—————————————————— Local Album of the Week: Leela James' Let's Do It Again | Rocks Off | Houston | Houston Press | The Leading Independent News Source in Houston, Texas

Houston Music

Local Album of the Week: Leela James' Let's Do It Again

Leela James

Let's Do It Again

www.leelajames.com

To understand what an arresting, puzzling record Leela James' Let's Do It Again really is, look no further than the L.A. native and adopted Houstonian's cover of Foreigner's mid-'80s soft-rock/gospel-lite singalong "I Want to Know What Love Is." James takes it about as far over the top as a church-raised singer who recalls Chaka Khan, Mary J. Blige and Erykah Badu can be expected to, but both her demanding vocals - she needs to know what love is - and the smoldering arrangement add the gravity Mick Jones and Lou Gramm's original could never quite muster.

Let's Do It Again's features one more Brit-rock trophy - the Rolling Stones' "Miss You," which loses nothing in the translation from icy-cool lothario brushoff to impassioned scorned-woman rebuke. James has less daunting, if no less germane, ground to cover on the rest of the album: the considerable distance between James Brown's "This Is a Man's World," Betty Wright's hands-off-my-man leg-shaker "Clean Up Woman" and the slow, mean blues casting of "The Dark End of the Street."

Her extra-thick backing band never betrays her, be it the Stevie Wonder/Anita Baker gloss of "Baby, I'm Scared of You," P-Funk come-ons of "I'd Rather Be With You" or acoustic Al Green perfection of "Simply Beautiful." Giving classic soul the kind of contemporary kick it's been crying out for, in the end Let's Do It Again only begs one question: "When?"

KEEP THE HOUSTON PRESS FREE... Since we started the Houston Press, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Houston, and we'd like to keep it that way. With local media under siege, it's more important than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" program, allowing us to keep offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food and culture with no paywalls.
Chris Gray has been Music Editor for the Houston Press since 2008. He is the proud father of a Beatles-loving toddler named Oliver.
Contact: Chris Gray