Customer Reviews

So Natural

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4 star:		(1)
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It is hard to believe this CD has not been reviewed. I traced down Lisa Stansfield for her hit "All Around the World" which is on her "Affection" album (not included on this one). After listening to a couple samples of the cuts on this present CD I knew I wanted it. And was I right. It is so sad that this CD was never released in the USA. It is consistently pleasurable from the first cut to the last. A great voice, moving lyrics, and good orchestration and arrangements. This is a very relaxing, soul searching album. The "Affection" album is more upbeat, dance music. But I plan to get all of her albums based on this one album. You won't be disappointed with "So Natural". Don't let the fact that the USA was deprived of this gem, buy it!!

It's a shame "So Natural" wasn't originally released in the U.S.. It is Stansfield's third-best album (trailing "Affection" and "Real Love"). Stansfield's standout song is the sultry "In All the Right Places" re-do. It's the REAL reason I purchased this CD. I preferred it to the darker version that shows up in "Indecent Proposal" and most other Stansfield complilation CD's. But the "So Natural" version is one of my all-time favorite love songs. In it, Lisa's voice hits every erotic peak and valley and surges and sizzles like a hot shower throughout. "Gonna Try It" is very good: still soulful, but with a cooler, more distant sound than "...Right Places." "Too Much Love Makin'" is third-best: not soul, but more of a traditional, toe-tapping pop ballad. As for the rest of the album, "Dream Away" is a gem-of-a-find that I didn't know existed, though it seems Lisa loses her mesmerizing charm to the male singer whenever she does duets. "Dream Away" is no different: dominated by Babyface, instead of Stansfield. "Goodbye" has a refined, sweeping feel muscially, and Lisa adapts her tone to it. And "Sweet Memories" has the lyrical sultriness of "...Right Places", but doesn't achieve its atmosphere. The title track, "So Natural" and its end re-mix, weren't impressive. "Marvelous...", "Little Bit of Heaven", and "Turn Me On" were a little too R&B, with the overuse of synthesized music. All-in-all, "So Natural" holds much of its blue-eyed soulfullness, and is still like Lisa Stansfield: So Good!