My selection of the best releases this week (Feb 2021 Wk 5)
There's been quite a lot of releases already this year so let's 'boil them
down'. Here are my favourite single releases so far this year. Just click on
image to listen to them on YouTube. Some are 'hangovers' from the tail
end of last year i.e. late October onwards.
I'm not sure 'why now?' but an EP 'I Told You I Was Trouble: Live In
London' has just been released (5 Feb 2021) which features 4 live tracks
recorded at London's Shepherd Bush Empire on 29 May 2007.
The
DVD
of the full concert was released in 2007 by
Universal
and this EP simply features the first 4 tracks on the DVD. It seems it was
also released on vinyl as part of 'The Collection' an 8 disc box set. Perhaps it's the first time it has been
available digitally?
The track I've posted is the first track 'Addicted', which was the last
track on her groundbreaking 'Back To Black' album from 2006, her second and
ultimately her last album. It will be ten years in July when she was
found dead by her bodyguard in her Camden, London, home.
A new album from Hiro Homma released 30 Jan 2021. How Would I describe
this? Neo jazz/funk I guess, but on first skim through sounds
different, and better, than a lot of the general neo soul/R&B material being delivered.
The album consists of 7 tracks, the lead track is an instrumental, four
tracks feature Karmina Dai and two feature Amille D Harris. It has a real 80s feel
to my ears. I've posted, what I consider, the best two tracks based on
first listen below.
Hiro Homma was born in Kanagawa, Tokyo and started playing guitar age
of 12 and has been active since he was 18, moving to US in 1997 and has been
based in New York since 2003 where he has been a regular guitarist at
Ashford & Simpson's Suga Bar. In March 2020 he moved back to
Japan.
Soul Switch were Cato James and DJ Cameron who have only 2 singles listed,
both of which featured Meli'sa Morgan on vocals, one from 1999 and this one
from 2003.
Cato Jones also produced Meli'sa Morgan's 2005 album 'I Remember' which I posted a few tracks from a few days ago.
A couple of different mixes, short edit and the full album version
from 'Beautifully Human: Words And Sounds Vol. 2'.
Jill Scott
first emerged in 2000 with her debut album 'Who Is Jill Scott? Words and
Sounds Vol. 1' and the first single from it 'Gettin' In The Way', soon
followed with 'A Long Walk' her highest chart entry to date.
