The new N'Dambi album is entiteld "Pink Elephant". N'Dambi delivers twelve lovely tracks one more sexier than the other on this album. The title Pink Elephant must be the symbol for the new and fresh sounds on this CD.

Stand Out Tracks: L.I.E., What It Takes, Nobody Jones, Ooo Baby, Daisy Chain, Can't Hardly Wait, The World Is A Beat, Imitaor, Free Fallin'

All kind of soul music styles are represented on "Soul Unsigned volume 3". From dance to soulful house and from electro funk to delightful jazz. The artists featured on the album come from all over the world, from Latvia to New Zealand.

Tyrone will give you the "Time Of Your Life" with his brilliant opening track. Another track to remember is that of Chris Youngblood entitled "In Love With You". There are so many love songs in the world and yet this musician is able to capture your attention with his song. Excellent Gentlemen from Portland Oregon will bring you plenty funk in the song "Freaky" which might remind some of us of "Rumours" from The Timex Social Club. More funk or maybe funky jazz comes from J.Stever in "Music". Cool Million really has the groove and the rhythm going on in "Next To Me", it will make you dance. You might know Tony Momrelle from his work with Incognito. With Candycream from Germany he also feels like a bird in the sky singing "Give Love A Chance", which is so reminiscent of the young Stevie Wonder. Did you know that New Zealand has soul? Check out the track "Love" by the Constituents a nice surprise. A kind of catchy soul orchestra sound is produced by Roman Andrén in "Amber Lady". A great dance anthem is the track "Get Up" from Unified Tribe. It has the party spirit that you might remember from groups like The Gap Band and Kool and The Gang like in "Get Down On It"(TA).

Stand Out Tracks: Time Of You Life, Music, Freaky, Next To Me, In Love With You, Give Love A Chance, Love, Get Up

If you are pretty young you might not have heard of Melba Moore and Phil Perry. Now you have a chance to get to know them. People who already know both members of this duo will receive "The Gift Of Love"with open arms. They know what they might expect from these great artists and the track list looks challenging as well.

One of your favourites will definitely be "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing" a song you might know from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Melba and Phil have refreshed this song in a sparkling way. The duo also gives you every reason to be "Optimistic" when you hear their version of this Sound Of Blackness hit. Together with the new song "Survival Kit", written by Preston Glass and Phil Perry, it is one of the more uptempo songs on "The Gift Of Love". The other new songs are the title track written by Chris Davis and and "U Never Know" written by Phil Perry and Chris Davis. A graceful gospel song to play on sunday's is "It Will Be Alright". Besides the duets there are a few solo songs on the album. One of them is the beautiful track "I Believe" by Melba Moore. It brings you piece of mind and it makes you keep the faith. A great duet like in the good old days is "You're All I Need To Get By". Even greater is the title track "Give" which really is "The Gift Of Love".(TA)

Stand Out Tracks: Optimistic, You're All I Need To Get By, Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing, Survival Kit, We'll Be Together Then, Give(The Gift Of Love)

It is a real pleasure to listen to all the tracks on "Soul Togetherness 2009". New artists like Root Soul from Japan are keeping up high the tradition of soul music. Listening to Chaka Khan and The Impressions you will find out what this tradition has in store.

Nostalgic feelings to better days might overwhelm you when listening to "Lover's Touch" from Chaka Khan, "This Time" from The Impressions or "Only One I Need To Love" from Tavares. At the same time you will feel relief when you hear new comer Jovonnie sing "Was She Worth It" with so much soul. It's an uptempo funky song. Another excellent song is "Nothing Feels Better Than You" from 45 aka Swing-O featuring Jimmy Abney. This song feels like a joint venture between Al Jarreau and Ray Parker Junior. In reality it is a co-operation between a Japanese keyboardist and an American soul singer. Highly addictive is the almost one hundred percent instrumental dance track "Some Of The Things(Joey Negro Dub)" from Los Charly's Orchestra. These are two Venezuelan producers. There's a lot of fresh blood on the soul front! Even if you don't like paprika you will love the track from Paprika Soul entiteld "Music Of Life". It has the kind of Burt Bacharach big band swing that could make it a standard. The oldest track on Soul Togetherness 2009" is "This Time" from The Impressions from 1976. On it you will hear the voices of Sam Gooden, Fred Cash, Reggie Torian and Nate Evans. One of the youngest tracks is " Everything Is Good2Nite" a real floor filler from Kloud 9. This year these soul twins celebrate their tenth anniversary.(TA)

Stand Out Tracks: My Dream Came True, Time Of Your Life, Only One I need To Love, Lover's Touch, Was She Worth It, Nothing Feels better Than You, Some Of The Things, This Time, Everything Is Good2Nite

The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker sound like a live band. Their music might remind you of James Brown but also of the music from The Dap-Kings. By listening to the album "Burn It Down" you will get the feeling that you have to see the band perform live. They will take you higher.

A band with saxophone, organ, flute and trumpet has basically all the ingredients to bring you soul music. The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker are making music to entertain you. The track "If I Had Known" has a kind of familiar intro and feeling that might take you back to the times of Archie Bell and The Drells. On the other hand a track like "Somebody's Got It Better" brings in mind "Get On The Good Foot" from the Godfather of soul James Brown. There is a lot of soulful energy in the song "Somebody Stop Me". In the track "(It's A)Sunny Day" The Dynamites are starting slowly and step by step they are building it up to an energetic uptempo song that will make you go wild on the dancefloor. The duet from Charles Walker with Shawna P. entitled "The Real Deal" is a lovely ballad. But the general impression you will get from the new album from The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker is that the really want to "Burn It Down" in a funky way.(TA)

Stand Out Tracks: If I Had Known, Somebody's Got It Better, Do The Right Thing, Sunny Day, The Third Degree, The Real Deal

The other ladies singing for you are Lina, Rachel Brown, Aura Jackson, Melissa Young, Kendra Ross, Tracy Cruz and Sy Smith. Each and everyone of these women has done a good job but of course you are free to choose your own favourites. Pure soul music is what the album contains ranging from a funky party song to even a real girl power song!

Variety is the spice of life and on "Independent Soul Divas 2" also the spice of music. Where LeNora Jaye addresses the sometimes bitter reality of life in a great song "Times Are Hard", Rachel Brown will take you to a funky party "Weekend" and Tracy Cruz is searching for the way to "Your Dreams" in an exciting song. Lina is showing girl power in "Get It Right" à la Shirley Brown in "Woman To Woman". Rena Scott with her sweet experienced and warm voice brings soulful emotions and lessons of wisdom in "You Keep Trippin'". Adina Howard will take you to a dilemma in the wonderful and heartfelt song "What Do I Do". A lesson from love is "Rehab" from Maya Neiada. Another very sweet love song is "Better" by Lori Jenaire. It has a beautiful melody and the right tone. One of the most exciting compositions is "Like I Do" from D'Cheri with its original new and fresh sound. You will like the soulful shades of Razzberry's voice in the very contagious track "Can't Call". The excellent track from Aura Jackson entitled "Walk After U" has to be mentioned here as well.(TA)

Stand Out Tracks: Times Are Hard, What Do I Do, You Keep Trippin', Can't Call, Weekend, Get It Right, Walk After U, Better, Like I Do

Luckily enough there are people out there who can compile an album like "The Contemporary Soul Songbook Volume 1". The music you will hear has strong roots with classic soul music and all the artists can really sing whether they were born in Russia, just like Ariana Jane, or in Ghana like Sophia Nelson.

A lovely duet is "Where Do We Go From Here" from Antoinette featuring Howard Hewett. A soulful powerhouse is Woody Cunningham with the track "Never Say Never". Donalds Sheffey who sings "Just Because" will remind of the glory days of Luther Vandross. With "Tongue Tide" from Lisa Zuré you feel the magic and the romance of slow dancing in the discotheque. LeNora Jaye singing "Living For Today" might remind you of Chaka Khan. A sweet R&B flavour you will discover in "At Times" from Razzberry. Sophia Nelson puts a jazzy feel in the sweet song entitled "Over". She has a very pleasant voice to hear. Warm and sweet emotions you will find in "Lost Paradise" from Jua. Ariana Jane with her song "Mirage" feels like it has been inspired by "Careless Whisper" from George Michael. A real funky song comes from South-African based soul woman Nash Reed and is called "Saying Less". Another soulful woman that will catch your attention is Trish Andrews with the highly seductive song "On My Mind". Yes you will remember her.(TA)

Stand Out Tracks: Where Do We Go From Here, Tongue Tide, Never Say Never, On MY Mind, Living For Today, At Times, Over, Just Because, Saying Less

Some well-known names on "Progessive Soul Collection Vol.1" are those of veteran soul singer Rena Scott and LeNora Jaye a name that lately appears frequently on indepent soul music albums. LeNora Jaye, Fernando Cardo and Katie Cole are the singers with two tracks on the album. Fernando is responsible for background vocals and arrangements on four tracks.

The album "Progessive Soul Collection Vol.1" contains generally a smoother kind of soul music with plenty influences from dance and also disco music. On the track "Back Into The Sun" by Katie Cole we even hear loversrock, sweet music with a soulful reggae beat. The elements of dance music you will discover in tracks like "Ism", the dreamy song "Make Me Wanna Fly" from Shuane with her beautiful voice and in "Imperial Theme". The disco influenced songs are the uptempo and very positive song from LeNora Jaye "A Silent Prayer", "From Me To You" from Shanell Rene'e, the lovely song "Think About It" by Katie Cole and "Starting Over" from Simone which might remind you of the music from the British dance and soul band Imagination. The most soulful song "In This Life" comes from Rena Scott. Another soulful song especially in the way it has been built up is "Do You Wanna" from LeNora Jaye. One of the two male singers on "Progessive Soul Collection Vol.1" is Rogiérs. His beautiful contribution is entitled "The Reason".(TA)

Stand Out Tracks: In This Life, Do You Wanna, Think About It, Starting Over, A Silent Prayer, Back Into The Sun, The Reason

This album is really different from Ledisi's first album "Lost And Found" on the Verveforcast label. In her own words Ledisi says that on "Turn Me Loose" everything is more aggressive than on "Lost And Found" and that is true.

On "Turn Me Loose" Ledisi has worked with producers like Xavier Mosley a.k.a. Chief Xcel, Rex Rideout, Carl "Chucky" Thompson, Terry Lewis and Raphael Saadiq. The album starts pretty agressive with a raw rock song entitled "Runnin'". This track sounds like a Stephanie McKay song. Another rock song is "Knockin'". More rock and roll and soulful is the beautiful cover of Buddy Miles' "Them Changes". It is a very nice extra track to listen to.

The title track "Turn Me Loose" especially when you hear the first notes might bring in mind "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" from Marvin Gaye. Very delicious and full of soul are the songs "Higher Than This" and "Alone". A sweet song to sing along is "Please Stay" a production from Raphael Saadiq. A jewel of a song is the ballad "Goin'Thru Changes".

Real nice modern R&B songs are "Say No" and "I Need Love". Finally "The Answer To Why" feels so sweet with that authentic gospel feeling it gives to you.(TA)

The album "Something True" starts with a couple of soulful smooth jazz tracks. Besides Gianna's sweet voice you will enjoy the great backing vocals which she has done with Kendall Duffie,the producer,as well. Listen to "In You" to hear it yourself.

Gianna has pennend down some awesome songs. The song "Legacy" is of sheer beauty and if that is not enough she will give you goosebumps in "Beautiful". The lyrics are so beautiful and so recognizable for everyone. It feels like Gianna has written the songs for you personally. The song "Legacy" has the intimacy of Minnie Riperton's "Loving You". But Gianna goes funky too as you will find out in the dance track "Maybe I can Be". She might remind you a little bit of Denice Williams in the title track "Something True". Very soulful and reminiscent of the Stax sound is the track "Things That I Do". You will love the trombone, the horns, the sax and the trumpet in this song where Gianna is bringing it down to you. Here you will notice that she is a Aretha Franklin fan. Another song you will definitely like is "Hooked On You" featuring Kloud9. The strings in this song might remind you of the Love Unlimited Orchestra sound from Barry White. Finally in "One Step Closer" you can put on your dancing shoes because your feet will like to move(TA)

Another guest artist you can hear on "A Night In The Life" is Roy Ayers. You feel the night life in a song like "Shady Lane" one of Ray's own compositions. Besides the night life there is plenty of sunshine too as you will notice in Ray Gaskins' interpretation of "Summertime".

The work of the Gershwins is not the only standard on "A Night In The Life". Other jazz standards played by saxophonist and singer Ray Gaskins are "Butterfly" from Herbie Hancock and "Naima" from John Coltrane. His version of Billy Joel's "New York State Of Mind" is a sweet one to listen to. Also "Ashes To Ashes" that you might know from Joe Sample is nice to hear. Ray begins the album with his own work, the instrumental "Ray's Strut". That is a funky groove. In "Crystal Clear" you will discover Ray's voice. This composition of him will remind you a bit of George Benson. A beautiful and steamy jazz song is "Butterfly". In "Lullabye" to which you can cool down you will hear Roy Ayers on vibes. What a sweet song! The saxophones will sweeten your ears. Ray's version of "Naima" sounds more spiced up than the original Coltrane and it might appeal to a broader audience than only the jazz fans. If you are curious to hear Jocelyn Brown sing you have to listen to the duet with Ray "I Want To Talk About God". That is where the gospel comes in. A big contrast with "Shady Lane", where the girls are on the game.(TA)

The first track "Love Thief" is a dance version of the same track that already was a stand out track on the album "Reconnection" from 2005. Another song that you might know is "A Starry Night In Baghdad" that was published in 2007. Maybe that's why the album is entitled "Cool and Collected".

It is nice to hear Debby Dobbins sing the song "Cool" that might remind you of "Fever". It is a bit jazzy just as "Can't Help This Feelin'Pt.2" where we can admire guitarist Pat Walters. Besides these cool and jazzy sounds we here plenty soulful music on "Cool and Collected" and also some blues in the song "Don't Let The Sun Set(On A Broken Heart)".

In "Fallin'So In Love With You" we go back to the motown sound of "The Supremes". Also the song "Glad I Found You" will remind you of the days of Martha Revees and The Vandellas. The music was good then and it is still good now when you listen to Debby Dobbins. We also find some Crystal Gayle influence especially of her successful song "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue", in Debby Dobbins' song "Tradin'In The Blues For Love" which is very catchy. One more lovely song from Debby Dobbins that has to be mentioned is "Only Love". You will love it.(TA)

On the first tracks of the album Amy goes back to the first half of the twentieth century. We are reminded of the souns of the Andrew Sisters when we listen to "Skin", while "Hello World" brings us back to the Charleston period in the early 1920-ies. The second track "Monday Morning" is very jazzy and shines a new light on the first day of the week, a day many people don't like.

You will notice that Amy has an unconventional way of singing. She sounds fresh and she is not limited by anyone to express herself. This contributes to the diversity of music on Amy's self-entiteld album. There is nothing wrong with "Boy meets Girl songs" and how they develop. But it is fresh and interesting to hear songs about other subjects as well. This is what Amy Serrata brilliantly does in a song like "Rooted". Another excellent song about the things we go through every day is "Hello World". Is seems like Amy Serrata only sings meaningful songs. Maybe the reason for this is that Amy is also a poet. Songs like "Yes To Life" and "Lets" are lyrically so strong that they will give you the courage to go on with your life and live together with eachother. It is no coincidence that the song "Love Another" is included on Amy's album. These songs full of soul and hip-hop you will find on the second half of the album. Here you will discover the very funky song "Rooted" as well. A song that will make you feel very strong.(TA)

Previous albums from Hil St Soul are: Organic Soul, Copasetic And Cool,Soulidified and Black Rose. If you like music from Patra, Angie Stone, Dwele, Conya Doss and Ledisi you will surely like Hil St Soul's music too.

Hil St Soul sings the sweetest love songs. All the guys will think that she is addressing them when she sings "Hey Boy". No wonder this song was a Billboard hit. Some caribbean influences you will find in songs like "Don't forget The Ghetto", and "Wash Away". A delicious interpretation by Hil St Soul is the wonderful song "Life" that is written by India.Arie. Another great song about a character we all know , mister know-it-all is "Pieces". To purify your body and mind listen to "Wash Away", you will feel okay. Yes "It's OK" even if the sun don't shine. The acoustic version of Stevie Wonder's "Until You Come Back To Me" is really wonderful.

You, will get very nostalgic listening to "Sweetsest Day". We feel some Baduizm in the catchy song "All That" with it's lovely funky groove. It is a pity when Hil St Soul sings the last song "Goodbye", but if you are lucky to have the album "Release" you can play it one more time.(TA)

There is so much good music to be discovered on this album. The liner notes from Brenda Russell herself contain precious information about the art of songwriting and composing music. There are amazing and fantastic stories behind some of the sixteen songs on the album.

The album starts with "Walkin' In New York" a salsa song capturing the spirit of "La Gran Manzana, the Big Apple. More hot sauce is brought to you in "Make You Smile". The passion in "So Good So Right" explains why it became Brenda's first hit. "Get There" is a tender song that comes straight from the heart, which turned it into an evergreen. In "Piano In The Dark" Brenda feels like the female counterpart of the great balladeer Lionel Richie. The sweet song "If Only For One Night" which you might remember from Luther Vandross saw the light on Brenda Russell's piano. Her rendition of this song is just as great as Luther's.

Brenda makes it "A Jazzy Day" with her tribute to Monk, Mingus, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie and David Sanborn. The latter is featured on "Le Restaurant". The track "To Cool For The Room" feels like jazz just as the title track which is a little funky too. There is a resemblance with Gloria Estefan in the song "Let Somebody Know". You will like the background vocals of this song very much. It's like a gospel choir singing them. Congratulations Brenda Russell!(TA)

When you think of soul music in France you might have in mind Manu Dibango with his "Soul Makossa" or Nina Simone with "Lilac Wine". These are the French classics. The nineties launched MC Solar. The new generation of French soul music you will find on "Soulissime vol 1".

The album "Soulissime" makes a perfect start with the soulful voice of Rycko in "Comment te dire" a song which in its approach might remind you of The Soul Clan's "That's How It Feels". In "Shoobeedoop Song Act 1" from Sabrina Adel you will like her voice, the melody and the organ. This pop song has blues and soul elements. Every country has its own urban identity and that is something you will notice in "L'emmerdeur" from Sandy Cossett.

Hiphop is universal as you will hear in "U&I" from D3CCPT featuring Sly Jonhson and "Je Serai là" which means "I'll Be There" from Kohndo featuring Dwele. The most beautiful flower from the French Ghetto is brought to you in the lovely song "Fleur du Ghetto" in a mix of r&b and hiphop.

Akoma Aya takes you deeper in the French African street-dance tradition with "Créolité Urbaine" featuring Afrosoulicious. Hot r&b comes from Aldrick in "Franchement Tu m'enerves". The sweetest ballad on "Soulissime" might the song "Seul" from Quinze. However Third Shot will bring you a "Sweet Miracle" as well. The jazzy side of france is coming your way in the partly scat song "Out Of My World" from Jaleenah Birdland. Last but not least there is this heartbreaking song "J'voulais Qu'on s'pose" from Monsieur Nov.(TA)