Righteous Love

Joan Osborne | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 12, 2000)
• Original Release Date: September 12, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Interscope Records
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• ASIN: B00004WFQU
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,575 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Osborne Soars, September 12, 2000

By 

Charlie Harger (Jersey City, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Righteous Love (Audio CD)

Joan Osborne fans have been waiting five years for her latest release, "Righteous Love". After several run-ins with her label, Mercury Records, she jumped ship to Interscope to get this album released. Many purchased the Osborne's previous album, "Relish", mistakenly believing that the album would contain more bubblegum like her hit single from the album, "What If God Was One Of Us". "Relish" was actually nothing like "One Of Us", as it was a provocative, soulful, and dare I say, sexual album. "Relish" won well-deserved acclaim, and went on to be named "Album Of The Year" by Rolling Stone magazine. The five years between albums has shown that Osborne has become more confident in her vocal abilities. She seems to effortlessly change octaves within a breath, and her voice soars. Since it is not fair to compare this album to her previous effort, I am giving this album Amazon's highest rating. For Osborne fans, I will couch this opinion with the following: "Righteous Love" does not drip with the blatant sexuality of "Relish", nor does this album have the tenderness found on tracks like "Lumina" or "Crazy Baby", which appear on "Relish". Rather, "Righteous Love" is much more a contination of songs like "Spider Web" and "Pensacola" from "Relish". Soulful and powerful- what you've come to expect from Joan Osborne.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She's back - relish her presence, September 19, 2000

By 

Matthew J Nichols (Manchester, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Righteous Love (Audio CD)

How do you follow the truly great? Tori Amos struggled to top Little Earthquakes. Did The Beatles ever better Sergeant Peppers? Alanis' sophomore effort was overlong, overwrought, and overworded. Relish was one of the best albums of the last decade, nay, in all of rock music. From the loosely strummed opening twang of St Teresa to the softly spoken Lumina, it remains a musical masterpiece. Over here in the UK, Joan Osborne will forever be associated with One Of Us, and little else. Making your fans and your record label wait five years (count 'em!) for new material is a bold move, but she's pulled it off with ease. While Righteous Love doesn't have the instant hook factor of Relish it is a fine, confident album, packed with strong musical checkpoints and a vibrant, striding pulse. Running Out Of Time is a brilliant way to open any album, and it's the best kind of rootsy rock-pop that Joan Osborne does. If the album has a weak point, at least it's got out of the way early, as the track Righteous Love is over-produced, thrashy and monotone, sitting ill at ease with the rest of the disc. The next five tracks, Safety In Numbers (doo-wop, reinvented by Sheryl Crow), Love Is Alive (howling Joplin-a-like bar-room blues-rock), Angel Face (think this album's Pensacola), Grand Illusion and If I Was Your Man (George Harrison would weep, gently) are gobsmacking. Add to this the brave Baby Love and the frankly sublime Poison Apples (Hallelujah) and a closing with Dylan's magnificent Make You Feel My Love and you have an assured, fantastic album, certainly well worth the wait. It's been a long five years, with only Early Recordings, Chimes Of Freedom (with Dylan again) and Lilith Fair stuff to keep us happy, but it's been worth it. If God is one of us, he's probably Joan Osborne.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Return of the Rock Goddess....finally!!!, September 12, 2000

By 

Brian Sant (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Righteous Love (Audio CD)

As a huge Joan Osborne fan since the release of Relish in 1995, I have been waiting for over 5 years for the follow up album. It is merely hours after its release...and I am still listening to it for the 5th time. On the first listen, tracks that immediately stood out "Running out of Time", "Safety in Numbers", "Baby Love", and "Hurricaine" combine the sultryness of Joan's voice with the grit and rawness of the music she so finely cultivated on Relish. As with most great albums, "Righteous Love" is one that grows on the listener...with each new listen, the songs get stronger and better as they become more familiar. The combination of musical genres, from blues to country, rock to Eastern melodies, that Joan is able to meld together on tracks like "If I Was Your Man", and "Hurricaine" may seem odd at first, and perhaps a little disjointed, but the capabilities of Joan's voice to not only command, but inevitably transcend the music makes this one tiny inconsistency inconsequential. Joan definately has not forgotten her roots...remnants of her Early Recordings material flow through the slower tracks of "Righteous Love" and "Angel Face" and she continues to cover songs with more passion and splendor than the originals. Her rendition of Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" will make you weak in the knees and lower your head in agony. This album is openly full of Joan's signature rawness, while the hidden undercurrent of sexual energy begs you listen deeper the next time, and the time after that, and the time after that...The new material is familiar enough to please any Relish fan, while the simple traditional structure of the new songs may invite some listeners. And hopefully Joan will be remembered for more than just "that One of Us song"...if anything could do it, this album could. It is rising on my Favorite Albums Chart with every push of the play button.