Track Listing

1. Brother To The Night (A Blues For Nina) - Tate, Larenz
2. Hopeless - Farris, Dionne
3. Sweetest Thing - Refugee Camp All-Stars & Lauryn Hill
4. I Got A Love Jones For You - Refugee Camp All-Stars & Melky & Day
5. Sumthin' Sumthin' - Maxwell
6. Never Enough - Groove Theory
7. Inside My Love - Broussard, Tina
8. In The Rain - Xscape
9. You Move Me - Wilson, Cassandra
10. Rush Over - Miller, Marcus & Me'Shell Ndegeocello
11. I Like It - Brand New Heavies
12. Girl Cassie - Lattimore, Kenny
13. Can't Get Enough - Lattimore, Kenny
14. Jelly Jelly - Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra
15. In A Sentimental Mood - Ellington, Duke & John Coltrane
16. I Am Looking At Music - Long, Nia

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64626 in Music
• Released on: 2001-04-02
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack

Customer Reviews

a must have
Rarely these days does a soundtrack have anything to do with the movie form which it comes and rarer still is a soundtrack that captures the mood of its movie, however "Love Jones" achieve both of these with its smooth blend of r and b and soul with songs about, love romance and dating which are the main themes of the film. The soundtrack that comes the closest to sounding like this is the "Waiting To Exhale" soundtrack, however where "Waiting To Exhale" mainly includes songs about pain and the ending of relationships, this soundtrack features songs about the joys of love and even though the majority of the songs are slow, the album is filled with joy. Some of the biggest r and b stars around such as Maxwell, Dionne Fariss and Lauryn Hill contribute beautiful and sweet songs to this clever and pleasant sounding soundtrack.

Enjoyable in it's own right
Originally released in 1997 to co-incide with the release of the film this is a soundtrack that was clearly put together with a degree of consideration that is rare in such endeavours.

When originally released the 'selling point' of the album was the (then) heavily promoted 'Sweetest Thing' by the Refugee All Stars featuring the vocals of Lauryn Hill, and the presence of Maxwell and the beautifully spare re-working of 'Sumthin' Sumthin''. Now, over ten years later, it is possible to take a more balanced view.

As might be expected some tracks have 'aged' better than others, and some of the featured artists are no longer recording in the form presented here (Groove Theory, Lauryn Hill, Xscape), but there a number of tracks which still sound good - Trina Broussard's cover of the Minnie Ripperton and Leon Ware track 'Inside My Love' is wonderfully light (a worthwhile comparison can be made with Chante Moore's cover of the same track), the aforementioned 'Sumthin' Sumthin', which differs markedly from the version featured on Maxwell's 'Urban Hang Suite', and the slightly idiosyncratic 'Hopeless', which is a record that can only inspire you to smile.

Cassandra Wilson's distinctive smoke tinged voice nonchalantly caresses its way through 'You Move Me', proving that sexually charged lyrics can be delivered in a subtle form and manner. Duke Ellington and John Coltrane feature with the ever beautiful 'In a Sentimental Mood'. It is a notable fact that such tracks can be placed against and with the tracks produced by more contemporary artists, and not sound distinctly out of place or jarring. Perhaps their inclusion ( which works within the specific context of the movie) is an indication of the seriousness of the compilers involved in this project. Indeed there isn't really much to criticise, the inclusion of two spoken word poetry pieces can be ignored, if not to your tastes, and doing so will not have an impact upon your musical appreciation.

This is one of those rare soundtracks which works well without the listener having to have seen the accompanying film. In fact it would not be surprising if some of the records included on this cd go on to outlast the film and achieve the status of 'classics' - whilst the film will fade in to relative obscurity.

Real soul music
I bought this album back in 97 when it was released and I still love it (2006)

Don't judge the sountrack on the film as they are miles apart in my opinion. I really did not think much of the film.

This is a real bedroom album from start to finish. Each track is so soulful and smooth. I personally was really into the whole nu-soul wave between 1996ish and 1998-9 e.g. Maxwell, D'angelo, Chico DeBarge, Angie Stone etc, and this sountrack has a very nu- (classic) soul feel.

It has remained in my top 5 CD's whilst others have come and gone!

BUY IT!