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James Taylor’s 4th Dimension – Picking Up where I
left off Lil Fallay – Just for the ladies Manteca – Tremendo boogaloo Jiant - Burn Benny Johnson – Visions of Paradise Cameron Pierre – Pad Up (Get Ready) Nora Whittaker Band – Imaginary Friends Adriana Evans – El Camino Salakida Lamar Thomas – Mississippi’s Delta Son Angelique – Around the World in a groove Bar-Kays – House Party Incognito – Bees + things + Flowers – Narada
Jazz Harambe – Testify The Very Best of Sirius B - Bagunca Myoshi – The EP Lonnie Hill – Back on the Scene Rahjwanti – Soul Remember Phillip Alexander – Love you good Michael Ashanti – All of me Marcel Penn – From the School of Soul Elaine Stepter – The Woman I am Vesta – Distant Lover Trei – This is me
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James Taylor’s 4th Dimension – Picking Up where I left off www.jtq.co.uk http://www.kudosrecords.co.uk/index.php?page=detail&product=RS5346
“Hammond funk guru’s new outfit James Taylor’s 4th Dimension
releases its debut album PICKING UP WHERE WE LEFT OFF on Monday 14 May
2007 (Real Self Records; RS5346). Describing his new outfit, James
Taylor’s 4th Dimension, the Rochester-based Hammond guru – affectionately known
as ‘the Medway Monarch’ - says: ‘This project is something I’ve been promising
myself for a long while. It’s an opportunity to return to, and further explore,
the endless possibilities offered by the classic Hammond quartet format, but
this time with 20 years of recording, writing, and performing experience behind
us’. All 12 album tracks on PICKING UP WHERE WE LEFT OFF are written by
James, and the line-up is as follows: James Taylor - Hammond C3 organ; Nigel
Price – guitar; Andy McKinney – bass; Neil Robinson – drums.”
Review:- JT moving back (or forward!) to a
classic Hammond 4 piece, for me it is a bit of a throwback to a sixties kind of
appeal in general. The opener
Picking Up where I left off is
upbeat allowing all the instrumentalists to get into the groove. Boot up is
altogether funkier but somehow feels ‘light’ lacking a ‘kick ass’ factor that
many of the hammond led funl classics had.
Easy time is a great track and one of the
highlights, interplaying between a groovy organ and mellow guitar. Never in my
wildest dreams is the ‘ballad’. My favourite section of the album is, at the
point where many albums start to weaken, with a groove laden Dead Leg, and a
mellow funky French Quarter Strut.
A varied and enjoyable album, a throwback, yet
progressive
Lil Fallay – Just for the
ladies www.lilfallayboy.com
if your
looking for great louisiana dance and soul music this is the one you need. it's
been only 2 years since fallay drop a project so intense and up tempo that the
world just need to get on board. as a firefighter doing the day and a three
alarm starter at night in the dance club everything is working fallay's way.
stepping is the new crave and fallay is right on top of his game with this
stepping album. check it out and purchase it now.
Review:- Another offering from Lil Fallay and
as always there are always some top quality tracks on show, and deserving of
more attention than they actually seem to get. The top tracks for me this time are:-
I Wanna Make Love (2U), a mellow expressive
midtempo ballad, which show Fallays vocal off excellently,
Dream
Lover – the opening is slow introducing the guest guitarist, goes
into an opening rap, and then the track gets into its own groove, which is
midtempo, where the horns and the hook gently entwine over a strong vocal,
Cruel
– is a slow emotive ballad about lost love
For me those are the best tracks, the others
are a mixture of styles ranging from derivative dance mixes, bit of R’n’B, and
some more localised> Now some
of t hese will rank higher depending on personal taste. One
4 Da Ladies (V Mix) is very much an opener, catchy, not very
original lyrically or musically but one that gets you into the groove. They
Trying 2 Stop Da Party (Radio) is fairly commercial and old school
sounding, the strength being the vocals which actually win through most of the time regardless of the strength of
the song.
Chill
is a slow ballad but for me not as strong as the aforementioned one, but that
said a stronger lyric, more in the Southern Soul mould, than the preceding
tracks. The next two tracks are
dancehall related but for differing styles, Up-
N- Da Club the title pretty much tells you what you’re going to
accept. The Zydefunk
Slide is Fallays own dance.
Summer
Tyme Lady is a feel good summer breezey number, which comes close to
the top 3 tracks. Celebration
of Love is also a very strong ballad.
And to conclude a couple of remixes - One
4 Da Ladies (Radio) They
Trying 2 Stop Da Party (V Mix)
Another fine album from the hardworking Lil
Fallay.
Tracks: -One
4 Da Ladies (V Mix) They
Trying 2 Stop Da Party (Radio) Chill
I Wanna Make Love (2U) Dream Lover Cruel
Up- N- Da Club Zydefunk
Slide
Summer
Tyme Lady Ceebration of Love One
4 Da Ladies (Radio) They
Trying 2 Stop Da Party (V Mix) Just
For The Ladies (Out-tro
Manteca –
Tremendo boogaloo www.freestylerecords.co.uk
MANTECA
TREMENDO BOOGALOO FSR7002 Formed by ex-Candela
member back in 1990, Manteca is comprised of the most professional and skilled
musicians within the London Latin scene. Spreading their wings right across the
Latino spectrum and incorporating boogaloo, funk, cumbia and soul into their
sound, they are one of the new school groups bringing a fresh edge to the traditional.
'Tremendo Boogaloo' fires up the floor with a groove reminiscent of Mongo
Santamaria or Bobby Valentin: definitely one for the ladies. On the flip 'Pa
Lante' comes through with a more traditional latin sound to introduce a little
fiery sauce to the mix.'
Review:- Fantastic feelgood album containing
all things Latin, boogaloo, funk and soul. Whichever piece you choose will have you dancing and shaking
in the aisles, so just put the Cd on and groove. My personal faves are the
opener De Todo, with its hook and added bit of funk. Muchacha with its rougher
jazzier edginess. And the title
track Tremendo Boogaloo, because that is exactly what it is. Great Stuff.
Tracks:- De Todo ,,Fuego,Every Monday Muchacha Sin Tu Carino Tremendo Boogaloo Pa'lante Guajira Pepe
Jiant – Burn http://www.jiantsoul.com/
Jiant (pronounced "giant") is an
exciting new Soul artist currently making his mark in the music world.
Originally from New Jersey, this multitalented artist's musical journey began
with piano lessons as a child and evolved as an adult into playing the guitar,
keyboard, writing, producing, and singing. It was just a matter of time before
he found himself musically and started working on his CD while playing
regularly with his band. His music is an organic blend heavy on the Soul with
elements of funk, pop, and jazz. The influences of Soul music's legends are
evident in his work but Jiant's own artistic identity shines through in every
track. Jiant's music also seems to easily re-connect with the essence of the
genre without sounding dated. His unique sound is fresh and modern. His debut
CD titled "Burn" contains an impressive set of great Soul songs that have
an unforgettable vibe. The title track sizzles with a funky groove that makes
you want to "Burn" on the dance floor. "Back To You" is
also another dance floor groove that will have you moving. He also shows his
romantic side with ballads like "Everything You Are To Me" and
"Reunited". Jiant also addresses relevant issues of the day with
"Change" and appreciates all that life has to offer with the
"After All". This CD has something everyone will love!
Review – Kicking off with the title track Burn,
a very funky groove indeed with essences of old skool but retaining a
contemporary feel, a good opening. Back To
You however is better, sparse but retaining that funky element,
allowing stronger vocals to come through, and a feel good old fashioned hook,
my favourite cut I think.
Everything You Are To Me is simple in
construction being predominantly acoustic guitar and vocals and reminiscent of
some acoustic soul coming through these days, heartfelt vocals. For Change
more skills as we move to a piano led track, again mellow with lyrical strength
coming through again, this time in a world view situation.
Lover's
Groove is moe upbeat again with more harmonies than illustrated
earlier. No Good For Me is another
different angle but personally find it a bit messy. Back on track with Reunited
a strong piano ballad and vocally probably the strongest on the album. Conversely Friends Or Lovers is weaker
on the vocal side.
We seem to alternate between the tracks I like
and those I don’t, Xciting is very much in with the ones I like,
nice vibe, sounding very simple in construction but quite a lot going on, with
the guitars and the harmonies and so on.
Closing with an optimistic look at life on After All
A very promising album with several top cuts,
my favouries being Back to you and the acoustic Everything to me.
Lamar Thomas – Mississippi’s Delta Son
Info:- Press Release
Date: February, 2007
“Mississippi’s Delta Son”
Lamar Thomas
43rd Grammy Nominated Songwriter
I dedicate my new studio album CD to the people of the “Delta” because of my
love of my home, Mississippi. When I was a child growing up between Clarksdale
(my birthplace) and Leland where I grew up from 1959 until I left for New York
in 1966, I hated the sound of the word Mississippi. But there is little or no
need to dig up old bones or open new wounds or summons hateful ghost of days
gone past. In many ways I am thankful for those growing pain days because it
taught me how not to hate and why not to hate.
Growing up in Mississippi, I received my “life’s” education and I graduated
with a BA degree in “how to survive” and how to get along and stay out of
harm’s way. I acquired a PhD in tolerance, understanding and perseverance by
moving to New York when I was just fifteen years old and surviving there. What
I needed to learn to survive in the city while trying to learn the music
business was mostly about finding my own self-fullillness, building my
self-esteem, getting myself motivation, being determined, and setting things in
motion to make sure that I learned how to take care of kids and a family.
Staying away from drug dealers, gangs, violence and crime was easy to stay
clear of after I learned those values. Although I grew up right smack dab in
the middles of pimps, drug dealers, hooker and thieves, I was immune to all of
it because I knew who I was and where I wanted to go.
It was my late mother Rebecca who educated me about people, the world and what
I would see as I passed through it. From her I received a great understanding
of just what an imagination can do for someone who grows up learning very
little and being told that you are capable of not learning much less. Because I
grew up in Mississippi, and saw everything negative about the world and about
people, during my formative years, a strange thing happen to me, during this
dark period of my life, “I learned everything that no one wanted to teach
little black boys from Mississippi” and because of my mother, I tried to learn
everything else that there was to learn. My greatest awakening about the world
as a young man came when I discovered the world of poetry. This world began
with the reading of poetry by Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg at school in
Leland at Lincoln Attendance Center. I did not learn about the likes of
Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, Dunbar or Keats until I attended Andrew Jackson
High School in Queens New York beginning in 1966.
Once I began to read, recite and interpret the works of great poets such as
Whitman and Sandburg, my mind began to travel to far away places and I began to
see a world that I never knew existed. Once that happen, I would lay in my bed
at night in Leland and listen to the Randy Radio show which came out of
Nashville, Tennessee. It was a national station that played all black music. As
I lay in my bed listening to the music of Sam Cooke, Bobby Bland, Little
Milton, Muddy Waters, ‘Howlin’ Wolf and B.B. King, I realized that I could
travel even farther using my imagination.
The words of the poets, songwriters and the music of composers such as Duke
Ellington intrigued me and made me frightening curious and eager to see and
feel the things that these people spoke about in their poems, in their songs
and in their musical orchestrations. And although I grew up in the bowels of
the south and lived under a constant dark cloud of doubt, suspicion, deceit,
hate and despair, my life, my future and my fate, was directed and guided by
music. The printed word by the poet, the written lyrics of the songwriter and
the musical arrangements of arrangers and composer saved my life and gave me
focus and purpose. And so I owe Mississippi, me.
“Mississippi’s Delta Son”
(The Songwriter’s Series)
Lamar Thomas
This album is a serious matter for me because I wanted the lyrical compositions
contained in it, to last and to mean something for my four children. It has
taken me, four “real” years to make it come out the way that I wanted it to. I
want the stories that I have written here, to be a guide and to make people
understand that it is ok to hurt, that it is ok to love and to cry, for life
contains so much that you must get through while you are looking for the good
times. There are songs on this album that will touch anybody. Songs like,
“Trying not to break down” is about any and everyone that we meet. It says to
me that no matter what we go through, we must maintain dignity, composure and
integrity. We must not breakdown and fall apart.
The album contains what I feel is a powerful and inspirational peace called,
“The Rise and fall of Love.” We all go through ups and downs in love and in
life. We all get angry and say never again will we suffer that kind of
heartbreak. But, love is powerful and can rise from the fire and from the
ashes. Eternal hope is what the song is about. After you have listened to this
CD through completion, I think that you will understand the things about life
that I believe in. I believe in life and love in all of it’s’ forms and all of
the emotions that these two things bring out in each and in all of us. This CD
is a tribute to all of those people who came before me who used their
imagination to write down lyrics that reached people and that touched their
feelings and their emotions.
Coming up in the age that I came up in and living under that constant dark
cloud of doubt, suspicion, deceit, hate and despair, demonstrated to me, that
we all must work together to make it better for those who stumble. We must not
render our young people “invisible” by not reaching and teaching them about the
real world. We should not simply throw them to the wolves that live, hunt and
devour unassuming and misinformed young people in the real world.
Review:- The familiar tones of Lamar Thomas on
on album that he has clearly but a lot of time, heartfelt views and opinions
into, not to mention a strong production.
Lamar’s voice is warm and mellow, not harsh and strong, allowing the
lyrics and messages to be felt..
None more so that on the opening track Trying not to break down which is
how we all felt at the time, but when it was home as well? Excellent production
on this with some fie instrumentalisation.
The man comes around, contains some fine
guitar work and horn lines . You
do magic picks up the pace a little, a catchy vibe. Love don’t break hearts is
a favourite track, strong lyric
and deep in concept, moody sax.
Its too heavy, is moody and strong, sounding very personal with Judy
lendiong a hand as well.
I smile is a folky blues, again with a moving
sax, delivered in a heartfelt passionate way, simple yet strong. One Love has a
much harder vocal, not so much of that whispering tone, except for the chorus.
The rise and fall of love , one of the, if not the strongest track, it builds
from a slow beginning and picks right up into a powerful anthemic gospel like
epic. She don’t come, another favourite, is altogether more upbeat and funky.
Another top cut for me is Livin for you an optimistic love ballad (for Judy I
guess!, before concluding on a spoken Blues tip Mississippi Delta Blues.
All in all a very interesting , personal and
listenable album, quite conceptual so it’s the type of album that you can just
play through to fit the mood, merging lots of influences through Blues and
beyond to now.
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It's Too Heavy |
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Just a Fool in Love |
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The Rise and Fall of Love |
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Somebody Tell Me Why |
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No Dreams Today |
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Mississippi Delat Blues |
Angelique – Around the World in a groove
On the heels of her very successful
independently released debut “Angélique”, Around the World in a Groove is the
sophmore effort for multi-lingual (French, Spanish, English) neo soul
singer-songwriter Angélique.
Accompanied by stellar background singers and musicians, Angélique’s Around the
World in a Groove is a musically diverse, infectiously rhythmic groove album
that will strike a chord with countless audiences.
"When You Gave Your Word" is a funky, hip hop groove with driving
bass and clavinet riffs that address “blah blah television playas” who lie, beg
and cheat. It features Alabama rapper TJ showcasing his “dirrty south” skills
with singer-actor Michael Kostroff (The Producers, The Wire) on backing vocals.
Perfect for Urban Adult Contemporary Markets, "Cornbread, Beans &
Rice" is a laid back, summer in the park track with Angélique reminiscing
about a lazy Saturday with her “boo”
English/Spanish Soca flavored “What is Hip?” questions whether smoking “ganja”
and video looks are required to be acceptable or hip.
A long time fan favorite in Angélique’s live show, “Loved and Left Again” is
R&B at its best; searing vocals, lush harmonies and a smoking rhythm
section.
Clavinet driven “What Would You Do” (If You Had My Family) drops a heavy dose
of true-to-life reality on the effects of verbal abuse and neglect to an
innocent child. “Bird of Beauty” is a Zouk inspired version of the
English/Portuguese Stevie Wonder classic.
First single “Sherockafella" with a decidedly multi-formatted
oriental slant, explains how a confident girl with “hips like butter and thighs
like cream” can have a man panting like a dawg!
“You Said” is a Latin-tinged mellow groove that probes the hopes and
disappointments of loving man just not that into you. Performed in French and
English, reggae groove “I’ll Remember is the aftermath of the soul-wrenching
joys and sad nostalgia of a lost love.
Written by Belgian chanteuse Maurane, “Fais Soleil” is performed
entirely in French, with a happy Latin Jazz twist. Destined to be a classic,
“True Colors has the right elements of a timeless ballad: emotionally riveting
and deeply personal, the haunting lyrics and sweet harmonies echo the
heartbreak in her voice.
“Here To Stay” finishes the set with a rock-flavored dance declaration that
Angélique is HERE TO STAY!!!
Review:- A varied and interesting set with
loads of influences and styles all pulling together. The opener is When You Gave Your Word is contemporary and funky, a lyric
telling it like it is. Cornbread, Beans & Rice is mellow, feel good and just the
vibe for a lazy sunny summer afternoon.
What Is Hip? Is light and falavoured heavily by
the Caribbean.
An interesting and varied opening but Loved & Left Again is where it really gets serious with a
strong ballad delivered with strength and passion and is equally at home in a
contemporary or old school setting, great harmonies, great break on the
keys. What Would You Do (If You Had My Family) is clavinet funky
with a strong meaningful lyric. Bird of Beauty, again with Caribbean/ Latin flavas, version
of Stevie Wonder song.
Sherockafella again a change of Style and not without a touch
of humour…………..or truth. You Said a light and breezy, catchy, tune but still a
seriousness in the lyric – this tracks builts into quite a climax. I'll Remember , reggae vibe, with a vocal not unlike a lovers
rock of days gone by, nice track. Fais Soleil performed entirely in French and written by
Maurane, funky, punchy,
True Colors is also one of my favourites, a piano led classic
soul ballad, wistful yet strong. Here To Stay closes on yet another tip, this time quite
rocky.
An excellently produced an varied album, which
pretty much has something for everyone.
Diverse but not lacking in quality.
1 When You Gave Your Word 2 Cornbread, Beans & Rice 3 What Is Hip? 4 Loved & Left Again 5 What Would You Do (If You Had My Family) 6 Bird of Beauty 7 Sherockafella 8 You Said 9 I'll Remember 10 Fais Soleil 11 True Colors 12 Here To Stay
Bar-Kays – House Party http://www.jearightnowrecords.com/
Review: - This is fundamentally with a couple of additions a reissue
of a 2003 albums, an album kind of bridging the gap between old skool BarKays,
with a new current day slant. To this end the like of Jazze Pha are utilised.
Kicking off with a couple of upbeat dance hall orientated R’n’B tracks,
Sho-Nuff 
Listen and What Goes-N-Da-Club Stays In Da-Club
Listen , the
latter being my preference though lyrically rather contrived.
Superstar Listen Listen however is where it starts for me with a
mellow dramatic ballad with Larry Dodson excelling on vocals. Glad You're My Lady Listen Listen , the pace
is picked up to a funky midtemo, goodtime feel, catchy hook, and Sly like
vocals.
Hey Y'all Listen Listen is well and truly back in old skool
funk, join in get down lyrics and anthemic groove. Let's Git Bizzy Listen Listen is a bedroom slow jam as the title might
suggest. Give Me My Heart
Back Listen Listen is pretty standard Pfunk soundalike, as
we jump between funk and ballad, Hollar If You Like That Listen Listen being an OK ballad. My Everything Listen Listen on the other hand is a much better
ballad, more expressive and less contrived on the lyric front,.
Filled with a Steppers remix of Glad You're My
Lady Listen Listen - why ruin good tracks with this
steppers nonsense! Read some other
reviews on these pages to see how I hate this kind of thing, so this is by no
means the only example.
We Can't Stay Together Listen Listen is a welcome and wondefful reissue of
the Shirley Brown and Larry Dodson duet.
Barkays