Stones Throw
2006
Shine Through
About This Album
The most frustrating thing about Aloe Blacc's debut solo album, Shine Through, is that it starts out with such amazing potential. Not a typical complaint, it's true, but the opener, "Whole World," with trip-hoppish beat blended with Blacc's smooth voice and the necessary neo-soul references to musical heroes (Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald), is quite affecting, and it's followed by an even better track, an adaptation of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" (titled "Long Time Coming" here) that sounds absolutely nothing like the original. Produced by Oh No, the song's a haunting mix of layered harmonies, drums, and hollow chimes, taking a classic and giving it a real modern and darker sensibility without losing any of the power found in Cooke's version. That's why it's so disappointing when Blacc slips into more generic sounding R&B. He's a talented musician, that much is clear -- he handles almost all of the production (labelmate Madlib takes the reigns on "One Inna,") the instrumentation, and the vocals himself -- and he proves this right away, and nothing on Shine Through is bad; it's just not as good as it initially seemed it was going to be.
Track List (try tracks 3,5,7,8 and 13)

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