Sol-Angel & The Hadley St. Dreams : Solange Knowles : Review : Rolling Stone

Solange Knowles has made it clear that she doesn't want to be compared to her sister Beyonc—, which is only fair: there's no comparison. Big sis has several attributes that Solange lacks, including charisma, a distinct musical personality, and an almighty gale-force singing voice. But you've got to give the kid points for trying. She kicks off her second solo release with "God Given Name," a declaration of independence: "I'm not her and never will be.../Let my starlight shine on its own." Her starlight, in this case, has a woozy lava lamp glow: SoL-AngeL and the Hadley St. Dreams is awash in the sounds of early Seventies soul and cocktail funk, with retro-flavored tracks from fancy producers like Mark Ronson and Raphael Saadiq, Supremes-sampling Motown updates (the hit "I Decided, Pt. 1," with a beat by the Neptunes), and the inevitable Marvin Gaye tribute ("Ode to Marvin"). But Solange simply doesn't have the pipes to pull off her songs, and her attempts at "mystical" psychedelic-soul (the six-minute-plus opus "Cosmic Journey") are embarrassing. You're not Beyonc—, honey—and you ain't Erykah Badu, neither.