The Ladies in black are Out of the Red

Out of the Red is the newest release by the Jackson Jills, their seventh CD. The group has been a strong contributor to campus music with accolades varying from Best Female Collegiate Album for their 1996 and 1998 releases to numerous Collegiate A Capella Recording Awards to the 2002 runner-up award for their last collection, titled Snapshot.

Fans of a capella will be extremely pleased with this latest collection, which covers songs by artists from Fastball and Alicia Keys to Ricky Martin and Pearl Jam. The pieces are all upbeat and lively, with rolling rhythms and uplifting lyrics that can brighten even the dreariest day.

The album opens with Celebrity Skin by Hole, an upbeat song with an easy rhythm that sets the tone for the rest of the collection. It's followed by the much slower Question Everything by 8Stop7, which shares the notable quality of a moving bass line with No Man's Woman, a cover of a Sinead O'Connor song. I'm Outta Love by Anastasia showcases the group's considerable lyrical skills and provides a good contrast to earlier pieces with its more mellow sound. With its contrasting harmonies and soaring melody, this fourth track acts as a good representation of the soulful pop currently making the rounds of the music circuit.

Tonight and the Rest of My Life is the next piece on the album. This song possesses a haunting melody that soars over the moving harmonies and is a wonderful interpretation of the Nina Gordon original. You Give Love a Bad Name opens with a lively lead-in; its strong energy carries through the rest of the Bon Jovi cover, making this upbeat song one of the highlights of the album. Next up is You're An Ocean, distinguished by the Jills' talented capability of interpreting Fastball's constantly moving harmonies and underlying melodies. This piece in particular showcases the incredible versatility of the a capella style, as growing tension builds towards the inevitable release at the end.

Fallin', a cover of the Alicia Keys original, features a solo that demonstrates incredible vocal dexterity which is coupled with solid percussion and smooth bass harmonies. Ricky Martin's She Bangs adds a Latino flavor to the album, as well as allowing the Jills to show off their considerable talents in a new vocal arena. Its underlying percussive beat, complete with a tongue-clicking wood block, goes far towards capturing the true flavor of the original. A much-needed break from the earlier upbeat pieces comes in the form of Snow on the Sahara, a cover of the original song by Anggun, which features a mellow solo melody that soars over the rolling harmony of the piece.

Next up in the collection is Rearview Mirror by Pearl Jam, a fair interpretation featuring a lively bass line that adds life and rhythm to the haunting solo. Kissing You, the next track on the album that represents a cover of the Des'ree original, is the only point where the album really seems to drag; this song is much slower than any of the others in the collection and though, it features a lovely solo, really seems to lack the moving catharsis of the Jills' other pieces. The collection concludes with the upbeat Canned Heat by Jamiroquai, which is performed so enthusiastically that one can't help but get up and dance.