Author Chris Campbell Breaks Down the Art of Neo Soul in The Essential Neo Soul

What neo-soul singer was frustrated when a prison guard told him he'd see him in a few months after he was released? What lyricist made a song in response to Erykah Badu's "Bag Lady" that he would carry her bags? What neo-soul singer was so frustrated with major labels that he branched out into independent labels, owns his masters and is successful selling just as many records on his own? What neo-soul singer turned to drugs to handle his insecurities and was told to strip naked when he performed? What neo-soul singer struggled with her father for being bisexual? What neo-soul soundtrack related to the best spoken word movie of all times?

Answers to these questions and more can be found in Chris Campbell's book "The Essential Neo Soul."

If you don't know the history of neo soul or how it was formed from rhythm and blues, gospel, blues and jazz, the entire intro is an incredible history lesson for music lovers. I was impressed with the intro so I just knew the book was going to be good. The author made mention of powerful R&B artists like Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and even went into the historical merit of the 1968 Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos.

Other categories of music like trip hop, nu-jazz, electronic and New Jack Swing are also given proper credit for the evolution of neo soul. And then we got to the artists. For those who are familiar and fans of neo soul already, "The Essential Neo Soul" is an excellent reference tool to find out more about your favorite artists. I am quick to listen to all of someone's music but not know any particular background information on the artists so just finding out what they studied in college, what they grew up listening to or used as inspiration was fascinating to me. This book could easily be used for trivia reasons or as a reference tool in music education courses.

However, there are cons. The essays in this read are about 101 of the "most important" neo soul albums, but I thought the list would be from 100 different artists-it does say the amount is 100 on the back cover. Several artists' names were repeated for different albums, such as Eric Roberson, Erykah Badu, D'angelo, India Arie, MeShell N'Degeocello and Maxwell. I saw why numerous albums from these artists would be considered important, but I think the Honorable Mentions could've taken the place of artists getting additional head nods, especially Tony-award winning Heather Headley.

I also wasn't as interested in the music reviews of each album as much as the background info on the artist. After I read a few of them, I just started to peruse the reviews and then go on to the next artist to read the bio at the beginning of each artist's section. This was another reason why I wanted more of the lesser known artists to be in the top 101 so I could find out more information about them. I can always pick up an album and rate it, but to have biographical information on all of these artists-many of which are still considered underground-all in one place was the highlight for me.

And although "Like Water for Chocolate" introduced neo-soul artists to the forefront, I don't consider Common's CD as neo soul. It was definitely hip hop, but I do believe the artists featured on there could've gotten their own pages. But songs like Mos Def and Common's "Questions," my favorite choice (it's not really a song since they're mainly talking) on the album, didn't remind me of anything to do with neo soul.

Now do these differences of opinion take away from the read? No. For the artists I didn't know of, I read the music reviews to find out why they were on this list. For the ones I was already familiar with, it wasn't useful information for me. However, everybody doesn't know the same artists so I can see why it is necessary to break down the album's songs from each artist to help people understand why this person is worth being here. What makes them part of the neo soul movement?

This book actually makes me want to hang out on a music site all day and catch up on artists I've missed out on. And in my not-so-humble opinion, I think anybody who doesn't know who Eric Roberson is should start with him first.

I'd give this book 4 out of 5 stars.