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Soul Express Album Review


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VARIOUS ARTISTS:
THIS IS SOUL 2006
(UK Soul Brother CD, 2006)

1) CHAVOUS – Much Better 2) INOBE – Do What You Do 3) LASONYA GUNTER – UmmmHmmm 4) CRYSTAL NIGHT – Vin Rouge 5) AMAR KHALIL – Sunny Day 6) DARIEN – Where It’s At 7) PJ MORTON – No Ordinary Love 8) NUWAMBA – Forever 9) JAZZHOLE – All The Way 10) JEFF ROBINSON – Waiting For The Tables To Turn 11) BROWN’S BAG – No More Love 12) MARTHA REDBONE – Children Of Love 13) BROWN BABY GIRL – Feels Like Love 14) IMAN WILLIAMS – I Just Wanna Be With You 15) NATURAL SELECTION – Get Through

This is the fifth in the series of compilations dedicated to the swell of new independent artists who are out there trying to establish themselves. Many names will be known to you, others less so. I don’t always agree with the tracks that Soul Brother select, but there again who’s going to cherry pick all the essential cuts and render the artist albums as less essential?! I am always keen to purchase the individual albums anyway, so sets like this cleverly serve as pointers to unfamiliar artists.

Artists such as Chavous are new to me, but have already won a place in my heart. This young Lady from Philadelphia has much of the promise and appeal of Jill Scott. She sure deserves the same sort of exposure. "Vin Rouge" by Crystal Night is a jazzy bubbler that should attract some attention as should my favouite track that is "Sunny Day" from Amar Khalil. Amar’s delivery is not unlike Jeff Hendrick or Sean Franks and he is now a vocalist with Tony Toni Toné. This joyful, warbling fruity number raises the spirits no end – and should encourage you to check out his solo album which you will find on CD Baby.

I have already fallen over myself espousing the merits of P.J. Morton and his ESSENTIAL tune "No Ordinary Love". It is included here in all its glory. 21st Century Soul rarely gets better than this. Nice one, guys, for the inclusion. Also essential to these ears is Nuwamba and his fantastic "Forever". I defy any of you not to fall in love with this track – what a chooon!

"All The Way" by the super-talented Jazzhole is included from their essential "Poet’s Walk" album – also available on Soul Brother. I was so pleased to see Jeff Robinson’s "Waiting For The Tables To Turn" included. Such a great vocalist with a refined sensibility for all this soulful-yet-jazzy, this has to be the cream cut from his latest offering and can be found on CD Baby – surprise surprise! LOL.

Brown’s Bag was an ESSENTIAL album – the fact that they have a NEW album on the way imminently is something to get excited about too. "No More Love" is essential and promises a lot for the new album. I am still undecdided about Martha Redbone – but this track certainly is a grower. Thankfully it excludes the rap. I can certainly do without that and I am sure you can too.

My other fave artist is Brown Baby Girl. I will be tackilng their superb set soon. "Feels Like Love" is warm, real and has so much soul it hurts. You can’t go far wrong with this collection of morsels, but please do some more searching as there is a lot more real soul out there. A great "signpost" album for what’s out there.
- Barry Towler

Other CD Reviews
Albums of the Month in 2006
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Albums of the Month in 2003
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Albums of the Month in 1999
Albums of the Month in 1998
Albums of the Month in 1997

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