Journey to Freedom
In the recording industry, it is not unusual for an artist to go on a “hiatus.” Sometimes a hiatus signals a simple break from the stresses of the business, an unforeseen transition due to change of management or record label or simply a time of musical and personal reflection. In other words, a hiatus can […]
Still (2014)
Beyond the game-changing 1960s and ’70s works of luminaries ranging from The Supremes to Stevie Wonder, Motown Records continued its colorful legacy with an impressive, groundbreaking roster throughout the ’80s and ’90s. Although many of these signings failed to ignite the same level of sales as their predecessors, it was not for lack of natural […]
Don’t Hesitate (2014)
Raul Midon has a gift that goes beyond his skills as a vocalist, lyricist and guitarist and his ability to transform his voice into a trumpet. Every Raul Midon record contains at least one track where he sublimely captures the essence of whatever topic he decides to address. “All In Your Mind,” the last track […]
J Hud (2014)
If ever there was a performer who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and turned a technical loss into a triumph, it was Jennifer Hudson. It felt like an unlucky omen when, during the fifth season of American Idol (2004), a power outage due to a Chicago-area storm kept the biggest segment of her fan base from […]
The Deep End (2014)
I spent part of my time trying to figure out who Jamila Ford covered on the song “Silencio.” The tune is one of five featured on the California vocalist’s new EP The Deep End. I figured that it had to be a remake as the other four cuts, including the funky bass driven rendition of […]
The One (2014)
In the normal arc of a career, an artist has a creative and commercial peak in his 20s or early 30s, and later fades to musical obscurity…or worse. During the younger days of his career, former Isley Brothers keyboardist Chris Jasper certainly experienced a peak like few of his peers. As the co-writer and co-producer […]
The New Mystique (2014)
The Finnish soul leader who guided our hands to panning musical gold on the promising My Thing, and then delivered on that Gold Rush land with Reaches Out For You, let us go bust with the sappy My Own Private Sunday. Yet, funky guest spots with acts like Quintessence, the near perfect “Ourselves” single (here […]
Cheap Hotel (2014)
UK pop/soul quintet Mamas Gun jumped into our consciousness and our iPods back in 2010 with the brilliant Routes to Riches, an album that showed the quintet to be the rightful heirs to giants of the past, from Hall & Oates to the Bee Gees to The Doobie Brothers, who successfully straddled the line between rock, […]
TBC (2014)
Throughout the 1970s, Portland-based octet Pleasure tastily intermingled elements of jazz, funk, and R&B into a kinetic fusion culminating with the top-10 signature hit, “Glide.” While each member also exhibited talents on a number of outside projects, guitarist Marlon McClain has remained the most prolific on record since the group disbanded. The versatile player worked […]
Where My Heart Belongs (2014)
There are plenty of artists who made their mark singing secular music and would have their motivations for making a gospel record questioned. The legendary Gladys Knight, who has released her gospel project Where My Heart Belongs, is not one of those performers. Knight’s reputation as a performer who never compromised in terms of the […]
