Angel on My Shoulder An Autoboigraphy

9781570429194

1570429197

"Notwithstanding the many salacious morsels Cole offers from her personal life, the best parts of ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER are Cole's descriptions of the work that went into the arrangement, performance and recording of that landmark album. Her production team found and hired some of the musicians who had worked with her father on the same material years before, and the singer's recollections of the intense, emotional studio sessions are both informative and moving. I could have read more about such scenes, as well as Cole's own thoughts regarding the various musical genres she's mastered. She's quite eloquent in this regard. 'R&B, pop, and jazz are three different head spaces, and they place three different demands on the voice,' she'll begin, before digressing to more discussions of what she learned in Alcoholics Anonymous or to offer happy-thought platitudes of the sort found in New Age manuals. I don't mean to cast aspersions on the importance of recovery and spiritual wholeness for those who struggle as Cole has done. Still, I wouldn't have minded a little less enlightenment and a bit more music theory.