Review: Skii Harvey - Foolish Girl

Skii Harvey - Foolish Girl
2008, Skii Harvey

Australian singer/songwriter Skii Harvey is going to knock your socks off. The lifelong singer/songwriter with the platinum looks like she could be a Mrs. Robinson type, but when she opens her mouth it's not the silky sounds of suburbia that emerge but the gritty soul of Tina Turner. Harvey's sophomore album, Foolish Girl is steeped in Soul, Rhythm & Blues and top-notch musicianship.

Foolish Girl opens with the title track, heralded by horns and backup singers emulating a scaled down gospel choir. Harvey sounds a lot like Tina Turner here, from tone to rasp to phrasing. Foolish Girl is a legitimate Pop/R&B song, capable of making a run at Adult Pop charts on this side of the Pacific. Love Remembers has a Motown meets Chicago (the band) feel. Harvey uses her dynamic voice to light up the moment for one of the best songs on the disc. On One Cross, Harvey digs into a meaty ballad about regrets. It's a decent song, but Harvey's voice is just a little too heavy this time around, wearing on the melody and the listener.

Matador takes on a slinky Latin feel with Harvey's worldly voice taking control from the opening line. It's a very catchy arrangement that is sure to get you moving. Harvey's turn at a jazz standard-style tune goes a little awry on Wounded Knee. Loosely using the title from the Dee Brown novel without any real connection to the story. It's a slightly befuddling choice that only seems to get more surreal as it goes on. Harvey's vocal line is decent, but the tune is something of a metaphysical mess that sounds decent musically but falls apart married to the lyrics. Harvey recovers nicely on Cold Wind, a soul/gospel/jazz hybrid that's a pleasing listen and allows Harvey to be at her best vocally. The Way It Was sounds like an R&B ballad you might have heard on the radio in the 1980's from someone like Philip Bailey. It's a lush arrangement with vocal harmonies and horns and turns out to be quite a strong track. Harvey closes out with How Long? (New version), a plodding song that might have been something of an afterthought.

Skii Harvey has a tremendous voice, although there are some things she sounds better on than others. In her lower register and at soft volumes, Harvey's voice is just too heavy to enjoy at times, but her overall sound is undeniable. Foolish Girl is a decent effort; it has its high points and low points but on balance is a highly listenable and enjoyable album. Take some time to check out Skii Harvey

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Skii Harvey at http://www.skiiharvey.com/. You can download Foolish Girl from Amazon.com, or you can purchase physical copies directly from the band on their website.

Review: JJ Soul Band - Bright Lights

JJ Soul Band - Bright Lights
2009, Arizona University Records

JJ Soul Band formed in 1993 in Iceland over a partnership between Oxford, England singer/songwriter JJ Soul and Iceland composer/keyboardist Ingvi Thor Korkaksson. Three albums and fourteen years later, JJ Soul band is still creating their distinctive mix of Rock, Soul and R&B. Their fourth album, Bright Lights, was released in Europe in 2008 and sees a 2009 US release.

Bright Lights opens with At The Mall, brandishing a classic Motown/R&B beat and gentle pop hooks that will stick with you. The song itself is entertaining, following a mysterious yet whimsical chain of events as they happened to the narrator in the song. Let Love Find Us opens with the funk on guitar, horns and some unusual keyboard sounds. The rhythm here is palpable; you simply won't be able to resist, much less want to. JJ Soul has a sound that's part Warren Zevon and part Keith Grimwood from Trout Fishing In America. I've Been Bad Again gets down into the Blues featuring tight musicianship but a vocal line that just doesn't fully connect. There's a Sinatra-esque disconnection but Soul just doesn't have the charisma Sinatra had to pull it off. Getting Colder By The Year is an interesting sidebar, sounding a bit like Billy Joel accompanying Gordon Lightfoot. The song looks back on what's been lost to drink in direct terms. The song is a gorgeous soliloquy with a distinct sense of melancholy. Bright Lights could be written about most any big city, calling out the price of living in big cities to a great Blues/Rock arrangement.

I don't need to describe the rest of the album to you because I essentially already have. JJ Soul Band sticks to the mix of Early Rock, Blues, Jazz and Lounge and ends up creating a strongly homogeneous album that's solid all the way around but never seems to take risks. Bright Lights is a solid listen; I enjoyed the album, but it just doesn't stand out from the crowd in significant fashion.

Rating: 2.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about JJ Soul Band at http://www.jjsoulband.com/ or www.myspace.com/jjsoulband. You can purchase a digital copy of Bright Lights at eMusic. Hard copy CDs are apparently available for sale at stores in Iceland, but no online availability could be found. If you really want a CD copy, contact the band through their MySpace page. I’m sure you can work something out.

Review: Smokey Robinson - Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Smokey Robinson - Time Flies When You're Having Fun
2009, ROBSO Records/ADA Distribution

It's been fifty years since Smokey Robinson stepped into the limelight as one of the ubiquitous faces of Motown Records. Over time the acknowledgements have compounded, whether being honored on Hollywood's Walk Of Fame, receiving an honorary Doctorate from the Berklee College Of Music, a Rhythm & Soul Heritage Award from ASCAP or Kennedy Center Honors, Smokey Robinson has had an artistic and personal impact on music and on our culture. Robinson is known for numerous hits with The Miracles and on his own (Shop Around, Tracks Of My Tears, Tears Of A Clown, I Second That Emotion, Cruisin' and many others), but he's also written a slew of hits for artists such as The Temptations (My Girl, The Way You Do The Things You Do), Mary Wells (My Guy), The Marvelettes (Don't Mess With Bill) and Marvin Gaye (Ain't That Peculiar, I'll Be Doggone). Robinson doesn't sit on his laurels, however, returning on August 25, 2009 with an album full of 10 originals and 2 cover tunes: Time Flies When You're Having Fun. The voice shows a little wear from fifty years of crooning but is none the worse for it all. There's no one quite like Smokey Robinson.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun opens with the title track, a poetic monster but melodically a bit less than what I was expecting. Robinson has always had a distinctive talent for lyrics, and his voice is still unquestionable even with the toll of fifty years in the business, but something about this track just didn't click for me. Robinson's take on Norah Jones' Don't Know Why is true to the original but has more of a live feel. Robinson still records to this day with the entire band in one room, giving a more organic feel to the album and to this track in particular. Girlfriend finds Robinson digging into a more modern R&B/Dance feel, played organically. The result is a song with serious commercial value without compromising the timeless spirit that runs through the heart of Robinson's music.

Joss Stone steps in for a duet with Robinson on You're The One For Me. Stone tries to adapt a more lyric vocal style here to meld with Robinson's trademark sound but it just doesn't work out well for her. When singing with Robinson she sounds fine, but the heavy vibrato that creeps into Stone's softer sound makes a mess of the vocal line. This came as a surprise as I generally enjoy Stone's voice, but not here. One Time is an active R&B song that's as smooth as they come. I don't know if it will pull much weight on commercial radio with Robinson on vocals Robinson is a little outside their demographic, but put this song with a young up-and-comer and you've probably got a top ten hit. The biggest treat on the disc is Please Don't Take Your Love; hearing two legends such as Smokey Robinson and Carlos Santana trade lead lines is worth the price of admission on its own.

Whatcha Gonna Do is a soulful love jam with some serious jazz-inspired piano work. The vocal line gets to be a little repetitive late in the song, but overall it's a strong track. Satisfy You had a classic feel, along the lines of I Second That Emotion, but done in a modern R&B arrangement. The melody is archetypal for Robinson's songbook and may well join the ranks as one of his best songs. You're Just My Life features Robinson in a duet with the exquisite India.Arie. India.Arie holds her own alongside the Motown legend, providing listeners with a duet to remember. Robinson closes out Time Flies When You're Having Fun with an unnamed bonus track that turns out to be Robinson's take on The Jackson Five's One More Chance. Whether this was a late add-on in tribute to Jackson or planned ahead of time it's a classy rendition from a classy artist.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun is a wondrous mix of old and new; Smokey Robinson doesn't sacrifice himself or his sound but does manage to mix in a bit of the sounds of today with classic songwriting that would have been at home at any time in the Motown Era. The album has a couple of ups and downs but on the whole is a strong effort that should satisfy existing fans while opening the ears of a new generation to the wonder that is Smokey Robinson. Very well done.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun drops on August 25, 2009. You can pre-order the CD through Amazon.com, or you can pre-order the download through iTunes.

Review: Ariel - Sure Thing, You Bet!

Ariel - Sure Thing, You Bet!
2007, Jenpet Records

San Francisco rockers Ariel’s third CD, Sure Thing, You Bet! is a collection of familiar-surrounding classic rock originals. Released in 2007, Ariel has been gigging on the strength of this CD ever since. The mix of styles and sounds on Sure Thing, You Bet! can be a tad dizzying, both for the listener and seemingly, for the band.

Sure Thing, You Bet! opens with Are You Ready To Rock?; a tasty bit of old school Rock N Roll. It's a bit hokey but all in good fun, and the guitar work is pretty impressive. Wrequiem integrates pipe organ into a Rock arrangement in a moment that will recall Styx' early Prog forays. Bordertown opens with Spanish Guitar and reminds me a bit of Trout Fishing In America if they went a more Rock N Roll route. Climbing sounds a bit like early Chicago with a slightly harder edge. The lyrics are a bit mundane but the music is great. Ariel gets a bit into the socio-political-religious realm on The Message Song and The Fine Art of Proselytizing; the latter of which takes to task those who would push their beliefs on others. The ultimate irony is that the song appears to be full of the same sort of self-righteous sense it derides.

Much of Sure Thing, You Bet! is a bit disorganized; not so much like a coherent album structure but just a bunch of songs that Ariel had sitting around and threw together to fill out an album. Most of the songs are at least decent; there's just a lack of flow to the album that can become a bit distracting. Ariel ranges from Dr. Demento style novelty tunes (Church Of The Cosmic Cookie, They Won't Play Us In L.A.) to catchy, smart tunes with pop sensibility (Halfway To Harris, Crank Up The Victrola). The Pop sensibility here is sometimes two or three decades old, but hooks don't change regardless of how much distortion or effects you put them through.

My first impression of Ariel is that they are an aging cover band who have accumulated a fair amount of original material over time and finally decided to do something formal with it. It would explain the scattershot stylistic changes throughout the album that cover Styx, Chicago, The Ramones, Motown and novelty tunes. Cover band is considered by some to be a dirty word, but most bands or musicians get started that way, and from an instrumental perspective as a singer you couldn't complain about having Ariel behind you. The vocals are a bit hit or miss but are mostly spot on. In general, Sure Thing, You Bet! is a fun and entertaining listen that will appeal primarily to Baby Boomers and fans of the lighter side of 1960's and 1970's Rock N Roll/R&B. If that's your thing, then Ariel is for you.

Rating: 2.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Ariel at www.myspace.com/arielrockstheworld. You can purchase a copy of Sure Thing, You Bet! at www.cdbaby.com/cd/arielsounds, or you can download the album from iTunes.

Review: P Bailey - Find Me Somebody

P Bailey - Find Me Somebody
2009, P Bailey

Montreal's Paul Bailey is a purveyor of highly produced, electronic pop that ranges from mellow ballads to mid-tempo dance music. Originally from the UK, Bailey found his love of music early on. His latest release, Find Me Somebody, is a hybrid of R&B and electronic music forms.

Opening track Mystery is firmly ensconced in synthesizer and electronic effects. P Bailey even gives his voice the full electronic effect. It's a marriage of organic and electronic where electronic is the dominant partner. The song itself is fairly basic Pop/R&B, but the arrangement is too divorced from the human component to have a lot of life. The remix of Find Me Somebody has more energy and drive but still feels somewhat automatic. Beautiful (Marlon G'z Buzz Mix) is designed for the dance club, and may find some limited play there. Part Of Me (Smooth Vocal Mix) is the first track on the album that sounds real or alive at all. Up until this point anything you've heard could have been completed entirely by computer. P Bailey's vocals here at least sound like he's feeling some of what he's singing.

Melody is built around an interesting piano line, but once again the technology takes over and the artist becomes lost in it. Bailey hits a little closer to home on I Want U and It's All That, but there is still this pervasive lack of persona that runs through most of the album. Find Me Somebody shows some talent for production, but the compositions come across as flat to lifeless. The occasional expression of personality is swallowed in the technology he uses, not just blurring the line of humanity but in most cases stamping it out completely.

Rating: 2 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about P Bailey at www.myspace.com/wwwmyspacepbailey. You can download Find Me Somebody at www.mynoisyplanet.com/PBailey.

Review: Denim Road - Denim Road

Denim Road – Denim Road
2008, Denim Road

If you’re looking for a great mix of classic rock, R&B and classic Motown sounds, all wrapped up into something familiar yet refreshing, then follow Denim Road into their home town of Cincinnati, Ohio. A six-piece band with more musical experience than you can shake a stick at; Denim Road melds new sounds out of old, classic ones and captivates audiences along the way. Whether it’s playing covers or original material, Denim Road finds a little bit of magic every time they pick up their instruments. The band formerly known as Soul’d Out has been around for eight years. Guitarist/chief songwriter Jim Zuzow and vocalist George Harp have been the core of the band since its inception and they have surrounded themselves with some seriously talented folks. George Harp was the vocalist for the second incarnation of Starcastle in the early-to-mid 1980’s. Percussionist Craig Ballard has more than four decades under his belt in the music business, getting his start with Cincy favorites Cincinnati Joe & Mad Lydia. Kevin Ross (drums) has done time with I.C. Hot and Warsaw Falcons. Rounding out the band are Gary Grawe (keys/vox); Robbie Lewis (bass/vox) and the inestimable Jim Zuzow on guitar. In 2008, the band finally released their debut CD, Denim Road.

Denim Road are strongly influenced by the Motown sound, from soulful vocals to quasi-STAX style horn arrangements, there’s no doubt to what era and sound Denim Road pay homage. Sweet Soul Revival kicks things off with a Morris Day moment, and then an interesting thing happens. While the style and lead vocals are strongly influenced by Motown, Denim Road’s vocal mix comes across sounding like classic Journey. Listen to the harmony vocals on songs like Ready To Fall, Blue Highway and Follow Your Dream, and then go listen to Journey’s Wheel In The Sky. It’s a bit uncanny how much they sound alike. Probably my favorite song on the CD is the title track, Denim Road. This is classic 1970’s funk/soul at its best. Perfect Heart is also a pleasurable listen, with Latin Jazz guitar styling in an intensely melodic musical setting. Other highlights include Talk To Me and Burbank’s Blues.

Denim Road are a classic cover/party band who have transitioned to writing and performing their own music. Vestiges of the party band live on in their sound, and at times the listener isn’t sure whether the unusual hybrid of styles/sounds is simply Denim Road’s musical identity or left over vestiges of cover songs past. What is clear is that Denim Road has a very unique sound that shows real signs of having melded into something entirely its own. Denim Road is definitely worth a listen.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Denim Road at www.myspace.com/denimroadband or http://www.denimroad.net/. You can purchase a copy of Denim Road at www.cdbaby.com/cd/denimroad.

Review: Fresh & Ivan Ives - Juice To Get Loose To

Fresh & Ivan Ives - Juice To Get Loose To

2008 No Threshold Records

Fresh & Ivan Ives run the gamut of the best and worst things about Rap & Hip-Hop music on Juice To Get Loose To. Fresh & Ivan Ives draw from classic funk and soul influences to construct their musical accompaniment, creating highly listenable beats and music. Lyrically, Ives & Fresh are immersed in the same sort of sophomoric crudity that informs gangster rap and other similar forms. Fresh & Ivan Ives show strong lyric potential, but get caught up in highly limiting and gratuitous lyrical choices that show how able they are to kowtow to the lowest common social denominator but fails to further their ideas. This is unfortunate because Fresh & Ivan Ives show real flashes of lyrical ability. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the use of "crude" language or harsh lyrical imagery for artistic purpose or to further ideas, but Juice To Get Loose To just doesn't have that feel, and therefore the lyrical content here ends up sounding gratuitous at best and highly immature at worst.

Without Fail has a strong 1970's/disco vibe, bringing in samples/instrumentation referencing classic Motown sounds. The song also shows Fresh & Ivan Ives’ sense of humor in a self-deprecating fashion. At the same time it is hard to ignore the influence Eminem has had on Fresh & Ivan Ives’ rapping, particularly on the first track. Rock Precise is a prime example of the gratuitous nature of some of the music here. The language and imagery undermines the flow of the song. Time For Juice continues in this vein. It's unfortunate because Time For Juice has tremendous commercial potential. The beats and rhythm here are unique, but Fresh & Ivan Ives have made the song unmarketable with their lyric choices.

Came Into My Life is a tribute to both to themselves as well as to the broad influences Ivan Ives & Fresh bring into their collaborations. Came Into My Life is very well written and performed. August In L.A. incorporates elements of Hip-Hop, Funk/Rock and Jazz in one of the more entertaining listens of Juice To Get Loose To. Other highlights include Haterade, Truth Be Told and 18 Million Gallons Of Juice.

Fresh & Ivan Ives are strong rappers who occasionally make bad lyrical choices. There is, at times, too much striving to fit a commercial style rather on just letting the artist bring forth their sound as it comes. Juice To Get Loose To is a mixed blessing, with moments of musical brilliance stacked up alongside moments that seem to last forever. A strong effort with some evident flaws, but still a worthwhile listen.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Ivan Ives at www.myspace.com/ivanives or http://www.nothresholdrecords.com/, where you can purchase a copy of Juice To Get Loose To. You can also download the album at Amazon.com.