This year’s comeback album, The Light Of The Sun, was a timely reminder of what the world had been missing while Scott was busy with her burgeoning acting career. Resultant legal wrangles wit her old label have now resulted in this collection of bits’n’pieces “from the vaults”.
For her fans, starved of new material while the alternative career took centre-stage, it’s an unexpected gift, even if the quality is variable. I Don’t Know is a stridently upbeat slice of neo-soul, during which Jill entices her potential beau with the bold claim that she makes “a mean shepherd’s pie”. Elsewhere, the Bill Withers standard Lovely Day provides a good platform for Scott’s sun-soaked delivery, but Mr And Mrs Record Industry’s rants over dire cod-rock backing were best left on the cutting room floor.
The best tracks arrive towards the end; Running Away is heartfelt, honeyed soul at its best, while Comes To Light (Everything) finds Scott in confessional mode over a melancholic but beautiful acoustic refrain. Whether Hollywood eventually proves the stronger pull remains to be seen but, for an increasingly insipid soul scene, this extra helping of superior R&B is an unexpected treat.
