"Touching The Soul" may not be everyone's cup of tea. I'll be straight with you from the start. The main reason for this is the fact that the set is more poetic, spoken word than straight vocals. Think Floetry, Bronze Paragon or Kim Fields aka Mocha Soul. Myself, I like the set very much but cannot listen to it in one sitting. I was sold on this album on track one alone and if you love the song as much as I then the album's purchase is a no-brainer. "Painted Room" draws together chic New York City soul with cool, urban European Soul vibes which, frankly, are far superior to those being recorded in the Us right now. This track is a KILLER. make no mistake. The dreamy vibes, warm summer flow and haunting backing is overwhelmingly soulful. I love the lyrics too - not merely 'I love you, you love me' fodder but thought-provoking and different. I like this very much and wish we could have more of it. "Looking For The Light" is the epitome of urban jazzy chic. This Lady and I are on the same wavelengh..she says that there is no need for yesterdays or tomorrows. She's talking about us living in the NOW. The jazzy sax adds an avant-garde, free-flowing flavour too and the deep bass gives us some extra kick on the bass-pins. More excellence comes in the flute-drizzled shape of "Who" - a groove that really kicks some backside and chills you with some really cool piano and spoken word. This is not rap, not by any long chalk so worry not! The beautiful and intelligent lyrics of "So They Say" really does appeal to those of us who are connected to the higher side of life through things such as meditation and so forth. The lyrics really are spot on. Talking about the space between time may leave many scratching their heads, and all I can say is sit back and soak up the music and the vocal flow. It's actually quite sexy and almost Roy Ayers in adaptation. "Some Other Place" takes this theme further and uses a BRILLIANT Jazz dance flavour to underpin and underline it. Think Koop or Gerardo Frisina. Simply superb. Please check out these tunes outlined above. You can actually download these individually if you so wish and I really think that given a chance you will really like this CD.
Barry Towler
The Vibe Scribe
The Vibe Scribe
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