Soul Express CD Review

Marva King has the most beautiful of voices and has given us some incredible songs, some of which I consider timeless classics. Marva is a very beautiful, highly talented singer / songwriter who has a shining pedigree. She has collaborated with the likes of Morris Rente, George Howard and Kazu Matsui among others and her singing and writing shine like no other. This new album, though, could NOT be more polarised from this scenario. Marva has reinvented herself as a teenage R&B idol and is setting out to appeal to the residuum more than the connoisseur.
If you like to hear songs about "Big Ups", "Homies" and some thug's love being 'the sh**', then great. Go ahead and order this CD. Sorry, Marva, but for me as an ADULT who has grown up with knowing and respecting you as a classy singer / songwriter I am deeply bewildered by this CD. It is cliché ridden, passé, ephemeral and well beneath your talent. THIS IS NOT YOU. Why such as talent has reduced to this level? I suppose we all have bills to pay. I never expected to see this fine Lady posing in girlie shots, beautiful and shapely though she is, wearing scant garb and all - one with two nasty, unsavoury and untalented characters as The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakir emblazoned on it. Really!
The vast majority of this CD is not for those who frequent these pages. It is very sad indeed to hear the Lady reduced to this level. The first remotely worthwhile song is blighted by inappropriate swearing. Why, oh why, Marva? There are some fairly positive moments, though which will still appeal to fans of, say, Sandra St. Victor. I would like to firstly draw your attention to "Sensuous Man" where Marva is back in the territory we know her best. I would say that this is very much the diamond in the rough (and rougher!). A very retro and funky track full of brass is "If You Want Me To Stay" which is very much in the Sandra St. Victor bag and is quite nice to boot.
"Trippin'" follows a similar vein and musically very organic and Neo-Soul in orientation. The title song isn't bad once you get past the silly voice at the onset but still does not warrant much attention from Quality Time devotees. There is a hidden song called "Don't Go There" which is what I would call acoustic R&B and I hear echoes of the last Chanté Moore set on this. This is a passable song until the semi-rap and homeboy pop up on the telephone and completely kills the song off. Deary, deary me.
I really can say no more about this CD without becoming more negative than I already have. What I did when I finished with this CD was to go and pull out her past (and far superior) works. Her own "Who's Right, Who's Wrong", "Suspicions" (1981) and "Romantic Notions" (1984) with Kazu Matsui had an airing, Answered Questions' "Give It Up" (1990) was given a spin, as was George Howard's "Find Your Way" (1997).
In light of these fine works then this CD is not worth your time or money. I'll say no more about it other than if you want to create sexy, yet classy modern R&B then look no further than recent albums from Teena Marie, Sandra St. Victor and Val Watson. Let's hope us grown-ups get a Marva King CD for us very soon - one we can all be proud of. I'll certainly raise a glass to that.
- Barry Towler