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With a voice that sounds like Tina Turner swallowing a shop-full of whiskey and razor blades, Macy Gray may not seem a likely first choice for stardom; but in the age of pop divas who value vocal theatrics over communication, her gravelly voice sounds lived-in and real. Gray's style is like a hip-hop, thrift-store version of the '70s, owing more to the sights and sounds found on a rerun of Ten Speed and Brown Shoe than to the real polyester decade. But this isn't a bad thing -- why remake the past when people like Curtis Mayfield did it so well the first time? Gray puts her own spin on classic soul with lyrics that don't get dewy-eyed for a past that never was. A winner when stacked up against today's R&B superstars.
- Nick Dedina
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