The Sounds Of Oakland [2023] - Music From The Streets [Chump Change Records] (Full Album)

A few weeks ago we received a couple of promo tracks from The Sounds Of Oakland "Music From The Streets" album and have this week received another two. The album is produced by Paul Tillman Smith utilising Bay Area artists under the banner The Sounds of Oakland, some of the songs previously released as Park Place (e.g. Lenny Williams "Invisible Man" the title track of a 2002 album). We chose not to post them previously as we posted the album in Oct '21. However, the latest version (which was officially released on 21 Apr '23) has a few changes.

There are three new songs and one of the same songs recorded by a different artist. The latest version is one track longer and two from the original release have been dropped  to make way for the new songs, i.e. the last two tracks Freddie Hughes "Good Thang" and Bobby Reed "Be With Me".

The three new songs are Donnie Williams "Magazine Girl", Terrill Carter "Don't Run Over Me" and Bonnie Boyer "Just Like Magic", all well worth checking out. On the original release Derick Hughes sang a version of his father's classic "Send My Baby Back" which is sung on the latest release by Larriah Jackson (with a rap section by Mistah Fab).

Interestingly, one of the tracks we tipped in Oct '21 is the one that seems to be gaining most airplay now from the Soul Associates i.e. Niecey "Living Single" Robinson "Before You Know" along with the new version of "Send My Baby Back" (although we prefer Freddie Hughes' 1968 original), so we thought we had better (re) post the album!

Another of our 'bright lights' from our original review was "Bright Lights" feat. Derick Hughes, which is essentially a reworking of Lonnie Hewitt's "Is It Me" (1967).

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

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Details

Rating:	8.3
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	Chump Change Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	21/04/2023
Price:	£7.99

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The Sounds of Oakland [2021] - Music From The Streets [Chumpchange Records]

The Sounds Of Oakland are musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area produced by Paul Tillman Smith which includes one of a my favourite male singers Freddie Hughes (who I did a full discography on last year and is now 78), along with his son Derrick. Each track has at least one featured vocalist.

A few of the 'bright lights' (personal taste) on the album include "Bright Lights" (feat. Derrick Hughes) which is essentially the same song as Lonnie Hewitt's "Is It Me" (Wee 1969), "Before You Know" (feat. Niecey "Living Single" Robinson), "Country Flower" (feat. Martin Luther) and "No Place" (feat. Derrick Hughes) which sounds quite a bit like Donny Hathaway's "The Ghetto" to these ears! 

Derrick Hughes' reworking of his fathers 1968 hit "Send My Baby Back" is almost unrecognisable to the original.

As is more often than not the case with Tillman Smith's productions, they include songs that have featured on Park Place albums and this one is no exception with ex Tower of Power front man Lennie Williams (another male vocalist's voice I've loved over the years) guesting on "Invisible Man".

A good portion of the album's 18 tracks is blues or bluesy southern soul, so if that's you're bag then this album may be for you. An interesting point is the appearance of Bobby Reed on two tracks. It's not the same Bobby Reed who recorded the double-sider modern soul classic on Bell in 1970.

Once again Spotify doesn't give the featured artists so click on album cover image to view complete track list.

Details

Rating:	8
Genre/Style:	Classic Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	Chumpchange Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	01/10/2021
Value:	£7.99