Believe
it or not to receive a daily supply of the music that
you love from all over the world through your letter
box has its disadvantages. This debut album from the
AllStars for example has been sitting in a large pile
of Cd's waiting to be reviewed since early september but
it took the perseverance of both the group and there
promoter to find its way to the top of the pile. It is
of course virtually criminal of me to neglect an album
of this quality for such a long time but I am sure
that you understand the pressures that I am under!
For a long time London was the centre of 'blue-eyed
soul' and raw soulful jazz and the AllStars are born
out of that mold. Formed in 2004 they are the cream of
Europe's session musicians with the added talent of
amongst many AWB's Hamish Stuart, soul diva Jocelyn
Brown and legendary jazz guitarist Jim Mullen. The
class is evident across the board from the production
through to the playing and the tunes themselves which
are all easily accessible in a pop/soul manner that
moves easily into jazzier fields on most tracks,
gospel on a few others and even on the album's least
appealing track reggae.
Starting strongly with the brass heavy summery 'Sometimes'
the vocals of Mary Pearce lay down the standards of
what is to follow. Hamish Stuart has given us some
wonderful soulful solo albums since his days with the
Average White Band and his style is ALL over this set
and not just as producer. With 'Remedy' he takes the
lead vocally and immediately you are taken back to
'Atlantic Avenue' days with some smooth guitar work
from Jim Mullen. But the album's standout for me is
'Star' which conjures up the whole project in one
track. Firstly, you have the soulful baritone vocals
of Cuttie Williams where every word can be clearly
understood and phrased perfectly in order to explain
the songwriter's message, then you have the musicians
playing real instruments properly culminating in yet
another superb guitar solo in Wes Montgomery mode from
Jim Mullen and finally the tune itself which starts
off ias a slowful chugger and builds into a latinesque
brass romp. Wonderful!
Overall the album sets out to create a happy vibe and
'Beautiful Day' and Jocelyn Brown's title track 'All
about the music' lead the way in this respect. However,
as mature musicians they also tackle issues that
concern us all and the thought provoking lyrics of
'Time will Tell' are a perfect end to a very strong
debut album from the AllStars.
So
strong that it will feature in my 'best' of 2007 or
shall I make that 2008? Delays for whatever reason can
sometimes work in one's favour!
