Monday 23 February 2009

Isaac "Tin Man" Smith - Aah! Let Me Make Love To You

What a talent! This man is dubbed an R&B / Hip Hop Artist so I can imagine that many quality soul aficionados will instantly be put off by this moniker. DON'T. What we have here is, mainly, a very strong quality SOUL set with a few throwaway urban street cuts which irritate more than condemn, and it is the quality that I want to draw your attention to. Very talented is this gentleman. Isaac wrote, produced and arranged the whole set bar his own take on Alexander O'Neal's “If You Were Here Tonight”. Isaac should be very proud of his work. The set comes across to me as a very high quality late 90s / early 00s set and his vocals are straight out of the Mikki Blue or even a Sam Salter sort of bag. Superb. Check out “I Am Into You”. What a gem this track is and as far as I am concerned is worth adding to your basket on the strength of this and this alone. Another killer ballad is the wonderful “Let Me Be The One” complete with acoustic guitar and a bass line to die for. This is soul heaven! “Keep Diggin' Me” is another top-draw tune, and his modern take on the aforementioned Alex O'Neal hit is also executed with taste, finesse and more than a hint of reverence.
I seriously rate “It's On Tonight” which is a chunkier and more Y2K effort, a la Sam Bostic's new set. I love the female vocals here but there is no credit for this lady. Pity! The title cut, “Aah! Let Me Make Love To You” is a very upfront and sexy cut and the music reminds me of the classier material that Late 90s groups such as Profyle or 4.0 were laying down at the time. “You're My Soul Desire” is a great effort too, and the keys are very 80s, the slap bass almost Mtume in orientation. Very nice indeed! Lovers of soulful sax will head straight for “Tonight”- it's not often that sax is heard in the soul world any more, which is a pity. It's a natural compliment to my mind, and this groove is very sensual in a Ruscola fashion. For uptempo flavours minus the annoying rap please check out “I'm In The Club” - the keys employed here are very nice indeed and add that little extra something special. “You Don't Know” is a worthy album finale and it's heavy beats anchor down the funky groove and soulful vocals with a minimum of fuss. This is a very, very strong CD and well worth a purchase. The independents do it again!

Barry Towler