The former First Lady of Tru Thoughts re-emerged in 2008 after much touring. ‘Pot of Gold’ is a fine sophomore effort on her own label Little Poppet/Six Degrees. This time out Alice delivers a “live” sounding set reminding us of her work with Will “Quantic” Holland and his Quantic Soul Orchestra. You may be used to hearing Alice sing over tracks with glitches of futurism and programming but this time out it’s straight live funk and it holds your attention, mailnly because of that set of pipes she unleashes. The opening two funk stormers lead the herd out the gate. Strings and tight drum snares set the tempo for upbeat 4/4 rhythms reminiscent of Stax label soul-“Turn and Run” and “Two Steps”. From there she jumps to a bit of Afrobeat on “Living the Life of a Dreamer”. This is where you realize the ensemble cast of supporting players, from the horn section, to bassist- Alex Cowen, to violinist- Mike Simmons truly feel what they are putting down on tape and are truly talented musicians. “Let us be Loving” is one of the other highlights that simmers with slow building funk and finally explodes on each chorus. There’s the smoldering Gnarls Barkley cover of “Crazy” that is just as classic for it’s approach in arrangement. She revisits samba on “Universe” and the album closer “All Alone” sums up her views on our trajectory…”Look the city streets are burning. Everyone of us looks on. Seems our minds were meant for turning…Turning on.” It’s that voice ultimately, that really is incomparable no matter how many flavor of the moment comparisons are out there. No one, but NO ONE can fake what Miss Russell has. There are no gimmicks, no tabloid fodder, nothing dramatic about her life. It’s all in THAT voice, music and phrasing of lyrics she shares with us. If you ever read this Miss Russell “Thank you” and please don’t stop. For the rest you, let this be your starting point to delve into her back catalog and check out what you’ve been sleeping on.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Alice Russell- Pot of Gold
The former First Lady of Tru Thoughts re-emerged in 2008 after much touring. ‘Pot of Gold’ is a fine sophomore effort on her own label Little Poppet/Six Degrees. This time out Alice delivers a “live” sounding set reminding us of her work with Will “Quantic” Holland and his Quantic Soul Orchestra. You may be used to hearing Alice sing over tracks with glitches of futurism and programming but this time out it’s straight live funk and it holds your attention, mailnly because of that set of pipes she unleashes. The opening two funk stormers lead the herd out the gate. Strings and tight drum snares set the tempo for upbeat 4/4 rhythms reminiscent of Stax label soul-“Turn and Run” and “Two Steps”. From there she jumps to a bit of Afrobeat on “Living the Life of a Dreamer”. This is where you realize the ensemble cast of supporting players, from the horn section, to bassist- Alex Cowen, to violinist- Mike Simmons truly feel what they are putting down on tape and are truly talented musicians. “Let us be Loving” is one of the other highlights that simmers with slow building funk and finally explodes on each chorus. There’s the smoldering Gnarls Barkley cover of “Crazy” that is just as classic for it’s approach in arrangement. She revisits samba on “Universe” and the album closer “All Alone” sums up her views on our trajectory…”Look the city streets are burning. Everyone of us looks on. Seems our minds were meant for turning…Turning on.” It’s that voice ultimately, that really is incomparable no matter how many flavor of the moment comparisons are out there. No one, but NO ONE can fake what Miss Russell has. There are no gimmicks, no tabloid fodder, nothing dramatic about her life. It’s all in THAT voice, music and phrasing of lyrics she shares with us. If you ever read this Miss Russell “Thank you” and please don’t stop. For the rest you, let this be your starting point to delve into her back catalog and check out what you’ve been sleeping on.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment