beverley knight - music city soul

so, for the time being, gone are the polished overly compressed studio productions, ta ra sci-fi r-n-b, in 2007 it’s all about that classic muscle shoals sound. firstly there was amy winehouse and the chart busting back to black album, then came her producer pal mark ronson with his excessive use of horns (after years of being the pariah of the music world, this year is a good year to be in a horn section !) and media friendly contacts, and now beverley knight gets her chance at the classic 60s soul album.

having released a massive selling greatest hits set last year, i guess she has earned the right to demand a quick trip over to the usa, get herself into a basic old fashioned studio band with some genuine old soul sessioners, and generally give it her all over 5 days of recording to lay down this fine fine set of songs.

“i have waited years to make this kind of album, and finally here it is” : as beverley openly states on the nicely themed looking sleeve (grainy black and white photo with a ruffed up sleeve look).

the album has been produced by mark nevers, who shaped last years brilliant candi staton album, who has once again held back on the urge to polish the results with modern studio trickery, thus giving the 15 tracks a quick live in the studio feel, the vocals are raw and open, the drums straight up and welcoming as opposed to head splitting, and of course there is beverleys voice, which beautifully matches the mood and atmosphere. tracks such as the queen of starting over are wonderfully evocative and prove that actually the quieter more restrained song suits her a lot more than i reckon she realises as the stomping-n-hollering on tracks such as the nutbush city limts styled black butta sound somewhat forced, but that’s a minor quibble, as hopefully, this album will be listened to a lot more than anything beverley has done before.