''Acoustic Soul'' is the debut studio album by American singer
India Arie. It was released on March 27, 2001, by
Motown
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...
. The album received seven nominations at the
44th Grammy Awards, including
Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to:
Awards
* ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia
* Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK
* Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US
* Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA
* Lati ...
and
Best R&B Album. ''Acoustic Soul'' was certified double platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
(RIAA) on December 17, 2003, denoting shipments in excess of two million copies in the United States.
Critical reception
Upon its release, the album received acclaim from music critics.
Track listing
Sample credits
* "Video" contains an interpolation of "Fun" by
Brick
A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...
.
* "Nature" contains an interpolation of "
Quiet Storm
Quiet storm is a radio format and genre of R&B, performed in a smooth, romantic, jazz-influenced style. It was named after the title song on Smokey Robinson's 1975 album ''A Quiet Storm''.
The radio format was pioneered in 1976 by Melvin Lin ...
" by
Mobb Deep.
Personnel
Musicians
*India Arie – vocals,
acoustic guitar
*Mark Batson –
organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
,
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
,
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
,
drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...
s,
keyboards,
programming,
Mellotron,
Fender Rhodes
*Carlos "6 July" Broady – programming
*John Catchings –
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...
*Larry Goldings – organ,
Wurlitzer,
string contractor
*Steve Grossman – percussion, drums
*Tony Harrell – keyboards
*Kerisha Hicks –
background vocals
*Judeth Insel –
viola
; german: Bratsche
, alt=Viola shown from the front and the side
, image=Bratsche.jpg
, caption=
, background=string
, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
, range=
, related=
*Violin family ...
*Avery Johnson – bass
*Bashiri Johnson – percussion
*Doug Kahan – bass
*Terry MacMillan – percussion
*Blue Miller – acoustic guitar,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
,
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...
, programming, vocals, background vocals
*Bob Power – bass, guitar,
conductor, programming
*Marlene Rice –
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
*Ralph Rolle – drums
*Joyce Simpson – background vocals
*David Spak – percussion
*
Laurneá Wilkerson – background vocals
*Nioka Workman – cello
Technical
*
Producers: India Arie,
Mark Batson, Carlos "6 July" Broady, Blue Miller,
Bob Power
Bob Power is an American Grammy Award–winning and multi-platinum record producer, audio engineer, composer, arranger, performer, and music educator.
Early life
Power was born in Chicago, moved to Rye, New York, then moved to St. Louis, Mi ...
*
Executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...
:
Kedar Massenburg
*Engineers: Kevin Haywood, Avery Johnson, Jim Lightman, Blue Miller, Mark Niemiec, Bob Power, Lovis Scalise, Mike Tocci
*
Mixing: Kevin Haywood, George Karras, Jim Lightman, Chris Mazer, Blue Miller, Bob Power,
Mike Shipley, Alvin Speights,
Dave Way
*
Mastering: Chris Athens
*Programming: Mark Batson
*Assistant producer: Jason Breckling
*String arrangements:
Mark Batson
*String engineer: Jon Smeltz
*
Creative director: Sandy Brummels
*
Product manager: Liz Loblack
*
Art direction
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vis ...
: Annalee Valencia
*Design: Annalee Valencia
*Photography:
Kwaku Alston
Kwaku Alston is an American photographer. His editorial work has been featured in ''The New York Times Magazine'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Time'', ''Men’s Health'', ''Essence'', and ''Men’s Journal,'' among many others. He has photographed ads f ...
,
Michael Benabib
Michael Benabib is an American portrait photographer, known for his portraits of David Bowie, Tupac Shakur, Sean Combs, and Keith Richards among others. Notable portrait photography of public figures include Bill Clinton, Alan Dershowitz and L ...
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
Notes
References
Further reading
*
External links
Album reviewat
BBC Online
BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, the childr ...
Album reviewat
Entertainment.ie
''Entertainment.ie'' is an Irish web company based in Dublin. The company provides news and reviews of programs and films for TV and the cinema. It also provides information on upcoming comedies, festivals, theater shows and music in Ireland, a ...
Album reviewat ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
''
{{Authority control
2001 debut albums
Albums produced by Mark Batson
Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios
India Arie albums
Motown albums