Julia Fordham - Concrete Love (2002)

Fourteen years and six albums into her recording career, British thrush Julia Fordham hasn't quite earned the following one might have forecast for her when she arrived with a bit of fanfare in the late '80s. That said, she's persevered long enough to have garnered the admiration of a core of devotees and more than a few notable musicians, including this collection's guests, India Arie and Joe Henry. That Fordham has become something of a singer's singer is not surprising given the cool intelligence of her phrasing and the versatility of her husky-to-piercing range, which recalls trilling '70s singer-songwriters Minnie Riperton (a cover of Riperton's signature song, "Loving You," is hidden at the end of the album and the late singer provides the inspiration for the album's penultimate song, "Roadside Angel"), Phoebe Snow, and the towering Joni Mitchell. Mitchell's former husband Larry Klein, who worked the board on Fordham's 1994 effort, Falling Forward, returns to the producer's roll, cushioning Fordham's expositions on desire ("I'd take a bullet for you") and destitution ("Your friends warned me about you"). Concrete Love is the work of a stalwart singer who's perseverance has paid off. "I have not gone the distance but I am on my way," she sings on the album closer. That's quite apparent. --Steven Stolder