 Morcheeba: Who Can You Trust? (1996, China Records) Their first? For Morcheeba fanatics, 12 chilled tracks starting with Moog Island. I'm still finding favorites.
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 Morcheeba: Fragments Of Freedom (2000, Sire) I love Skye Edwards' voice! A funkier Sade is the best I can put it. With the help of the Godfrey Brothers she has some great performances on World Looking In, Love Is Rare, Good Girl Down and the hit Be Yourself.
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 Musiq Soulchild: Aijuswanasing (2000, Def Soul/Island) Another major talent with a strong debut! Some gorgeous music with stream of consciousness lyrics at times. Girl Next Door with Ayana of Aaires is a lot of fun, and You And Me is a complex and exciting standout track. This is just a great CD for those who already like Maxwell. |
 Next: Rated Next (1997, Arista) Some heavy funk. Too Close and Problems with Coffee Brown, Penetration with Naughty By Nature, and Cosy.
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 OMC: How Bizarre (1996, Polydor) The title song was
a hit, and On The Run received some airplay, but my personal favorites
are Right On (with a strong '70s vibe) and Never Coming Back. With
such a great sound I had expected Pauly Fuemana (writer of every song here) and his
roster of Otara Millionaires Clubbers to return quickly...
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 Pebbles: Straight From My Heart (1995, MCA)
Here's Pebbles in a slower funkier groove, and at her best! Every track is
worthwhile. I Can't Help It originally on Jacko's Off The Wall is a stand-out cover, as are Soul Replacement, and Happy, both with
Organized Noize. Other contributors are Debra Killings (back-up to TLC), Faith Evans, and Tony
Rich. Pebbles' vocals have matured, and this CD also features excellent bass by both
LeMarquis Jefferson and Preston Crump.
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  The Philosopher Kings (1994, Columbia) With Charms,
a major funky hit in Canada from this debut release, how can it go wrong? Equally notable are
the jazzy Turn My Head Around, Can't Get My Mind Around You, and the highly
original All To Myself. Lead vocals by Gerald Eaton, and great bass lines by Jason
Levine. All songs are originals by members of the group.
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 The Philosopher Kings: Famous, Rich And Beautiful... (1997, Columbia)
Wow. Some great original soul tunes here! Super Sugar Supreme, Oleo, and the hit
You Stepped On My Life. Also possbily the best cut, the slow and funky You Don't Love Me
(Like You Used To Do) is hypnotic and never tired. There is a lot to listen to here...
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 Kelly Price: Soul Of A Woman (1998, Island Black)
So many fine tracks by other artists have featured Kelly Price in a backup role,
but here she is up front for the first time (and as producer). She gives an excellent
performance on material mostly written by her. The two best tracks in my opinion are
Soul Of A Woman, and Don't Say Goodbye, but Friend Of Mine received
more airplay.
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 Kelly Price: Mirror Mirror (2000, Def Soul/Island)
Another excellent CD! You Should Have Told Me has Kelly on a Destiny's Child style of song, and doing it as well as they could if not better. Good Love is a really good dance tune, Mirror Mirror is a good ballad, ane The Lullaby has her two children singing with her! R. Kelly and Method Man also appear. Many songs are written or co-written by Kelly herself.
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 Finley Quaye: Maverick A Strike (1997, 550 Music/Epic) Some
unique sounds by this Jamaican singer/songwriter. A sort of techno reggae...
Even After All is powerful, even though I don't completely understand the message.
Sunday Shining is an expansion of Bob Marley's 'Sun Is Shining', while Ultra
Stimulation has a soul-funk edge to it. The other tracks are all worthwhile, and this
is not one of those discs where you want to avoid any tracks.
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 Sade: Lovers Rock (2000, Epic/Sony) With the hits By Your Side and King Of Sorrow it can't be bad and never is.
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 Ivana Santilli: Brown (1999, Brown) This is a mind-
blowingly good CD with a lot to listen to! Some latin beats in with the funky. I am
hypnotized by Caramel Sky, dazzled by Sun + Moon = Tomorrow, mesmerized
by the duet with the amazing Glenn Lewis If Ever I Fall, and buzzing with The Sun Has Set!
I love this CD and the fact that Ivana (see also Bass Is Base) wrote all of it, including one
Portugese song. A masterful debut...
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 Selena: Dreaming Of You (1995, EMI Latin) The five
songs that would have been on Selena Quintanilla Perez's english language debut are here,
plus the best of her spanish material. I Could Fall In Love, Dreaming Of You, and
Captive Heart would have been hits no matter what. Techno Cumbia, Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,
and Amor Prohibido were hits. Translations of spanish lyrics are a good idea. Essential.
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 702: No Doubt (1996, Biv10/Motown) The debut from the Las Vegas trio following in the steps of SWV. Steelo (with Missy Elliot), All I Want, No Doubt and Get Down Like Dat are as good as it gets! Highly reccomended.
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 702: 702 (1999, Motown) A great follow up with What More Can He Do leading the way, plus You'll Just Never Know and Make Time. It's all good. Also highly reccomended.
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 Shabba Ranks: Greatest Hits (2001, Epic/Legacy) Before Shaggy was Shabba. This is the best of his five albums for Sony; Mr. Loverman (with Chevelle Franklin), Twice My Age (with Krystal), Rough Life and Roots & Culture. Also Mykal Rose of Black Uhuru, KRS-One, Sly Dunbar and Jimmy Jam appear. Essential.
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 Shaggy: Hotshot (2000, MCA) Jamaiican style rap by Shaggy, he not saggy. It wasn't me (with Ricardo 'Rikrok' Ducent) has been a huge hit, but there are many other entertaining tracks here; the title track, Freaky Girl (featuring The Kraft), Luv Me, Luv Me, Keep'n It Real, Hope, Leave It To Me (with Brian & Tony Gold), and Angel (with Rayvon) built around Steve Miller's The Joker and Juice Newton's Angel Of The Morning stand out.
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