The best of the new material was "I Have to Walk", where her gospel delivery collided with samba percussion.One problem with the 19-piece group was that everyone played most of the time; there was rarely space for a tune to emerge or individual musicians to shine.Then Hill picked up her pint-sized guitar for a solo spot: cause for concern, as she had accompanied herself in clumsy fashion on the live album. As a twist, she rejoined her original band last month to perform at a US awards bash. So the time was right to remind us of her own potential.She soon showed why she should stand above the more mainstream Mary J Blige and Alicia Keys. Her rich voice was strong and earthy, with no tedious octave-ranging gymnastics, and the rhymes came sharp as broken glass.Hill's set relied on her classic first album, and nothing beat its powerful anthems "Everything is Everything" and the pumped-up reggae of "To Zion", which segued nicely into a snatch of Bob Marley's "Iron Lion Zion". Still, it was a joy to hear "Just Want You Around" from MTV Unplugged 2.0 given the big band treatment, as Hill's sparse acoustic sketch was fleshed out with rhythm. When Lauryn Hill sashayed on stage an hour and a half after her start time, the soul star's opening excuse was that she was changing the rules.
Several numbers in, she claimed her soundcheck was late, an excuse met with some boos. Then she poked fun at herself, saying that she only chose her outfit at the last minute and was mistress of procrastination. So - passion, honesty and humour, all wrapped up in one unpredictable package. Hill was always a brave choice to close ENO's celebration of voice. True, she has a great talent for both rap and song, plus a fluid style that encompasses hip-hop, soul and reggae. All this we knew from the monster debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which won her five Grammys and proved she could succeed away from her perceived mentor Wyclef Jean.Then, failed relationships and born-again religious fervour preceded 2001's ill-advised MTV Unplugged session, a solo performance of unreleased material that only became a double-disc set due to between-song rambling and tears.
Since then, Hill has mainly been hiding in Miami to work on the long-awaited second album proper. The arrangements don't stray too far from folk-pop, but the band works their influences with great subtlety: "Saddest Quo" sounds like The Beach Boys during Al Jardine's folk-rock phase, while "Snow" evokes that point in David Bowie's early career when his folk-rock strummings were being reinforced with glam-guitar stridency. Elsewhere, "Dumb It Down" blends wisps of George Harrison-like slide guitar with Clarence White-style picking.. In her only UK gig this year, the female third of The Fugees brought the true meaning of "diva" to the home of the English National Opera. Pernice's lyrics can be as cryptic and personal as ever, with his penchant for punning wordplay (eg "It's a sad status quotient waiting for the sky to fall", from "Saddest Quo") occasionally slipping into opacity, as in "My So-Called Celibate Life" and "Pisshole In The Snow".
