Transplant Terry Callier or Curtis Mayfield down under and you just might get a Jimmy Little. He’s got a voice that’s more Stax soul than outback. Pair that with a lyric sheet that’s in equal parts pleasure and politics and you’ve got quite a cocktail.
IN THE benighted 1980s, the charts were full of whites trying to sound black: anti-rock outpourers like Mick Hucknall, Annie Lennox, Hue ... Cry, Bono, Kevin Rowland, all baring their beige-coloured souls, wasting their time in slavish imitation of James Brown, Curtis Mayfield et al.
The latest instalment in Nashville floor-layer Kurt Wagner's project of fusing soul and country music is a disappointing affair that never quite lives up to its promise and only fleetingly recalls earlier triumphs.
He once claimed that an old raincoat never lets you down, but Rod Stewart has proven otherwise time after time, giving us both the sublime and the ridiculous, and often at the same time.
Canadian songstress Emm Gryner has toured with David Bowie and released a collection of Irish rock covers. Her new album might just be her most ambitious, and mysterious, yet.
“Here’s something soothing, something groovy, something new, something old, something for everyone”, declares the oh so modest introduction to Wyclef’s latest offering. And while it certainly ain’t all that, this is an entertaining enough effort from the former Fugee.
The Charlatans have finally made the sun-kissed Californian album they always threatened since Tim Burgess turned his back on Blighty for LA a few years back.
You cook them, we serve them up in the Q&A cantina. At the table to answer the questions posed, in our second serving this fortnight, by members of hotpress.com: Ash
If having your music featured on every TV programme from TFI Friday to England v Morocco is a measure of success, then CORNERSHOP are now one of the biggest bands in the world. Multi-instrumentalist BEN AYRES talks to STUART CLARK about Noel Gallagher collaborations, festivals, royalties, The Blind Boys Of Alabama and that Fatboy Slim remix.
D'ANGELO may have made his audience wait five years for the follow-up to his acclaimed debut Brown Sugar, but it serves as a timely panacea for the increasingly moribund genre of "urban" R&B (the very mention of which reminds me of that excellent old joke on Larry Sanders:
LAURYN HILL s debut album, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill was the fastest selling album ever by a female artist in the United States. What s more it s just garnered her five Grammy Awards, confirming her status as one of American music s most important new icons. OLAF TYARANSEN went to London to hear the singer talk frankly about success, motherhood, the future of The Fugees and her father-in-law, Bob Marley.
It's head-scratching, nail-biting, on-the-tip-of-your-tongue time again, as GEORGE BYRNE presides over our renowned annual music quiz [this is for the year 2000]
It’s certainly the most energised and stylistically wide-reaching of all his solo albums to date, bringing together pretty much every musical direction he’s taken in a career that stretches back almost 30 years.
Currently the hottest female property in music, Alicia Keys has come a long way from the little girl whose first record was kermit's 'it's not easy being green'. Admittedly, she's had some serious assistance from heavy friends - including music biz mogul Clive Davis - but mainly she can thank her own prodigious talent and spirit of independence. Matt Diehl hears how Alicia Keys came to share the grammy limelight with U2
Duetting pairs Lisa Hannigan (pictured) and Gary Lightbody as well as Sinead O'Connor and Republic Of Loose, are set to perform live together at the forthcoming Meteor Irish Music Awards.
Falling in love not only altered David Kitt’s heart but helped reshape his musical vision. Olaf Tyaransen visits his home cum studio and hears about the family affair that is his new album and how meeting Poppy reawakened his love of pop. all this and why the son of a Minister opposes the smoking ban! Photography Roger Woolman.
COINCIDENTALLY during the week the CIA opened its files on the JFK assassination, Americans had another reason to flash back to 1963: the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the March On Washington for Civil Rights led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In celebration of this milestone, initially made historic by the "I Have A Dream" speech, March On, an album focusing on the theme of civil rights, has been released.
The big news about Sufjan Stevens is that he plans to record a full album about each of the states of the USA. This is number two of 50, barring annexations, after 2003’s ode to his home patch Michigan
Even divorced from the poignant circumstances of his death, a Greek tragedy for our time, the essential wonder of Marvin Gaye’s troubled mysticism ensures that What’s Going On, an album first released in 1971, will remain both relevant and thrilling for generations to come
Having had a whale of a time readying it for the Meteors, Sinéad O’Connor and Republic Of Loose have decided to release their cover of Curtis Mayfield’s ‘We People Who Are Darker Than Blue’.
The relationship between drugs and creativity has always been a hotly debated subject. But narcotic indulgence has proven to be the downfall of many a gifted artist.
