 Like every other new millennium nu-soul diva, Nikka Costa wound up being overshadowed by Amy Winehouse, the neo-soul singer who catapulted over all her rivals with Back to Black, an impeccable updating of classic soul whose modern updates were flair, not foundation. It was the inverse of the formula Costa and her producer/husband Justin Stanley pursued beginning with her 2001 debut Everybody Got Their Something, which not so coincidentally was co-produced by Mark Ronson, Winehouse's producer; a bit of history that had to sting for Nikka. Ronson's influence can be heard on Costa's third album, 2008's Pebble to a Pearl, but not to the extent it was on Everybody Got Their Something, when his DJ roots shone through. Here, it's his adoption of the Daptones as house band and subsequent revival of '60s soul that provide Costa and Stanley with their template, but the duo take it far further than Ronson did with Winehouse, who retained a bit of modernity in his tight, sequenced rhythms, in favor of an old-school vibe built upon live instruments. Costa's freedom to move is as much as a reaction to Winehouse as it is to her clean break from Virgin records (who by definition needed her to compete with Christina Aguilera), and her move to Stax records, the storied Southern soul label whose legacy looms large on Pebble to a Pearl. This is grounded in the earthy, down-home funk of Stax/Volt, a vibe that's retained even when Costa dips into a bouncier beat or girly harmonies straight out of Motown. That's because Pebble to a Pearl is at its heart a groove album, one that's all about feel, how the rhythm runs, and how the band plays. That includes Nikka Costa, too, as she is freed by this live, loose atmosphere to really belt the hell out of the songs and she does, unleashing a fire she always hinted at beneath the gloss of her other records. It makes for a record that feels so right that it seems a bit churlish to say that it could use a bit more song sense to go with its sound, just a track or two that grabs instead of grows -- not so much a "Rehab" but a "(Doin' The) Boom Boom," a cut that helps pull in listeners to Eli "Paperboy" Reed's Roll with You, an album that's a kissing cousin to Pebble to a Pearl in its faithful yet fiery devotion. It could have used a song like that, but even without it, Pebble to a Pearl is a bit of a gem, a true blast of retro-soul that helps push Costa out of the nu-diva pack and into her own distinct groove....full text |
| The title of Nikka Costa's third album could double as a metaphor for her career. Her two previous offerings on Virgin, "Everybody Got Their Something" and "Can'tneverdidnothin'," made small ripples. But neither came close to capturing Costa's Janis Joplin-meets-Chaka Khan vocals; her funky recipe of soul, blues and pop; or the Energizer Bunny spirit of her stage shows. Costa polishes all that to a fine glow on "Pebble to a Pearl," which the singer/songwriter recorded live in the studio on her own Go Funk Yourself label. The record's organic feel enhances her textured and colorful delivery on such songs as the uplifting "Stuck to You," the autobiographical title track and the compelling slow drag "Love to Love You Less." With this album, Costa comes defiantly into her own. —Gail Mitchell...full text |
No longer hamstrung by the pressures of a major label that tried to shoehorn her into ill-fitting mainstream pop stardom, self-proclaimed "Funky White Bitch" Nikka Costa finds a far more appropriate home on the re-launched Stax label for her new album Pebble to a Pearl. While the best moments from 2001's solid Everybody Got Their Something (which plays in retrospect as a harbinger of the more fully-realized aesthetic that co-producer Mark Ronson found on Amy Winehouse's Back to Black) and 2005's underwhelming can'tneverdidnothin' were those that showcased her potential as a modern-day Betty Davis, Costa and her husband/producer Justin Stanley fully embrace their retro fetish on this collection, and it's clear that they both have spot-on instincts when it comes to vintage funk and R&B styles.
Recorded live in-studio with the Daptones as the backing band, Costa and Stanley ensure that Pebble could pass for a record that's just been unearthed from the Stax vaults: Whereas Ronson and Winehouse modernize these sounds by filtering them through a contemporary urban context, there's nothing modern about the arrangements on Costa's "Cry Baby" and "Keep Wanting More." With their strutting clavinet loops, co-opted gospel piano licks and stuttering basslines, these are straight-up '60s soul and '70s funk tracks that are damn near flawless in their execution and their faithfulness to the conventions of those eras. In that regard, the record recalls Sharon Jones & the DAP-Kings's Naturally and 100 Days, 100 Nights more so than Winehouse's albums....full text |
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