Customer Reviews

Soul & The City

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This great live set is perfomed with the guys in the group that still hit the Jazz clubs all over the world, and while it is not as great as my old favorite "Person To Person" from the 70's, it is a very solid set from the much smaller AWB of the new millenium. In this CD the AWB fan will find sevral funky remakes of old favorites including "Cloudy" and "If I ever lose this Heaven" as well as "The Jugglers", which only long, long time fans are likely to remember, as it came from their first LP the CD for which has been long out of print and unavailable. Mine got burgled out of my truck, and I haven't found a replacement yet. But in any case as these gents pass from middle age into the next phase of life, they still have that funky edge, and the newer members of the group fill in quite nicely.

So here's the deal, If you don't have any of the old stuff, get it first, (the "Pickin' up the Pieces" anthology has almost everything you could want on it), but if you have the old stuff already pick up this set (Soul of the City) that shows the "Lords of Northern Soul" still have the goods!

While it's true that this AWB is not *quite* the same as the old AWB of decades past, still, it is tight, funky, versatile, accomplished, and a great mix too, so much better than the studio versions of these songs. Some slow tunes here as well as the rockers, but always soulful. Superb vocals, excellent solos. I never get tired of listening to it.

Note that this CD has the exact same recordings as on "Standing Room Only" (which was on a different label) but with three additional tracks (all from the live same session).

Is this really AWB or impostors? I expected a lot more. AWB was the bomb back in the day. My rating of two is only because of the memories but this attempt at these songs sound terrible. If it wasn't for the memories the rating would be lower. The only song here that made me tap my foot was "School Boy Crush". This is my personal opinion. Take a listen and decide for yourself.

Having heard AWB live a number of times I would say that this cd (2006 at BB King's - NYC) does a great job of presenting their live sound with a good mix of tunes including old favorites.. but also such wonderful cuts as "Schoolboy Crush" and "Love Won't Let me Wait" (not on sampler).