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Are you a lover of
“old-school” soul? Then you are in for a real treat with the
release of these two fine sets by the Soul Band and veteran “blue-eyed”
soul-meister Billy Price.
The Soul Band comprises
a plethora of talented musicians in Brad Halen (bass), Mike Welch (guitar),
Scott Aruda (Trumpet), Steve Chaggaris (drums) and John Aruda (tenor sax)
– fronted by jazz maestro Ken Clark (organ, piano & vocals)
and Tim Pike (vocals), with guests adding baritone & tenor sax, violin,
cello, vocals, double bass and Leslie guitar to various tracks.
The band recreate
the classic soul sounds associated the likes of Otis Redding and the Stax
imprint - Pike and Clark having the vocal chops to carry off the covers
without resorting to mere imitation, whilst the band lay down a horn-fired
soul groove that is guaranteed to mine a “hole to your soul”.
The set opens with
‘Walk A Mile In My Shoes’ which has a raw Sam Cooke feel laced
with shades of Otis Redding – the horns riffing balefully whilst
Clark’s organ adds haunting “strings” to the mix. Redding’s
‘I Got The Will’ is a real stomper with soul-charged vocals
and blasting horns – the churning ‘You’ve Got To Earn
It’ with it’s wild trumpet, hard riffing horns and gospel
inflected backing harmonies, and ‘This Love Of Mine’ with
it’s smoking sax, also falling squarely in the Redding soul-bag.
Jimi Hendrix’s
‘Dolly Dagger’ is performed Stax style replete with feral
guitar; ‘Never Like This Before’ is classic soul in the Sam
and Dave mould; Steve Winwood comes to mind on the “floor-shaking”
‘Ain’t That A Lot Of Love’; whilst deeper soul is represented
by the anguished ‘Let Me Down Easy’ and ‘A Nickel And
A Nail’, and the heart-wrenching ‘Sometimes You Can’t
Make It On Your Own’. (www.thesoulband.net)
Whereas The Soul
Band’s CD consists of covers of soul classics, ‘East End Avenue’
comprises thirteen originals written mainly by Price/Jon Tiven and Mike
Sweeney, although the style remains rooted very firmly in “old-school”
60s/70s soul.
The set opens on
a high with the stomping ‘Keep It To Yourself’, Price’s
vocals ploughing a deep soul furrow underpinned by a blasting horn section
and stinging guitar (Lenny Smith), segueing into the Stax styled ‘Soul
Sailin’’ where Price’s testifying is echoed by wailing
tenor sax and gospel inflected backing harmonies.
Like Curtis Salgado
and Darren Nulisch, Price is blessed with a naturally soulful voice that
has no obvious influences, enabling him to create his own soul personna,
his influences coming via various styles within the soul genre rather
than from individual artists – so when he sings a number like ‘Funky
Like Dyke Part 2’, although it is a tribute to Dyke & the Blazers,
it also throbs with a funky machismo that is uniquely Price’s own.
‘She Left Me
With These Blues’ opens with gospel styled piano before Price’s
anguished vocals segue in laying down a funky downhome blues replete with
salacious horns and soulful organ. ‘The Other Side Of You’
is an impassioned brooding soul opus enhanced by a mesmerizing piano riff,
baying horns and menacing guitar – ‘The Big Show’ has
a morose Van Morrison feel that is replicated in ‘Only Two Lovers’
– ‘Faithful And True’, (the only cover), strays into
countrified soul territory – The Hard Hours’ is a slab of
deeply impassioned soul – whilst on the funky “dance-floor
filler” ‘If You Cook Like You Walk’ Price declares “I’ll
eat everything on the plate”.
Billy Price is a
soul singer of the highest order, deserving far greater recognition, and
this set, given the right exposure, could be the vehicle to propel him
to the forefront of the soul scene. (www.billyprice.com)
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