No soon as Eddie Sea delivers us a massively popular album in the form of "Moon City" does he now deliver the superb follow-up set "Starz". It has to be said that this CD excels, and if you especially loved his "India" track then you are going to get plugged into this set of grooves extremely quickly. This album sees Eddie return to the 1970s for inspiration and he takes a trip down memory lane to harness his creative juices to lay down this platter of seductive, sexy and soulful sounds. Much of this CD sees real instrumentation matched to the superb vocal talents of Shauntia Toussaint, and there is also input from bassist Aaron Mills from Cameo as well as Taj Salon on vocals. The vast majority of this CD can be put on and left to play. There is little to find fault with, and Shauntia really has that something. Oh yes! It's called soul! This Lady has a real powerhouse of emotion welling up in her and she likes to let this slip on more than one or two songs!The CD starts, it has to be said, as it means to go on. The ghost of Leon Haywood's "I Wanna Do Something Freaky To You" on the splendourous "Enjoy The Times" certainly haunts the bassline, and the flow of the song is unashamedly 1970s. Yet it is very much today at the same time. As far as this jaded, world-weary, tired hack is concerned the CD is essential to purchase for this song alone. Thankfully there is much more to enjoy! "Love And Desire" with an almost discordant synth line is superb. The rhodes keyboards and funky beat is equal only to the impassioned vocals from Shauntia Toussaint. This really has a touch of the very late 70s and deserves strong airplay. The sexiness of "Natural Feelings" is boosted by a great acoustic guitar and real live drum rolls. If you like atmosphere, then this certainly has it in abundance. I must draw you away from here to another toothsome delight - "Living In A World Of Fantasy" - crammed with 70s keys and a pretty Chaka Khan kind of approach. Nice horns too! This is another great set to kick-start your collecting and listening pleasure in 2010.
Barry Towler
The Vibe Scribe
The Vibe Scribe
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/eddie-seas-starz/id348015249
