Jamie Lidell, JIM (Warp, 2008)

Listen: “Hurricane”

If he weren’t such an impressive musician dude, scruffy Brit Jamie Lidell would be a hell of a bank robber. Why? Well, he’d probably get away with it, for one thing. And judging from the 10 slickly produced tracks on JIM, he’s definitely smooth enough to jive his way out of a jam, if he ever got caught. When it comes to massaging the mojo of Motown and the stealing the spirit of Stax, Lidell is a regular Butch Cassidy. But, instead of a six-shooter, Lidell comes armed with knowledge, successfully recreating the sounds of Marvin Gaye (“Green Light”), Jackie Wilson (“Where Do You Go”), George Clinton (“Figured Me Out”), and probably lots more cats you haven’t even heard. JIM sounds and feels like Detroit or Philly in the early 1960s, optimistic and buoyant, but also slightly grey. Yes, like the two cities, Lidell’s fallen on hard times — his doctor tells him “he’s not a machine” on “Out of My System”; he pleads to his lover of “how easy it can be” on “All I Wanna Do”, getting his Sam Cooke on along the way. But it’s rave-ups like “Hurricane” and “Little Bit of Feelgood” that keep things from becoming a purely somber affair. Plus, he makes monkeys like Maroon 5 look like they’ve been listening to all the wrong Stevie Wonder albums. The alarms goin’ off, and its name is JIM. — Ryan Allen

Tags: Jamie Lidell, JIM, Motown, Stax, Marvin Gaye, Jackie Wilson, George Clinton, Sam Cooke, Stevie Wonder, Maroon 5