Navy [2021] - One Shot [The Other Songs]

Brace yourself ... this had so much potential, but is full of ragga rapping! The core of the song is a sample of Deniece Williams' 1976 sweet soul classic 'Free'.

Some 'may' appreciate it, others will hate it, but it would be a boring if we all liked the same things! In a week where I really am scraping the bottom of the barrel for decent new tunes, it will have to do, even though it was released 23 Apr 2021.

Navy is from Dominica and, as far as I can tell, this will be her fourth single since her first last year. I've checked out her other three singles and she has a great voice, when she sings rather than raps, so I'd love to hear her do a track without any rapping.

Details

Rating:	7.2
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	The Other Songs
Cat No:	None
Year:	23/04/2021
Key/BPM:	12A/94
Value:	£1

Tortilla Soup Band [2021] - For Your Love [Self Released]

Who? ... you may ask! The Tortilla Soup Band is a nine piece band from San Hose, CA, founded in 2003 which is made up of musicians who have toured with either Tower Of Power or Malo during their careers. They are primarily a cover band and this is their first original song release. 

The name was born from the fact that the band is a made up of Hispanic musicians who play all genres of music, so soup seemed appropriate, and Tortilla relates to their Hispanic heritage.

The track was released last Friday (7 May 2021). The jury's out for me on this one as it is bordering on the wrong side of MOR to my ears.

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Details

Rating:	6.5
Genre/Style:	Classic Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Year:	07/05/2021
Key/BPM:	8B/85
Value:	£1

Family Unit [2021] - Love U All Over [Megawave #MEGW0152] (Full Album)

Family Unit were Kapp Ivory (Sheldon Martin) and Rachel Choate Martin (who I think may have been married). Kapp Ivory was a member of Rick James' backing group The Stone City Band. Coincidentally, the other day I posted a cover by Dove of a track originally released by Gerald Trotter on Mo Do owned by William Nunn who is the father of Bobby & Billy Nunn, who were together in the group Splendor, the latter was also a member of Stone City Band.

The Martins worked on several projects, The Kapp Ivory Project, The Reece Project and Family Unit. Family Unit only released this one album in 2002. The album has been reissued on 7 May 2021.  

There's several good tracks on the album so, rather than messing about, I'll post a link to the whole album. It's a mix of steppers and ballads, with the odd funky track thrown in. I'd say at least ten of the sixteen tracks still hold up after twenty years. 

It's funny, as the 'in demand' track, which seems only to have been issued on a 12" white label promo, appears to be 'Freak' which, to me, is one of the worst tracks on the album ... so what do I know? ... as they say in Yorkshire ... 'I know what I like ... and I like what I know'!

Details

Rating:	8.6
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	Megawave
Cat No:	MEGW0152
Year:	07/05/2021
Value:	£7.99

Odyssey [2021] - New York City [UK Yank Records]

I think this is a reworking of a track that appeared on an album called 'Peace For The Children' released on Society Hill in 2008 titled 'New York City Girl'. It's been given three new mixes and set free on 6 May 2021. 

It credits Lillian Lopez on two of the mixes, who formed the original group (The Lopez Sisters) with sisters Louise and Carmen. Carmen left the group before they were successful to be replaced by Tony Reynolds and they changed the name to Odyssey. All three members are now deceased. Lillian's son Steve Collazo continues in the group with two new female singers. He wrote and produced these new tracks.

They hit pay dirt in 1977 with their first release as Odyssey, a disco version of Linzer & Randell's 'Native New Yorker' which had been recorded earlier that year by Frankie Valli and the following year by Esther Phillips. Black Box did quite a good 90s steppers version (Lelewel Blue Note Mix) of it in 1996 and Lion Babe recently released it in Feb this year.

Odyssey were more commercially successful in the UK than US, having a string of ten UK Chart entries between 1980-87 with five Top 10 hits.

Details

Rating:	7.8
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul / Disco
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	UK Yank Records
Cat No:	None
Year:	06/05/2021
Key/BPM:	12A/118
Value:	£1/£2.97

Gabriels [2021] - Love And Hate In A Different Time [Parlophone] (Full EP)

I posted the title track back in Jan after release on 4 Dec 2020 (in fact the featured video was posted on YT on 7 Oct), but it looks like it may have just got a vinyl reissue (or perhaps it's the first full digital issue of the EP?) as it's now listed with a release date of 30 Apr 2021. 

 

Gabriels are lead singer Jacob Lusk (appeared on American Idol season 10 in 2011) and producers Ari Balouzian and Ryan Hope, formed in L.A. in 2016 who released their debut single 'Loyalty' in 2018 (included on the EP) which was used in a Prada advert. Their music is gospel inspired.

I'll post the whole EP as it's quite different and 'genre-defying'. As I stated when originally posted, the title track has got 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' written all over it! 'In Loving Memory' sounds like it samples/emulates 'I've Only Got Eyes For You' (The Flamingos), 'Loyalty' features a female lead by Ashley Gillis. In 'Professional' I detect hints of Billie Holliday's 'God Bless The Child'.

Reading some of the comments on Discogs, it seems that this album is highly regarded with statements like 'instant classic', 'one of the best things in a while', 'such good music'. It's certainly an acquired taste and needs to be listened to a few times to begin to fully appreciate as it's so different to anything else around blending classical, jazz, soul and gospel.

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Details

Rating:	8
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul/Gospel
Format:	EP
Media:	Digital / 12" EP
Label:	Parlophone
Cat No:	None
Year:	04/12/2020 : 30/04/2021
Key/BPM:	8B/120
Value:	£3.99 / £14.26

Ty Juan [2021] - That Part [Savage World Ent.]

A track from Ty Juan that's been receiving airplay for a week or two finally gets a release today (14 May 2021).

It would appear that he debuted with a single in 2011 and has released three albums and a dozen singles to date, this being his second this year. Apart from the Soultownie vinyl release of his 2018 single 'Give Me Love' I hadn't heard anything else by him, but this new release rectifies that.

Ty Juan was born in Jersey City, NJ and moved to Texas as a child relocating to Montgomery, AL when he was 17. He was with a group called Interlude who were signed to Universal but disbanded when the deal fell through. His grandfather was Michael Jackson's cousin. source

His LinkedIn page shows that he owned a radio station 91.1 FM WTYJ which now appears to be off air.

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Details

Rating:	8.2
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Savage World Ent.
Cat No:	None
Year:	2021
Key/BPM:	8A/90
Value:	£1

Lucky Daye Feat. Yebba [2021] - How Much Can A Heart Take (Table For Two EP) [Keep Cool / RCA]

I've just heard this from a new live video posted on YT on 11 May. It's from a seven track EP 'Table For Two' released 12 Feb 2021, which I must have missed at the time. I probably ignored the EP as the single from it, 'On Read', with Tiana Major9 was too R&B oriented.  Listening again to the EP is not too bad (or is it just because this week's releases have been so dire?).

It's interesting to note that many of the featured artists on the EP have gone on to successfully release their own material since e.g. Queen Naija collaborated with Ari Lennox on 'Set Him Up' and Joyce Wrice released her album 'Overgrown'.

The featured artist on this track is Grammy winning Yebba (Abigaile Elizabeth Smith). She won a Grammy award in 2019 for Best Traditional R&B Performance for a cover of the Bee Gees 'How Deep Is Your Love' with PJ Morton. She's from Arkansas, yet she's featured on several UK artist's recordings such as Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Stormzy, probably because she's signed to Ed Sheeran's label. She's also featured on several cuts with Mark Ronson.

Details

Rating:	8.2
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	EP
Media:	Digital
Label:	Keep Cool / RCA
Cat No:	None
Year:	12/02/2021
Key/BPM:	11A/82
Value:	£3.99

Boyan & Nathan Thomas [2021] - Don't Speak Her Name (Qwestlife Remix) [Midnight Riot #MIDRIOTD307]

Released today (14 May 2021) from Boyan (Angelov) & Nathan Thomas are three mixes of 'Don't Speak Her Name'. The Qwestlife Remix and Instrumental versions are 'housed up' 122 BPM versions of the original mix.

I posted Bulgarian producer, Boyan's last release 'Just Another Day' in March.

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Details

Rating:	8
Genre/Style:	Nu Disco
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Midnight Riot
Cat No:	MIDRIOTD307
Year:	14/05/2021
Key/BPM:	8B/114 : 9B/122
Value:	£1