Vintage Quality Time Picks
This opens our new series of Classic
Quality Soul cut reviews, featuring
tracks by Anita Baker, Michael
Henderson, Emotions, Miki Howard, Keni
Burke etc. Please send your own
suggestions to Vintage Quality Time tunes
to our email address.
The Soul Scale
Excellent new albums by Rachelle
Ferrell and Fertile
Ground are our picks of the
issue, and despite some contrary views,
we also appreciate Will Downing's
new approach on Motown label.
This issue also contains reviews of the
new Dells CD by three
different columnists, and all three seem
to agree that the album Reminiscing
is yet another great comeback from the
legendary vocal group.
Soul Express proudly introduces:
DERICK HUGHES
As our editor puts it, the only reason Derick
Hughes cannot be nominated as
the male newcomer of the year is that
he's not really a newcomer, although he
released his first (solo) CD this year.
Derick - the son of veteran soul throat Freddie
Hughes - was introduced to the
record buying public by Norman
Connors on his Mr. C
album back in 1981, when Derick duetted a
song with Jean Carn.
Later in th 80s Derick recorded solo
albums for both Motown and Prince's
NPG label, but nothing was ever released.
Now Derick's career is in full swing,
having released the critically acclaimed
debut set All
for Loveon his own
label, and later joined the legendary
soul/ funk aggregate Tower of
Power, for which Derick now
sings the lead vocals.
PHYLLIS HYMAN - Album by album , track
by track... There is hardly any other
70s/80s female soul singer whose
recording material has been as
exhaustively reissued as Phyllis
Hyman. There still seems to be a
new Phyllis Hyman compilation released
every other month. Now, let's forget
about the myriad compilations - which are
also listed in our Phyllis
Hyman Album Discography, and
concentrate on the official album
releases, all of which are reviewed track
by track in this 6-page article.
Jazz-Funk
According to our jazz-funk specialist,
the killer jazz-funk album of the year
was still waiting for us last September,
but there were some quite good contenders
to get into: Alfonzo Blackwell,
Boney James/Rick Braun and the
Naked Music compilation Carte Blanche
Vol. 1 get the highest scores this
time.
THE DRAMATICS STORY - Part 4 (1982-2000)
The final part of the The
Dramatics story covers the last
two decades, including the solo albums by
L.J. Reynolds and Ron Banks. Again, 8
pages including the comments by the group
members themselves, and a full
discography. Do not miss!
Deep
The main event in the deep scene lately
has been the new Volt albums by the Dells
and Lenny Williams, but
also new sets by The Contours,
Willie Clayton, Wilson Meadows, Stan
Mosley, Barbara Lynn, Denise LaSalle,
Ronnie Lovejoy, Irma Thomas, Vickie Baker
and Hardway Connection
are reviewed. The telephone chats with Walter
B. Moorehead, Pat Brown and Patrick
Green complete the deep column.
Upfront Soul Brenda Russell's new set
Paris Rain should please at
least the old admirers of the acclaimed
singer-songwriter, while Theo
Peoples shows there's still life
after Temptations by
releasing a solid debut solo CD and
proves he really is one of the best soul
throats in the current soul scene. Darwin
Hobbs latest set is a more than
interesting soul-gospel album, featuring
tracks produced by Tommy Sims,
and Lenny Williams' Volt
release is a pleasant surprise.
