The Brand New Heavies - "Shelter"
I'm just now starting this new "Album of the Week" feature on my journal, and I do believe I'll post the SJ-related albums and tracks to this community as well. True, the Brand New Heavies aren't strictly SJ -- they're more like "acid jazz" and/or soul -- but I think we can give that a pass for now.
Whenever I run off and plunge into an album-buying binge -- and it’s been happening more and more frequently these days, though it’s typically a sign of happiness rather than a vain attempt to escape from the crippling confines of the world via immersion into organized sound -- one purchase always stands way out as the Pick of the Litter. After my latest intense comb-through of Amoeba Music’s formidable stock, it became rapidly clear to me that, despite any assumptions I might have made against it, the Brand New Heavies’ Shelter rose head and shoulders above the evening’s every other acquisition.1
I’ve long held the belief that, if you add elements of funk to any other genre, you improve that genre. (Yes, I would welcome some funked-up country or, I don’t know, chamber music.) The Brand New Heavies also seem to hold this precept, at least in the sense that they begin with a rock-solid base of funk and only then toss in a host of other tasty ingredients. Though they frequently bear the “acid jazz” label (a genre this reviewer would marry if he could), it’s a bit more accurate to describe the band’s sound as one of classic -- I’d hate to break out the threadbare designation “old school” in a non-ironic sense -- soul fused with whatever modern jazzy/electric influences drift their way. Recipe for success, I’d say.
After they formed over on the Other Side of the Pond back in ‘85 (at which point they must’ve been a pack of severely funkified British tots, considering they only look to be in their mid-30s today), the Heavies issued a self-titled album that combined -- rough guesstimate -- one part instrumental funk and two parts R&B-ish funk/pop vocally helmed by N’Dea Davenport. I own that album; a listen or two molded me into a casual BNHfan, but I wasn’t about to go out of my way to snag any more of their material. If some presented itself, well, so be it, but nothing about what they did screamed “Colin, you need more of this. Suspend all projects, bathing included, and begin haunting the record shops immediately!”
Perhaps they seemed a little too laid back, or their production too spare2 -- reportedly, their debut release was recorded on a budget of only 8,000 pounds, which sounds like a lot in this golden era of home recording but didn’t get you a whole lot of takes in 1990 London -- or something along those lines. Luckily, they’d addressed all of those issues and more by the time of 1997’s Shelter. In the intervening years, the group retained their basic sensibilities -- which, yes, I liked -- and piled on some much-needed energy and lushness of sound.
From the tongue-in-cheek opening intro casting the band as a fourth-rate Vegas lounge act (“Enjoy your blue plate special!”), I knew I was in for one hell of a treat. While the opener “I Like It” remains, for me, on the generic side of funkiness, all was immediately redeemed by “Sometimes,” the record’s first standout track and an excellent showcase for vocalist Siedah Garrett, who must’ve replaced the celebrated N’Dea somewhere along the line. (I’m not sure which first name I’m more comfortable attempting to pronounce.)
After that, the disc is more or less a straight shot of BNH goodness, and a perfectly effective advertisement for the stylistic merits of yesteryear-soul resurrection. On “After Forever,” drummer, sometime vocalist and (I suspect) band mastermind Jan Kincaid apes what one might find cut into a dusty mid-1970s LP so perfectly on “After Forever” that, if you suitably downgraded the audio quality and told be that the tune was cranked out three decades ago, I would believe you.
I can’t vouch for their 1994 project Brother Sister or their new Allaboutthefunk (mostly because I haven’t heard either one), but interpolation/extrapolation would seem to suggest that the former is pretty good and, if there’s any justice in the world, the latter is incredibly excellent. As it stands, I can honestly say that Shelter is excellent (it’s not quite at the “incredibly excellent” point, but it transcends most of the dreck out there), an album that I’ll be sure to spend the next year playing into the ground and thus grow brutally, morbidly sick of. Nevertheless, time will elapse, and I’ll warm up to it again. Then put it on a loop for three weeks. Then, because of this mad overexposure, bury it in the yard. Then dig it up. Binge, purge, binge, purge...
And now, some choice tracks:
Download The Brand New Heavies - Shelter - “Shelter”
Vital data
5:02 - 100 BPM
Elements: Piano, an organ-y synthesizer pad, lead vocals by Jan Kincaid which are cleverly run through some sort of non-vocally-intended fuzz filter, wah-wah guitar, strings here and there, bass, percussion.
Download The Brand New Heavies - Shelter - “Day by Day”
Vital data
4:41 - 98 BPM
Elements: Lead vocals by Siedah Garrett, a pretty cool bass line, what sounds like an organ or organ emulator, a horn section, strings (maybe synthesized too, but they sound good), percussion, a touch of good old guitar.
All songs are in 160 kpbs MP3 format. They’ll remain up for one to three weeks; get ‘em while they’re hot.
1 Which acquisitions included Simply Red’s Love and the Russian Winter (decent, but nowhere near as well done as the albums that preceded -- 1998’s Blue -- and followed -- 2003’s Home -- it), Hiroshima’s new Obon (same ol’, same ol’, but that’s not a bad thing when the band in question is Hiroshima), United Future Organization’s 3rd Perspective (odd, but in a hep way).
2 I’m not a huge fan of “stripped-down,” “honest” production. There, I said it. Goodbye, future of elitist music journalism.
Whenever I run off and plunge into an album-buying binge -- and it’s been happening more and more frequently these days, though it’s typically a sign of happiness rather than a vain attempt to escape from the crippling confines of the world via immersion into organized sound -- one purchase always stands way out as the Pick of the Litter. After my latest intense comb-through of Amoeba Music’s formidable stock, it became rapidly clear to me that, despite any assumptions I might have made against it, the Brand New Heavies’ Shelter rose head and shoulders above the evening’s every other acquisition.1
I’ve long held the belief that, if you add elements of funk to any other genre, you improve that genre. (Yes, I would welcome some funked-up country or, I don’t know, chamber music.) The Brand New Heavies also seem to hold this precept, at least in the sense that they begin with a rock-solid base of funk and only then toss in a host of other tasty ingredients. Though they frequently bear the “acid jazz” label (a genre this reviewer would marry if he could), it’s a bit more accurate to describe the band’s sound as one of classic -- I’d hate to break out the threadbare designation “old school” in a non-ironic sense -- soul fused with whatever modern jazzy/electric influences drift their way. Recipe for success, I’d say.
After they formed over on the Other Side of the Pond back in ‘85 (at which point they must’ve been a pack of severely funkified British tots, considering they only look to be in their mid-30s today), the Heavies issued a self-titled album that combined -- rough guesstimate -- one part instrumental funk and two parts R&B-ish funk/pop vocally helmed by N’Dea Davenport. I own that album; a listen or two molded me into a casual BNHfan, but I wasn’t about to go out of my way to snag any more of their material. If some presented itself, well, so be it, but nothing about what they did screamed “Colin, you need more of this. Suspend all projects, bathing included, and begin haunting the record shops immediately!”
Perhaps they seemed a little too laid back, or their production too spare2 -- reportedly, their debut release was recorded on a budget of only 8,000 pounds, which sounds like a lot in this golden era of home recording but didn’t get you a whole lot of takes in 1990 London -- or something along those lines. Luckily, they’d addressed all of those issues and more by the time of 1997’s Shelter. In the intervening years, the group retained their basic sensibilities -- which, yes, I liked -- and piled on some much-needed energy and lushness of sound.
From the tongue-in-cheek opening intro casting the band as a fourth-rate Vegas lounge act (“Enjoy your blue plate special!”), I knew I was in for one hell of a treat. While the opener “I Like It” remains, for me, on the generic side of funkiness, all was immediately redeemed by “Sometimes,” the record’s first standout track and an excellent showcase for vocalist Siedah Garrett, who must’ve replaced the celebrated N’Dea somewhere along the line. (I’m not sure which first name I’m more comfortable attempting to pronounce.)
After that, the disc is more or less a straight shot of BNH goodness, and a perfectly effective advertisement for the stylistic merits of yesteryear-soul resurrection. On “After Forever,” drummer, sometime vocalist and (I suspect) band mastermind Jan Kincaid apes what one might find cut into a dusty mid-1970s LP so perfectly on “After Forever” that, if you suitably downgraded the audio quality and told be that the tune was cranked out three decades ago, I would believe you.
I can’t vouch for their 1994 project Brother Sister or their new Allaboutthefunk (mostly because I haven’t heard either one), but interpolation/extrapolation would seem to suggest that the former is pretty good and, if there’s any justice in the world, the latter is incredibly excellent. As it stands, I can honestly say that Shelter is excellent (it’s not quite at the “incredibly excellent” point, but it transcends most of the dreck out there), an album that I’ll be sure to spend the next year playing into the ground and thus grow brutally, morbidly sick of. Nevertheless, time will elapse, and I’ll warm up to it again. Then put it on a loop for three weeks. Then, because of this mad overexposure, bury it in the yard. Then dig it up. Binge, purge, binge, purge...
And now, some choice tracks:
Download The Brand New Heavies - Shelter - “Shelter”
Vital data
5:02 - 100 BPM
Elements: Piano, an organ-y synthesizer pad, lead vocals by Jan Kincaid which are cleverly run through some sort of non-vocally-intended fuzz filter, wah-wah guitar, strings here and there, bass, percussion.
Download The Brand New Heavies - Shelter - “Day by Day”
Vital data
4:41 - 98 BPM
Elements: Lead vocals by Siedah Garrett, a pretty cool bass line, what sounds like an organ or organ emulator, a horn section, strings (maybe synthesized too, but they sound good), percussion, a touch of good old guitar.
All songs are in 160 kpbs MP3 format. They’ll remain up for one to three weeks; get ‘em while they’re hot.
1 Which acquisitions included Simply Red’s Love and the Russian Winter (decent, but nowhere near as well done as the albums that preceded -- 1998’s Blue -- and followed -- 2003’s Home -- it), Hiroshima’s new Obon (same ol’, same ol’, but that’s not a bad thing when the band in question is Hiroshima), United Future Organization’s 3rd Perspective (odd, but in a hep way).
2 I’m not a huge fan of “stripped-down,” “honest” production. There, I said it. Goodbye, future of elitist music journalism.