Soul Express CD ReviewVarious ArtistsSoul'd Together Vol. 2 - The Soul of Black America
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1) CJ's Uptown Crew featuring Sylver Logan Sharp: I Want a Little Bit 2) Tony Cotton: You're So Cold 3) Janice Edwards: First Love Last Love 4) JHarris: my Baby 5) The Main Attraction: That's the Way I Feel 6) Thurston Bilal: Open up Your Heart 7) Laverna Mason: Deliverance 8) Diane Mathews: Flashback 9) JHarris: Come Take My Love 10) Kevin 'Love Man' Nash: It's True 11) Frank Alstin: Girl I Wanna Share My World 12) CJ's Uptown Crew featuring Al Johnson: Style (I Like Yours too) 13) Rosie Gaines: Heart Like Stone 14) Tony Cotton: Gone 15) Walter Riley: I Got the Love 16) Janice Edwards: Eyes Most of the artists on this UK compilation are probably unknown to most of our readers, but this album is nonetheless absolutely essential to all soul devotees. All the artists featured on album are American independent soul artists, although it's unlikely that all of them have recording deals at the moment. With the original CD's or singles being pretty hard to get or at least very expensive, this compilation is definitely more than welcome. The artists that impressed me most include Janice Edwards, Laverna Mason, JHarris and Tony Cotton. All of them are superb singers, not only good but one of the best voices in soul music today, and after hearing these gems one desperately wants to hear their albums, too. About Time has released a LP (on CD only in Japan!) from Laverna Mason titled Serenity, and the tracks I've heard from the album have convinced me that as a songstress she's about as brilliant as Gladys Knight and Sandra Feva. The jazzy and groovy track featured on this compilation may not be the most typical track from Mason's album, but it show-cases sufficiently her vocal abilities. Utterly exciting is also Janice Edwards' voice. She has an album Time for Me on Respond International Records, hopefully still available from some soul specialist shops in the UK. The two tracks chosen to this compilation are first rate soul ballads. Produced by Yvonne Maxwell and Roy Akin, the first one (First Love, Last Love) is a powerfully executed beautiful tune set to a simplistic backing of keyboards. The other one, Eyes has a more mellow background with some exquisite saxophone soloing. The most promising new male voices on the album are, to my ears, JHarris and Tony Cotton. J. Harris sounds very much like Glenn Jones, although My Baby is a better song than anything Glenn Jones has recorded in a long long time. Come to Take My Love also demonstrates JHarris' strong vocals, although the arrangement on this crashing dance track is a bit too harsh. Tony Cotton's voice is nearer to Miles Jaye, and I love both the hard hitting but melodic club killer You're So Cold and the stylish and warm, although melancholy ballad Gone. And still I haven't mentioned my greatest favourite on CD: the glorious vocal group performance by The Main Attraction. That's the Way I Feel is actually a 7" single from '89, but it's so classic it could as well be from the early seventies. The angelic group harmonies are backed by an ultra-soulful sax solo and tasty bass and piano work. It would be nice to hear their two albums called By Request and Sweet Harmony on Satin Records. I also liked the cool atmosphere of Diane Mathis' Flashback as well as the relaxed sounds of Frank Alstin's Girl I Wanna Share My World, both of which are coloured by a tasty sax work. Instead, Thurston Bilal's Open up Your Heart is slightly spoiled by the cheap production, and I wish the forthcoming album has less ascetic arrangements. Al Johnson and Lisa "Sylver" Logan were the guest vocalists on the first album by Carl Jones' great Washington go-go aggregation CJ's Uptown Crew. After that Sylver Logan joined the re-formed Chic but now she's once again featured on the new (?) CJ's Uptown Crew recording I Want a Little Bit, which is a solid midtempo ballad. The track is co-written by the old Philly soul veteran Terry Stubbs, but the tune was recorded in Maryland. In my book the Al Johnson track (It's Been too Long) on the first Uptown Crew album was a rather pedestrian and much overrated swayer, but the track featured on this CD is much more interesting. Style (I Like Yours too) is a peaceful two-stepper not completely unlike his Norman Connors-produced work on Columbia 13 years ago.
By and large this album represents the best in today's independent soul scene and with
16 tracks on one full-priced CD, I can assure you it's worth every penny.
(Rating: 9/10) |
