JOY review
hint: I love it!
There are many reasons to buy the new Fefe Dobson album, not just because I told you to.
It is forty minutes of pure "Joy." Lively rock'n'roll with great lyrics, each song telling a story. Fefe, who co-wrote all twelve songs, has developed into a serious composer.
She sings about fairly common social problems — women stealing men, duplicitous men. Yet she does it tastefully and melodically.
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I was sampling some rock group where all the songs sounded nearly the same. That's not the case here. There are ballads among the guitar-driven power songs, with Fefe's voice commanding attention. Years of live appearances have helped focus her intensity. Fefe Dobson is an amazing talent. This is her best work to date, even better than her eponymous debut and "Sunday Love," which has not been commercially released yet, despite being excellent. Now that "Joy" is finally available, it makes an fine gift for birthdays or whatever. Just make sure you keep a copy for yourself because this is the kind of album that used to get worn out back when records were on vinyl. Worth the wait, although I could have lived without the delays, as described below.
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How long can JOY be postponed?
It might be official. Fefe Dobson's JOY may arrive at the end of November. [Finally got it 27th November 10. Official date is 30th November; this was written before all that.]
Initially, it was to be out in mid-2008. Shortly after the album was completed, in Spring 2009, Island persuaded Fefe to rejoin their roster. Since then, there have been four singles, no album.
The first single was released 15 July 2009. Over the past year, album release dates have been announced and pre-orders accepted by discsellers. According to my research, these were January 2010, March 2010, 4 May, 24 May, 1 June, 15 June, 17 August, 5 October, 14 October, 18-28 October and now 30 November. So forgive me for greeting this latest promise with skepticism.
Fans the Web over are clamouring for the entire album, rather than teases from Island-Toe Jam.
Here is the JOY track listing, from the Canadian release, 11/2010.
- Intro
- Ghost (Fefe Dobson, Kara Dioguardi, Kevin Rudolf, Jacob Kasher) single released 21 June 2010
- Thanks For Nothing (Fefe Dobson, Joshua Abraham, Bonnie L McKee, Luke W Walker)
- Stuttering (Fefe Dobson, Claude Kelly) single released 7 September 2010
- Can’t Breathe (Fefe Dobson, Thomas Salter, Bob Ezrin, Tommy Henriksen), guitar: Orianthi
- You Bitch (Fefe Dobson, Nicole Hughes, Peter Sjöström)
- Didn’t See You Coming (Fefe Dobson, Jon Levine, Anjulie Persaud)
- I Want You (Fefe Dobson, Anjulie Persaud, Dave Lichens) single released 3 July 2009,
re-released 20 October 2009 - Watch Me Move (Fefe Dobson, David Lichens, Andrea Wasse) released 9 September 2008,
re-released 9 March 2010 - I’m A Lady (Fefe Dobson, David Lichens, Andrea Wasse)
- In Your Touch (Fefe Dobson, David Lichens)
- Set Me Free (Fefe Dobson, Jon Levine)
- Joy (Fefe Dobson, Nicole Hughes)
Let’s Go (Turn It Up) (Fefe Dobson, Joshua Abraham, Oliver Elliot Goldstein, Bonnie McKee, Luke Walker) is not on the latest incarnation of the promised album. Another song not in the latest list: Paranoia (Fefe Dobson, Jon Levine, Sarea Mitchell, Anjulie Persaud).
Fefe's second album, Sunday Love, was slated for released 20 September 2005. For a complete account of the debacle, see gtslade.com.
FEFE DOBSON
Felicia Lily Dobson was born in Scarborough, Ontario, in a country called Canada
28 February 1985. Island Records released her eponomous first album in
December 2003, when she was nearly 18. Wowie zowie!
