Sundae Soul Presents Eleana, Lene Riebau & Mary's Mine - 12" vinyl

You may well remember my reviewing Mary's Mine and her excellent “Marvin” earlier this year? Well, Rob Hardt has remixed the song under the title of the “Seductive Soul Vibe”. And I expect you are wondering what the vibe is like? Well, I wouldn't describe it as seductive but it has enough vibe to dislodge a row of cups from the kitchen shelf! LOL. Rob has disassembled the groove and thrown into the mix a real early 80s live, good-times party vibe, and it gives the song a whole new perspective and a new lease of life (not that the original was lacking in any way anyway!). The backing vocals have a lovely harmony and almost reach the dizzy heights of the Emotions. This groove sounds great on a 12” single – one to really pump up and get the jolly old bass-pins rattling! I really do applaud the quality of the vinyl pressing too. I gave up vinyl back in 1990 for a number of reasons, and poor pressings and what-have-you being a prime reason. This single playes perfectly and has excellent dynamics. I won't be heard praising vinyl like this many times so hats off to whoever did the work on that! The B-Side contains two tracks, both are familiar, especially the SUPERB “Walk Away” from Cool Million” featuring Eleana. This is lifted straight from the superb Cool Million CD, and that is yet another album that takes pride of place as one of THE albums of 2008. The groove is very 80s and owes a LOT to Kleeer's “Intimate Connection”. As that's my favourite cut of theirs, I shall do nowt but praise it highly! Rob adds a remix to Lene Riebeu's “Naughty Girl” track, and the vibe is very much in the same groove as the “Marvin”remix – it is, after all, another Seductive Soul Vibe remix! Musically I like this but I have to be honest and say I cannot warm to the vocals which to me are too close to Amy Whine House or Erykah Badu at her most caricature-ish, but saying that the original song scored well on the UK scene so it just underlines what I have said all along in that what I like may not be what you like, and vice versa. Check it out yourself and see what you think. However, this is a must-have 12” release and Sundae Soul are a company and label that needs a warm hand for the work they are doing and the music they are creating. Keep up the good work!

Barry Towler

Donald McCollum - Thin Line Between Love And Hate

This is yet another quality release out of the Sundae Soul stable in Germany on collectors’ 7” single. These guys know exactly what to release, and it’s refreshing to have a classy ballad on one side and a brilliant dancer on the other. Donald McCollom is no stranger to our ears following his debut set that was released a few years ago here in the UK on Dome. This time, Donald has gone for a very traditional soul recording. “Thin Line Between Love And Hate” is a timeless, and very popular piece of soul music. Originally performed in 1971 by the Persuaders, this has subsequently been covered my many artists including David Hudson in the 80s and H-Town in the 90s. The latter has to be my favourite due to Roger Troutman’s unique production.Donald approaches this song with love and respect. It’s true to the original song and he pours a lot of emotion and strength into it. In fact, this style of performance and song is, for me, better than the modern styles he embraced on his album. If you love the original recording then this will also appeal to you.

Flip the disc and you have a quality stepper with plenty of 80s action in the DNA of the groove. The hi-hat beat and quirky keyboards hark back to the late 70s, but the synth and the optimistic vocals treat us to an early 80s boogie groove. The tinkling piano adds an enigmatic aloofness that hints at a jazzy flavour. The Rhodes keys, the slap bass and beautifully paced rhythm are yet another example of a rekindling interest in 80s soul / dance. Vocally, Mirjam reminds me of Jody Watley - and that's no bad thing in my book! This is more than healthy as far as I am concerned and on that note I can no nothing but heartily recommend this excellent value-for-money single.

Barry Towler