soul II soul "club classics volume 1"

the fact that it was a london thing can't have helped.

Still brilliant, even though though the album was basically a one-off. I remember when the second album came out and somehow i knew just by the cover that i didn't want it. Amazing that they just sank like a stone (despite a few more albums).

Second album has a few high points - "Get a Life" in partic still holds up

Finally getting to the Caron Wheeler solo albums and UK Blak is really good! It's a bit inconsistent, but definitely hits the spot for more of that Soul II Soul vibe.

Far more interesting is that I discovered she was in a reggae group way back in the 70s! There is a Soul Jazz compilation and I'm honestly enjoying it even more. Here's the song the compilation takes its title from. Very vintage lovers rock. 1977.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7OdI_Bdax0

"I'm in Love With A Dreadlocks"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oqrwqfPNNI

really love this one - Jam & Lewis take on 1992's "I Adore You"

I didn't realize the "hit" version of "Back to Life" wasn't on this album. This compilation seems to be the best place to get it in terms of mastering and content though it wasn't issued in the U.S.:

https://www.discogs.com/master/79475-Soul-II-Soul-Volume-IV-The-Classic-Singles-88-93

Still enjoy the album though. (The compilation uses the single edit of "Keep On Movin'" and I prefer the longer album version.)

That Zepherin Saint remix of 'Back To Life' from 2020 is great

This is new info to me, but apparently there's at least one old (1989?) pressing of this CD that DOES have the hit version of “Back to Life” and not the a cappella version. It's a BMG Club edition pressing and the label side of the CD is "silver" instead of light brown.

wow that’s the first I’ve heard of a “music club” edition having straight up different content

no caron wheeler thread, so posting here-

found this solo single from the late 90s and this mix definitely recalls that classic vibe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEjgfwTznqc
caron wheeler - 'star (rock steady)' (1999)

when the beat drops, my body temperature raises.

raises, rises, whatever... the shit is total flames is my point.

(and yes, there are other mixes, one of which features biz markie)

good one

the drums on this are excellent!

I also really like this one a lot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoocHQ20h-0

I didn't realize the "hit" version of "Back to Life" wasn't on this album.

lol I was so pissed off by this when I bought this on tape when I was 13

can i just rep for 'African Dance'? flute house 4 life

also '1990 A New Decade' off the second album is really underrated, lovely vibes that would elevate any mix imo

i always just accepted the first 2 soul ii souls to be acknowledged classics. i know i'll never get tired of them. on some days, i'd take the second as the more consistent. i revere those albums.

I like UK Blak as much as the Soul II Soul albums: "Blue" and "Livin' in the Light" are jams that elevate any mix.

picked this one up a couple of years back, big inspiration for them I think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjTIF0Ehg1o

love that

As for "Back to Life" remixes, I admit I love almost everything MAW does and for others they're very YMMV, but I love their take on it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcFz3_xrGR4

re:Funky Rasta you can really hear britfunk mutating into street soul on that

the most obvious parallel way to plot those kinda lost years (85-87) is probably loose ends

i had the "get a life" cassingle with a really nice instrumental or remix version on it... anyone want to help me out with this... i'm having trouble googling the alt. mix/tracklist.

― gygax! (gygax!), Sunday, October 26, 2003 9:58 PM (twenty years ago)

lol, 20 years later discogs tells me this was the "Get A Life (Club Mix)" b/w "Get A Life (Bonus Beats)"

I didn't like UK Blak as much as the first two Soul II Soul albums (and yeah, that a cappella version of "Back to Life" pissed me off to no end, too) but the cover art was a powerful selling point to a 17-year-old unperson:

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music114/v4/d1/ef/a6/d1efa6ff-7766-0b6f-8c88-4f1154e67cbd/05099960202451.jpg/1200x1200bb.jpg

UK Blak holds up nicely beside other albums by divas-gone-solo like Shara Nelson's What Silence Knows.

and Lindy Layton's Pressure. Okay maybe not that one quite as much.

xps i'm so glad you mentioned loose ends because i spent the longest time earlier trying to think what the amazing late career sleeper tune was that soul ii soul had when they turned into more of a solo project, and then you made me realise i was thinking of carl mckintosh and not jazzy b. dohhh!

anyhow, absolutely godlike song, wish it was 10 times longer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKzV7BuqLaI

nick that's been on my personal "radio station" for months. big co-sign. the whole album is good. i also really like "hold tight"-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ig849SloXc

(sry didn't mean to derail but aren't loose ends wonderful?)

good LORD where has this Loose Ends album been all my life?

YES

https://i.gifer.com/origin/e8/e837cc50ab8c6b75acdba485ba1b4b98_w200.gif

YOU ALL LIKE LOOSE ENDS VERY MUCH

https://i.gifer.com/origin/e8/e837cc50ab8c6b75acdba485ba1b4b98_w200.gif

LOOSE ENDS ARE VERY CLASSIC

https://i.gifer.com/origin/e8/e837cc50ab8c6b75acdba485ba1b4b98_w200.gif

YOU CAN'T STOP THE RAIN

always dug “hanging on a string”, it’s sort of like sos band playing underwater

YOU ALL LIKE LOOSE ENDS VERY MUCH

otm!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgLQmWDolS4

i need a club where this is the soundtrack

sigh. so much better than the album version.

oh yeah, not quite 10 mins but getting there-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAzFItppJt4
loose ends - 'love controversy' (td ext remix)

anyway, yeah. acapella 'back to life.' more like back to LIE, am i right?

always dug “hanging on a string”, it’s sort of like sos band playing underwater

― brimstead, Friday, 26 January 2024 20:25 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

the full 6 min version is my fav r&b record ever. if i can have just one. holy writ that is.

as i say i find their trajectory appealing for making explicit how britfunk became street soul when many acts are associated with either one or the other. Another might be 52nd Street. Even as late as 87 Phil Fearon was still putting stuff out but no later I don't think. then in 87 the Wild Bunch and Tongue n Cheek make their debut. But through the five Loose Ends album you can hear what begins as that late period patient, synthesised (boogie?) britfunk sound (cf. i-level) slowly turn into what became essentially the main uk pop sound of 1990.

Tongue n Cheek do sorta stretch back to that earlier era though - the core of that band, Delroy and Robin aka Bootsie & Snudge were known as Total Contrast earlier in the decade, who obviously had a hit with Takes A Little Time (monster tune, mostly forgotten now but it's up there with Alexander O Neal's 'Criticize' in terms of sheer power imo), but they also did some more chill Loose Endsy things like this one... (I can't even tell you how great this is)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usQiRMYrlwM

oh nuts, that was the instrumental, vocal version here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7-tKKb8ovg