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| | Undiscovered Soul | | | Music Artist : | | Richie Sambora | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Polygram Records | | Release Date : | | 1998-03-03 | | Store Price : | | $10.98 | | Artistopia's Price: $10.98 | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. Made in America
2. Hard Times Come Easy
3. Fallen from Graceland
4. If God Was a Woman
5. All That Really Matters
6. You're Not Alone
7. In It for Love
8. Chained
9. Harlem Rain
10. Who I Am
11. Downside of Love
12. Undiscovered Soul
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Other Artist Albums
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 Undiscovered Soul is Filled with Beauty
Submitted on: 2009-02-14 |
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| "Falling from Graceland" on "Undiscovered Soul," is one of the most healing songs I have ever heard. The cd itselef is a variety of styles, some Americana, some R&B, some blues, ballads, love songs and more. A real montage of feeling. Sambora is much more than a handsome man, much more than what he looks like, much more than the guitarist for Bon Jovi, much more than one of the greatest guitarists in music history. He is an excellent vocalist. He is an excellent songwriter. Richie Sambora, will I hope, get the real credit he deserves one day. |
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ABSOLUTELY AWESOME ALBUM
Submitted on: 2008-04-13 |
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This is the second Richie Sambora album and very well worth investing in... it has slightly more of a rock vibe than the Stranger in this town which to me has a rock vibe but with a strong laid black blues sound. Richie Sambora may be most known for his integral part of the band Bon Jovi but both albums prove without a doubt he is an incredible solo artist as well.
Definately a must have for all. Highly recommend (both albums)
A Totally AWESOME album :) |
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 easy listening
Submitted on: 2008-02-09 |
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This album is so good, its an album that make you feel good at the end of a stressful day, open a bottle of wine and listen to this album and it will make the days hassel go away.
This album shows off richie's vocal range that bon jovi hasn't seen, richie proves that he is more than a back up singer. The feeling in this album is awersome and sometimes you feel like he is singing right to you, there is a lot of passion in some of the song like "fallen from graceland". This album is like Richie telling you a story from the first song on the album "made in America" to the last song "undiscovered soul", at the end of the album you feel like you have learn't a little bit about him that you might not have known before. open your heart, your mind and your ears, who knows he just might change your view on music. |
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Ritchie
Submitted on: 2007-12-28 |
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| Awesome album. Ritchie has a beautifull voice. Very soulful. Sambora fans a definate must have. |
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One of the Best Albums Nobody, Including You, Have Heard
Submitted on: 2007-01-16 |
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I imagine nobody would buy this album without knowing of Richie's work in Bon Jovi. That fact alone saddens me for a few reasons. For one, this album sounds SO little like Bon Jovi's work (it's calm, bluesy, beautiful, and introspective rather than big, catchy, dynamic, and hook-filled) that I can imagine many fans listening to this album - expecting Richie's guitar-oriented take on Bon Jovi's sound - and being thoroughly disappointed by how little it sounds like their expectations.
Two, this album is easily as good - if not better - than anything Bon Jovi's ever done. And while I might get grief for that statement alone, I say that being a HUGE Bon Jovi fan myself who owns every album and would proudly say that I enjoy their post-90's music perhaps even better than their glory day music. But the fact (or rather my strong belief) is that this is one of the best journeyman albums ever, and vastly underrated. Somewhere in the vein of GOOD classic Clapton without the overdone, tired blues scales and Bruce Springsteen without the lyrical/storytelling density.
This album also shows Richie's wide ranging influences and effortlessly shifts moods and styles throughout. Made In America is a very strong acoustic opening. Sounding somewhat like Springsteen lite (not in a bad way) with strong, story-telling verses and chorus and subtle, twangy, chiming Telecaster (Richie's main guitar on this album) accompanying him in the background. Hard Times Come Easy is one of the most bluesy songs on the album. But bluesy in a very upbeat, catchy way with alot of short, sweet Telecaster licks and an excellent, catchy chorus.
Fallen From Graceland is one of the beauties of the album. A slow, calm introspective ballad featuring a lovely sustained organ (I think) in the background and some great, subtle guitar and drum work over Richie's hypnotizing vocals. Richie does something very smart on this album which is vary the tempo from song to song. Going from the slow crooning of Graceland we head right into the upbeat, tongue-in-cheek If God Was a Woman. Featuring some more cool Tele strumming from Richie with a harmonica taking the lead and some of Richie's best lyrical work on the album (if you're in the mood for something kinda funny). This is also probably the most classic blues sounding song on the album.
All That Really Matters is in the same vein as Graceland. A ballad like love song. It's a good song, but not the best on the album. In fact, the album only bogs down a bit at this point with a string of decent to mediocre songs. You're Not Alone is different and quirky, with a cool sounding vocal effect and an effects laden guitar. It's catchy and different, but doesn't fit with the rest of the album. It It For Love and Chained are perhaps the two most mediocre songs on the album. Actually, both are pretty good songs, and it's surprising that songs this good represent the WORST of an album.
But then comes the supreme beauty of the album. Perhaps my favorite song ever written by anyone with Harlem Rain. This song is just a stunningly beautiful piece of music and song-writing featuring some exquisitely gorgeous acoustic guitar work by Richie with another sustained keyboard/organ sound in the background. This is also perhaps the darkest song (from a lyrical/tone perspective) on the album. Talking about the pain of being beaten down by life:
"In your search for tender mercy, no one seemed to care,
The faith that used to be your crutch, is now your cross to bear.
You lost yourself so long ago, you don't know who to blame,
Harlem rain, coming down.
Another shattered soul in the lost and found.
One more night on the streets of pain,
getting washed away, by the Harlem rain."
This is actually one of the few songs that have ever made me cry. And even today after hearing it a ton of times I can't help but get chills listening to it.
Going from the saddest, most beautiful song on the album right into the heaviest, hardest rocking and perhaps most self-affirming in Who I Am. This is a 7 minute behemoth of a song showcasing Richie's excellent electric guitar work. The song builds and builds perfectly through calm verses, tension building bridges, and an excellent chorus into Richie's best solo breakout of the album.
If "If God Was a Woman" is the most classic blues song in an upbeat sense, Downside of Love is the most classic blues song in a downbeat sense. It has some love and heartbreak lyrics, some cool, bluesy licks with soulful vocals and delivery into perhaps a slightly bland chorus, but it's still a really good song.
The title track closes the album in an superb way. Starting out with Richie muting and up-down picking the E string on his Tele in a really cool, building rhythm until the drums start coming in to build up to the verse. The opening guitar lick/melody to the song is one of Richie's best ever. A subtle string of notes so telling in detail they're practically a lyrical verse themselves. The drumming continues through the verses where Richie tells one of his best stories on the album until diving into perhaps the best chorus on the album. This is an anthematic song that walks the line between upbeat and downbeat perfectly (not just with the music, but the lyrics too): "When you walk that road. You walk alone, just an undiscovered soul in the great unknown."
More than anything I think this album leaves the listener with a sense that they've just been through one of life's little journeys. Through good and bad times, Richie takes you through it on the album. Musically, it's much more diverse than most of Bon Jovi's stuff. Even though it's NOT original in any way, it doesn't have to be when the songs are THIS good and album is THIS consistently strong.
It's kind of a shame Richie released his two solo albums (this one and Stranger - which is also excellent) at the time he did. Had he released these in the 70s, 80s, or even now when people are getting back to wanting something new and different and retro rock is coming back in style, this might've been more of a success. The 90s when it was released was just an awful time for anyone NOT wearing flannel and practicing their angst ridden poses and lyrics in the mirror. Anything even remotely upbeat, with different styles and flavors and influences was doomed to be a failure in this "It's either black or black" time.
It's telling that Bon Jovi finally shot back into the mainstream post-90s with songs from Crush and Have a Nice Day. Had either Richie or Jon (who's solo album is also very good but VERY different) released their solo work now I believe it would've worked more.
On a side note, I can't recommend Richie's other solo album, Stranger in this Town, enough. It actually has several stand out songs which equal his best on this album (the title track, Ballad of Youth, and One Light Burning especially). While Stranger is more directly blues oriented and features better guitar work than Soul, it also bogs down toward the end while Soul is consistently strong and more varied.
In closing I can't do anything but wholeheartedly recommend this album enough. I know it won't change the fact that it was pretty much a commercial failure and only a handful of folks will ever really listen to this album and love it and enjoy it like I have, I hope anyone who reads this can be convinced to give it a try. |
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