Soul Strutter: 01/30/24

Tuesday, 30 January 2024

SoulStrutter Selection of Retro Soul Jan 2024

There's very little so far this week on the new music front so, as we've already posted a couple of retro releases, we bring you our top 25 retro, covers and reissues released in January. The covers/remakes/reissues are obvious but the the retro ones are arbitrary and subjective, but all sound old school to our ears from various decades.

Covers: by Jacob G. (John Gary Williams), Napoleon Demps (Little Beaver), Lebrado (Enchantment also a reissue from 2009), Ashton Grey Project (Rufus & Chaka Khan), Igor Gerzina & Anya Alu (Toto and others)., Methrone (Marvin Gaye), Paul Simpson Uniquity (Ethel Beatty)

Cover/Sample: Maurice Mahon (Bobby Womack) Mike E. (sure this uses elements of Simply Red's Holding Back The Years), occochill (we think this samples an 80s song that we can't identify .. anyone?)

Reissues: Harvey Scales, Lebrado,

McKenzie & Gardiner is unreleased from 30 years ago and we believe that Gigi Copeland & Lou Ragland must be an unreleased song from the 80s. The remainder all have an old school feel.

The Tibbs [2024] - Keep It To Yourself [Record Kicks #RKC094] (Full Album)

Amsterdam based, eight-piece band, The Tibbs released their fourth album, "Keep It To Yourself", on Friday via Record Kicks. It has been produced by Paul Willemsen (Michelle David & The Tru-tones) and mastered in Nashville by soul veteran Bob Olhsson, who worked at Motown back in the day.

Among the 12 retro 60s soul tracks is the lead single "Ain’t It Funny", and the second single, "Give Me A Reason", both high-energy stompers that set the tone for the entire set. It includes the New Orleans funk inspired "Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks" and instrumental "Chicken Bones" along with a few mid-tempo (crossover style) numbers such as "For Lack Of Better Words" and "Rafaella" and closes with a southern soul style ballad "In Orbit" on which lead singer Roxanne Hartog takes centre stage and is probably our choice cut along with "Rafaella" on first listen.

The Tibbs formed in 2012 and released their debut album "Cleaned Out" in 2014 and their first for Milan label Record Kicks, "Takin' Over" in 2016 (an instrumental version of the album was also released in 2020). Lead singer until then was Elsa Bekman who decided in 2018 to focus on a solo career and was replaced by Roxanne Hartog from their third album "Another Shot Fired" (2020) to date.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist.

Details

Rating:	7.8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Retro Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital / CD
Label:	Record Kicks
Cat No:	RKC094
Date:	26/01/2024
Price:	£7.49 / £22.81

Michelle David & The True-Tones [2024] - Brothers & Sisters [Record Kicks]

Michelle David & The True-tones' last featured here with their 2022 album "Truth & Soul". They released a single, "Trust", from it in Sep '23 followed by live album in Oct '23. The band has just been signed to Milan based Record Kicks and have a new album "Brothers & Sisters" due on 5 Apr. It is available now to pre-order via recordkicks.com and Bandcamp digitally, on CD and vinyl.

David was raised in NYC in church and started singing at the age of four joining her first group, The Mission of Love, when she was five. Her career has taken her around the world with the Broadway musicals "Mama", "The Sound of Motown", "Glory of Gospel" and "Mahalia". She has recorded with artists such as Diana Ross and Michael Bolton.

Since 2015 she has released seven albums with The Tru-tones (Paul Willemsen (guitar, bass guitar), Onno Smit (guitar, bass guitar) and Bas Bouma (drums)), including a Christmas album and the last live album, so the new album will be their eighth.

The title track "Brothers & Sisters" is a stomping northern soul style number (with more than a hint of Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up") and is available to stream only on Bandcamp now or is available to download if you pre-order the album. The song is also available on 7" but appears only to be available with an order for the full album i.e. not sold separately. A smart move by the label which may curtail the activities of those buying with the sole aim to sell on at a profit!

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist.

Details

Rating:	8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Retro Soul / Northern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Record Kicks
Cat No:	None
Date:	30/01/2024
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£N/A