A great colaboration (Lucy Pearl - Lucy Pearl)

Member Name: andycharger

Product:	Lucy Pearl - Lucy Pearl
Date:	19/07/04 (295 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great sounding album, Great musicians, Great tunes

Disadvantages: Lack of a follow up album

When it comes to light, easy listening funky tunes, very few people make better music than my band! However, one band that beats us hands down is Lucy Pearl.

This Album, the self titled Lucy Pearl, is a great collection of many different types of music coming together and forming a great blend of funk, R&B,hip hop, dance and guitar music.

If you look at the lineup for the band, you will see how this came about.

Firstly, is vocalist, Dawn Robinson. You would recognise her from all girl 90's Soul act, "En Vogue". She was obviously the talent of that band with her her powerful voice. This really gives this album some "balls" when she delivers the songs.
Next up is Raphael Saadiq, who was a member of 90's funk - soul band "Tony, Toni, Tone". His musical genius gives the melodies and flavas that make the songs what they are.
Add into this blend, Ali Shaheed Muhammad of " A Tribe Called Quest" fame and you have the underground hip hop style that adds the dance groove to the band.

Another great thing you realise from listening to this album is that they have used some excellent individuals on the instruments to provide a full and rich sound that never sounds too busy and detractive from the vocal element. It simply is a great collection of musicans, producers and artists to make an all time classic.

Tracks? 15 of them and all are superb!

So here are some of the songs and what they sound like.

"Dont Mess with my man"
Well, this is an all time classic track that gets better with every listen. The soft repetitive chords seem to appear to be very different once Dawn Robinson applies her strong screeching lyric to the song. You certainly would not "mess with her man" if she spoke to you like she sings it. Although the instrumentation is simple, it blows your socks off with the catchiness and tap along factor that will have you humming
it for weeks!

"Dance tonight"
A soft mellow ballad that allows more than just robinson to step up to the microphone. The gentle string section overdub gives it a sexiness and subtlety that will have you smooching to in your living room!

"Everyday"
Another duet that makes great usage of both vocalists. Again we here the excellent funky chords of a brilliant guitarist and and the gingling rythmn of a fantastic percussion section.

"I cant stand your mother"
Can be applied to many walks of life but here is is a strong expressive song that brings another chance for Robinson to deliver a powerful attacing vocal to the track and show you exactly what she can do.

"Hollywood"
Again Robinson screeches the powerful vocla but this is complimented with a overdriven guitar part that makes a crossover into an unknown Rock genre for the band. I feel if anything its a little out of plce on the album as most is funky R&B styled tunes.

Overall?

A fantastic album that can give your great music for dinner parties as background music as well as easy listening for any occasion. I have it in the car for when I need to forget my rrroubles and listen to some great artists delivering their best work to date. The only bad point is that it is a 5 year old album now and they are yet to follow it up with a second.

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