Single Of The Week ~ Joe Bonamassa & Beth Hart ~ Miss Lady

Hello and welcome to this weeks single of the week! This week I have been really getting back into an artist called Beth Hart recently and in particular one of the songs she performed with Joe Bonamassa on a duet album they made called "Miss Lady". This album came out last year and if you love soul, blues and funk then this is an album for you. 

'Miss Lady' from the first note gives you everything its got and still delivers throughout the song. They have really given this song a lot of thought with all of the breaks in it. Each individual instrument is heard clearly on this song from horns, organ, guitar, bass and of course Beth's vocals. 

The horns are a fantastic edition to the song, it really gives the song a completely new dimension. Using them for the introduction, you know that there's something special on offer. If you really focus on listening to them they're giving the song a lot of diversity and driving the song forward. They can sometimes be overshadowed by Joe's guitar playing, especially in the solo, but keeping song grooving is what it needs. 

One of the highlights of this song is Beth's incredibly soulful voice. With that rasp in her voice, it gives her vocals that edge that is so distinctive. Especially in the break down which sounds like the song is ending already, she really gives it everything she's got. It sounds like she is shouting because of that rasp in her voice, but its pure notations from her and sounds breathtaking!

I would recommend any album by her if you enjoy this song. Even on some of the more mellow songs, her voice continues to impress me. I look forward to a new album from her very soon as its been a long time coming! Even if its another collaboration album with Joe Bonamassa, it would still be an excellent piece of music on display. 

Photo Credit: Christie Goodwin

If you think from this track she is good live, I can wholeheartedly tell you she is incredible live and she's coming back to the UK for a tour next Spring! Here are the dates:

Bristol Colston Hall                         Friday May 1

Liverpool Philharmonic Hall       Sunday May 3

Glasgow O2 ABC                              Wednesday May 6

London Barbican                              Friday May 8

Leeds Academy                                Saturday May 9

Cambridge Corn Exchange           Monday May 11

Nottingham Rock City                    Wednesday May 13

You can expect to find me at the UK date for sure, I've seen her twice already too! Thank you very much for reading and until next time. 

Lewis 

Beth Hart Website

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Album Review ~ Camera Soul "Not For Ordinary People"

Hello!

Welcome to blog post 32 and I would like to say thank you for all the support with getting near to 3000 views, its insane! Today I'll be celebrating with a fantastic jazz/funk band called Camera Soul and their latest album "Not For Ordinary People". Camera Soul are based from southern Italy (Bali), led by veteran composer brothers Piero and Pippo Lombardo and fronted with the vocals by the wonderful Serena Brancale. 

Piero (one of the composers) messaged me and asked if I could review their latest album and of course I said yes, but I what was in store was about to blow my mind. My ears were in for a rare treat of just pure soul, jazz-fusion and funk from this band that are starting to become more popular across the world. 

Camera Soul are inspired by legendary horn line, soul, R&B and jazz-fusion artists such as Earth, Wind and Fire, The Commodores, Tower of Power and Stevie Wonder. Put all of those together and you have this band. They certainly have a 'Jamiroquai' tone to them, but so much more purity to the sound. 

One song I would recommend to you to sum this band up would be the second track "Mama". It just keeps my head bopping throughout the whole track and enterains throughout with drops and bridges and always has treats in store. The album is very well produced, since this is a large band its difficult to not get anyone lost within the music. They have balanced everything perfectly to make it such a crisp sound which is an absolute delight to the ears. 

Piero and Pippo certainly know what sounds to create from each instrument at which point. You can sit back and really focus on the arrangement of the band and listen to each instrument.  A personal favourite of mine is the jazz guitar and bass lines, it just holds it together and brings a lot of funk to the band. Its left so subtly in the background to just groove around the riff. A good example would be the verses in the song "I Don't Like Roses". Another head bopper might I add!

During the album you can start to hear some Italian characteristics come into the music. Whether its a certain riff from an instrument or genuinely just the feel, it gives the band that difference about them which every band looks for. The band have a great mellow tone during the verses and can really kick up a gear in the chorus. Enough to keep the song exciting to the listener, but not enough to try be too brash which is a nice change. 

Their tight playing and soulful music is making a real dent in the music business and are certainly making a noise about it. In October 2013 this album was 2nd in the UK Soul Charts and spent a gigantic 15 weeks in those charts too which is a fantastic achievement by the band that is well worthy of its place.

The album has got the band a range of awards such as 'Best Instrumental Jazz Solo',' Best Engineered album', 'Producer of the Year',  'Song of the Year' & 'Best R&B Song'. Not a bad collection of awards, but boy do they deserve it. I would agree with all of these especially ' Best Engineered Album' for just the clear sound from every instrument on this album and how balanced everything is. 

The songs that I recommend are 'Not For Ordinary People, 'Mama', 'The Happiest Day' and 'I Don't Like Roses'. The rest of the album is brilliant, but these are the ones to check out for a little taste tester first. 

I hope you all enjoy the music and thank you for reading. 

Until next time

Lewis

Website: http://www.camerasoul.eu/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Camera__Soul

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camerasoul?fref=ts

Rock Candy Funk Party - We Want Grooove

Hello!

Just a quick message to say thank you for the recent support for the blog! Its been great to see so many people reading and the fact its nearing 400 views is awesome! So thank you and continue to support this blog! :)

Onwards! (On a side note, have spelt the album title right has 3 O's in it for some reason?)

Let me start off with the fact this whole album is completely instrumental and features some of my favourite musicians on it, including my drumming inspiration Tal Bergman. The other musicians included in this are Joe Bonamassa (who Tal plays drums for), Ron DeJesus, Mike Merritt and Renato Nato. These 5 men are out to rekindle peoples love for 70's/80's funk and its fair of me to say they did a splendid job. 

With Tal the front man of this band and the producer, he had the pleasure of choosing these world renown players to join forces and create this album purely for the fun and love of making music. Each bringing their own stylistic blends of genre's together to create a tribute to old school funk. 

The initial reaction from critics and fans alike was "with it being all instrumental, would it be entertaining enough?" This was something I certainly thought about, but all was put to shame when the album was released. There is not a single second on this album that can lead you to boredom. The structure of these songs has been so well thought out that as soon as you have got to grips with one part of the song, they have already moved on to the next section. 

Although there is some repetitiveness in the songs, there is always a flare of musicianship that gives the song an extra spice to keep you entertained. Or a good guitar solo.

Each song on this album features some crazy drumming from Tal. Its all about his feel, timing and stupidly tight fills within the songs that just make it that more enjoyable for me to listen to! I'll leave you some videos at the end of Rock Candy Funk Party's work and another example of Tal's incredible drumming when gigging with Joe Bonamassa. 

With this in mind there are a few songs on the record that everyone should have a listen to. If you fancy up-tempo funk then "Spaztastic" is for you. If you want some funk to just sit and listen to "Ode to Gee", "Root Down" and "Dope On a Rope" are great tracks for you. Drummers...well there's no song better than "Animal/Work" for Tal to really shine on. I've had this album since it came out in January 2013 and I still find his drumming mind blowing. Last but not least for my recommended tracks to you. If you want something to chill out to or you've had a stressful day, then "The Best Ten Minutes of Your Life" will sort that problem out in...well... 10 minutes! 

I hope you all enjoyed this blog, this is a bit different to some of the other blogs, but I hope you'll all go and listen to some great funk! 

Until next time!

Lewis :)

"Spaztastic"

"Young Man Blues" - Joe Bonamassa (Example of Tal's drumming)

Website: http://rockcandyfunkparty.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rockcandyfunk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rockcandyfunk

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/RockCandyFunkParty