Soul Express CD Review DENARRIS US Everett Crudup, 2004 Walker - I Think I'm Falling In Love - Midnight Kiss - For All Times - Hit Session - Mallisa - I Need Your Love - Mixed Bag Before I start, I consider the high watermark for quality R&B to be 1986 - 1988. The classy Hush Productions sound courtesy of Beau Huggins, William Rhinehart, Rahni Song, Gene McFadden and John Whitehead are just amazing. The R&B / Soul world is a much richer place for this work and the lack of this quality today is something that I am very sad about. However, here we have an independent artist that I WISH had been in the Capitol / Orpheus camp during these golden years. Denarris is a completely new name to me, but his talents and style are rooted firmly in the classic tradition that I paint here. The sound is, admittedly, independent and not up to the major label quality but believe me this does not matter. "I Think I'm Falling In Love" has to rate as one of my favourite songs of 2004. Think Ray, Goodman & Brown "Next Time I'll Know", Shirley Jones "Do You Get Enough Love", or Beau Williams "Been So Long" and you have the essence of this superb song. I have literally sat here and played this song over and over and over again. Vocally, Denarris sounds like Cliff Dawson and musically we are in rich, luscious territory complete with something that is lacking, even in today's quality R&B … saxophone! The texture, the intimacy and love contained within the song is more than apparent and in it I hear more SOUL than in anything in all of today's so-called R&B charts put together. This CD is mainly instrumental (and good instrumental, too) and contains another KILLER ballad in the quality tradition called "I Need Your Love". This has been attaining interest here in the UK, and rightly so. What angers me is that such talents such as this gentleman have to record their own music from their own resources when the big companies are bent on issuing material from talentless thuggery masquerading as R&B. If you want the real deal then check out Denarris. As I say, the instrumentals on offer are of a high quality and I would liken them to the material that Alex Bugnon / Najee would have released on Orpheus in the mid - late 1980s. My favourites are the crafted "Midnight Kiss" and cool, sophisticated "Mallisa". Please do NOT overlook this CD. It is available from CD Baby, CD Street or direct from Denarris on www.denarrismusic.com. - Barry Towler The Latest CD Reviews Albums of the Month in 2008 Albums of the Month in 2007 Albums of the Month in 2006 Albums of the Month in 2005 Albums of the Month in 2004 Albums of the Month in 2003 Albums of the Month in 2002 Albums of the Month in 2001 Albums of the Month in 2000 Albums of the Month in 1999 Albums of the Month in 1998 Albums of the Month in 1997 Other CD
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