Category: Soul/funk
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Shakin’ Stevens: Echoes Of Our Times
The Brexit vote, the death of Elvis, John Major/Edwina Currie — some events are so unexpected that they change your world view. Right up there with them is this is new album from Shakin’ Stevens. It’s very, very good. In a proper, serious rock, sounds-a-bit-like-the-Beatles way. It’s a collection of strong songs with a blues/…
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Jeff Finlin Life: After Death
This is another album to beat anyone who says “there’s no good music any more” over the head with, before administering a blow to the temples. True, Finlin is a veteran performer who has a decent fan base but not his own Wikipedia page; he’s probably one of those people whose fans can’t believe he’s…
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Various: Beating Heart Malawi
This is a hard album to review: it’s for a good cause but the quality is varied. African music goes down well in the Review Corner, the rootsier the better (ideally one player on a two-string guitar and another with krakebs) so this looked promising: traditional music from the International Library of African Music remixed…
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Phil Collins: Going Back
This was Collins’ 2010 album, which saw him cover various Motown hits. It passed us by at the time (we did play it, but never touched it since), and it’s easy to see why it lies unloved in a dusty Review Corner recess. Collins loves this music, and he roped in three surviving members of…
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Judith Owen: Somebody’s Child
You can have a two-word review for this album: Laurel Canyon. If you want four, Laurel Canyon, Carole King. Owen is a Welsh singer-songwriter, and has been releasing music since 1996. She’s toured and recorded with Richard Thompson, and is married to Harry Shearer (Spinal Tap, and the likes of Mr Burns and Principal Skinner…
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Beverley Knight: Soulsville
After her last album of British soul covers, Knight has turned to the US and the Memphis air has clearly done her good. We’re not big on her music in the Review Corner but the fact that we like this must mean it’s her best work in a while. She sounds like a performer half…
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Fantastic Negrito: The Last Days of Oakland
Xavier Dphrepaulezz (pronounced De-Frepple-Ez) is about the most interesting musician you could come across. Ignore that qualifier: the most interesting person, full stop. Dphrepaulezz was born in western Massachusetts, the eighth of 14 kids in a strict religious family. His Oxford-educated Somalian father ran a restaurant — his dad was born in 1905 so he…
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Selah Sue: Reason
Belgium produces some great music: we bought a stack of quality indie CDs (Boy And the Echo Choir, Nox) from a shop in Brussels (near the weeing nipper, if you’re over). Rock band Triggerfinger are from Lier, and we had to buy tickets to see the Rolling Stones to catch them live in Hyde Park.…
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Phil Collins: Testify
After raving about Collins’ previous reissues (Face Value, Hello I Must Be Going, No Jacket Required, Dance Into The Light), we have to say that the songs on this are pedestrian at best; he’s reissuing all his albums so he’s got to do this one, but it’s a bit unmemorable. Maybe he has to be…
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Phil Collins: No Jacket Required
This was a massive album back in the 80s: the third solo studio album by drummer Collins, it sold 10 million copies in the US, 1.8 million in the UK and 20 million worldwide. No wonder Phil has such nice houses. It won the Grammy for album of the year in 1985. It bit like…
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