urban crunk juice is released through the beats of “Pressure Makes Diamonds,” Nesby remains the center of attention - capturing the listener with her testifying squalls and theatric gospel outbursts perfect for a Tyler Perry stageplay. Along with “Pressure Makes Diamonds,” Nesby gives pleasantry and a sweet case of likableness to songs like the “bless-me” fodder of “Higher” (offset with enhancing harp effects, light drum programming and sweet piano accompaniment) and the Lalah Hathaway-drenched “Sow Love.” The lyrics may be a bit sloppy in places, but Nesby detracts you away from the obvious setbacks to her implosive vocal workouts. A smart move indeed.

But a dispersing rhythm change on “Say Jesus” and a long-winded worship offering, met with great upset from exhaustive repetitive phrases and loads of lyrical emptiness on “I Trust You Lord” are hopeless for any of Nesby’s ad-libs and preachy moments. And even “Praises (Go Up)” fall into the same manner of predictability with its Brandy-natured formulas and its cliche’-rendered chorus. Sure Nesby is at work to salvage anything good about these selections. If it had been on anyone far less interesting or exciting, the events would surely be disastrous and strongly forgettable.

When the album finally reaches its end, “So Much Joy,” a 2006 digital gospel house mix made by Sean Spencer (DJ Spen) & the MuthaFunkaz, finally makes its debut on a full-length album. It’s one of the album’s greatest delights; a soulful celebration of Nesby’s sweaty dancefloor workouts from the past. Still it constitutes of album filler - especially for those that have traced Nesby’s career from her Sounds of Blackness heyday to her occasional dance floor exertions.

Her voice, remarkable throughout, shines with character and dynamic precession on The Lula Lee Project, but the weak cuts, the alter ego pop-up and the variants between rock-edge Tonex’ and the slow-paced R&B pale in strength when compared to her Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis efforts on I”m Here for You or Put It On Paper. Her style has always varied from hard gospel to smooth soul to modern disco, but the key ingredient in her earlier works has always been strong material. If she could have secured a strong song as complete as the big R&B ballad “I’m Still Wearing Your Name” or as memorable as “I Believe,” The Lula Lee Project would have been noteworthy.