Various Artists - Atlanta Soul

  • Share
  • The Unisex soul series has reached Atlanta on its American tour, a city maybe not known for its exploits in this field as perhaps Philadelphia, Detroit or California, but it proves well worthy of further exploration. As this collection shows, soul goes with a whole host of other styles – in this case rap, funk and gospel to name a few. Opening track ‘Why I Love You’ from Prefuse 73 seems to have a bit of everything, a cut and paste approach that’s curiously effective. Beat Assailant follow this with the chromatic ‘Hard Twelve’, a slinky piece of soul punctuated by rap. Danny Krivit then makes a nice, languid setting for Donnie’s ‘Do You Know’. These are sunshine grooves, yet some are more distinctive than others. Seek and Van Hunt make perfectly pleasant but ultimately routine contributions, but the superb India.Arie and Jiva’s vulnerable ‘I Realised’ get things back on track. Cody Chestnutt’s ‘The Seed’, meanwhile, has a classy old-fashioned groove that doesn’t match the lyrics if you listen closely! One to amuse rather than romance with, it would seem. Again the end if a bit inconsistent – Sol Uprising’s ‘Solar Love’ has an overbearing rap, then Michael Johnson is smooth as silk in ‘Your Love’. If you’ve been following the tour, there’s nothing here to stop you progressing a stage further, and if you’re in search of something new in the soulful department, the chances are you’ll find a pointer or two here. Next up – London!
RA