(July 6, 2022) The British band Spandau Ballet had one Top Ten hit in America, and that song was a verified smash. “True” peaked at number four on Billboard’s top 100 in the fall of 1983 and topped the adult contemporary charts. The tune had the right balance of pop with just enough R&B flourish to have broad appeal and that allowed it to have fans in the pop and R&B worlds.
The hip-hop group PM Dawn sampled the song’s guitar and key riff for their 1991 hit “Set Adrift on a Memory Bliss.” Many back in the day R&B fans heard flourishes in the song’s bass line and Tony Hadley’s vocals and let their imaginations wander. How would a soul interpretation of “True” sound, particularly since songwriter Gary Kemp wrote the song as an homage to Marvin Gaye and the songwriters at Motown? “True” is a song about writing a love ballad and finding the right words to convey the emotions that the lyricist wants to convey
Soul man David A. Tobin and producer Rob Hardt (head of Sedsoul Records and one-half of the production duo Cool Million) give their answer to that question with their R&B cover of “True.” The song features Tobin’s soaring and soulful baritone, church influenced backing vocals, funky bass that line and a jazz infused guitar solo that replaces the saxophone solo.
Sedsoul Records is based in Germany and that distance from the United States gives Hardt and his roster of soul singers, who, like the New Jersey native Tobin, are Americans, the freedom to make the kind of R&B music that people take for granted on this side of the Atlantic but is appreciated in Europe. Check out Tobin and Hardt’s take on “True” here.
By Howard Dukes