Soul Express CD Review

This album is not all new material. It is material that the band had recorded in the period 1994 - 2001. Now, the titles of these songs should have alerted me to what this CD was actually like, but the fact was I had been enthralled by the 30 second sould bite from one particular track. It was on the strength of that one small sample that I bought this CD. I wish that I had heard the CD properly beforehand as I would not have bought it. But this is all hindsight and we all know about that. This is by far the worst of the realeases that I have purchased on Thump recently, and I cannot really believe that Soul Express readers will want to rush out and buy this, unless they are 16 - 21 and regularly buy CDs by the likes of Mary J. Blige, Beyonce and all the rest of the hyped, manufactured pap.

There are a few nice songs, but nothing that will make your pulse race. Ready For The World have been on the scene for 20 years now and I have watched with alarm as they have slipped from their pop-soul / pseudo Prince Geri-curl phase through the swingbeat phase and now into banal teenage R&B of type of drivel we would expect from Usher and that ilk. I am sick to the back teeth of pathetic street clichés such as "Booty Call", "Atomic Dogs", "Just the dog in me", going "up and down" and all the rest. The less said about "Ace Boon Coon" the better. I recall a similar track recorded by Shanice in a moment of lunacy back in 1994.

In fact most of this set has that transitional mid 1990s swing / rap/R&B feel. If you recall Melvin Riley had a solo effort on MCA back in 1994, and this album contained some worthwhile tunes amongst all the street dross; this CD is more like the dross from that set and that era and it is sad to hear a vocalist of the caliber of Melvin stoop to such lows. "Atomic Dogg Lover" is one of the better songs, but the vocals are so pronounced and street-styled that they are parodaic, let alone the lyrics being trite and juvenile.

This stuff should have died with the Uptown label and what have you. May it rest in pieces. "Livin' 2 Lives" is the first worthwhile inclusion and is atmospheric but woefully short. Chilled and acoustic in its basic form, I feel that the band are far better concentrating on this type of music. Certainly they must now be old enough to know better, and this song shows that they can deliver the goods.

Now, the song sample that had excited me was from "What We Gonna Do About That". What I was not aware of was the infuriating telephone spats betweeen the daft cheating wife / homegirl and the spineless homeboy. This spoils what was potentially a great, atmospheric track that has great harmonies and phrasing by Melvin and the gents. I was severly disappointed with this song and knew that I wished I had bought something else instead. I was, though, slightly bouyed by the short but sweet acoustic ballad, "Can't Nobody Do You Like I Do". The quality of this song is not great, though and the vocals are over-recorded and raspy. I have not heard the Bootsy Collins, so cannot comment on that, but this is by far the runt of the pack of new releases by Thump that I have bought.

I had hoped for more from the group who delivered us "Love You Down" back in 1986 - I actually played this song recently following this purchase and it is far more adult and superior from the material presented here. Keith Sweat is another artist who has gone to pot in this way too. I hope that these chaps wake up to this and begin creating real R&B for ADULTS and stop pandering to the MTV audience. I am actually surprised that this was released at all. Must try harder, and smacked botty time for those at Thump!
- Barry Towler