KLOUD 9 ON KLOUD 9
UK Expansion CD, 2002
1) Can't Stop Thinking About You
2) If You Ever 3) Never Knew 4) That's How Love
Should Be 5) Let's Not Lose (featuring Karen
Bernod) 6) Priority 7) Soul Mate 8) On Kloud 9
(Interlude) 9) Promise (featuring Incognito) 10)
With Me 11) Make You Mine (featuring Kirk Whalum)
12) Mercy of Your Love 13) A Moment 14) Lullaby
for K.C. 15) On Kloud 9 16) Keep Me Coming Around
Produced by Jean-Paul Bluey” Maunick,
Mitchell Jones, Kendall Duffie, Joe Hogue, Ken
Barken, Roger Ryan, Ray Hayden and Micah Whitley
What a wonderful year 2002 is turning out to be
for us sophisti-soul lovers. The debut album by
this Nashville, TN-based vocal duo comprising of
twins Kendall and Kelvis Duffie
(see interview in our
latest issue) is the most well-rounded album
so far this year, perhaps only rivalled by Will
Downing's stunning new set.
The Kloud 9 twins debuted in
1999 with the mid-tempo stepper Make You Mine
which has been re-done here with an
additional spice of Kirk Whalum's
sax thrown in. The opening track, written by
gospel mainstays Mitchell Jones
and Parkes Stewart and also
featured on the current inspirational soul
compilation With This Ring… Forever I Do,
is perhaps one of the lesser cuts on offer here,
but the following number If You Ever is
a breezy jazz-tinged floater which is simply
perfect for summertime radio airplay. The Ray
Hayden-produced mid-tempo Never Knew
revives the backing of Martine Girault's
Been Thinking About You and evolves into
a worthwhile club track.
However, a sign of what the duo is really capable
of is the warm mid-tempo ballad With Me.
It's an absolute winner of a tune that is
stylistically reminiscent of Keni Burke's
finest songs (think of, say, Never Stop
Lovin' Me or One Minute More). The
track first impresses with its undulating
mid-tempo groove, highlighted by excellent,
nuance-sensitive work by guitarist Jonathan
Dubose Jr. and drummer Elijah
Holt, and when you add to that a
gorgeous, ultra-soulful melody written by Kendall
Duffie, the result is a serious contender for
tune of the year.
Other personal favourites include the sublime
ballads Priority and Soul Mate.
The former is a falsetto-led quiet stormer that
brings back fond memories of such '90s
masterpieces as Impromp2's Get
Me Off and Portrait's All
That Matters. The swaying Soul Mate
features soulful sax work courtesy of Donald
Hayes (remember his playing on the Whispers'
definite version of Seven Whole Days?),
not Kirk Whalum, as I
erroneously claimed in our printed issue. Let's Not Lose, featuring Soul Express
favourite Karen Bernod, is a
joyful mid-pacer with funky bass licks and
touches of trumpet. On Promise, which is
another enjoyable mid-tempo number, the Incognito
crew take care of production and
instrumentation.
The album closes with four instrumentals that
remind me of George Duke's
recent material, with top accolades going to the
ethereal On Kloud 9 and the hypnotic Keep
Me Coming Around.
An outstanding debut album you can't afford to
ignore. (9) -KH
