gullbuy music review

Howie B.

title

Folk

label

Polydor UK

format
CD

Howie B The followup to his recent 'AnotherLateNight' compilation is the long awaited debut full length by Howie B.

You can tell that he was listening to bands such as The Undisputed Truth (whose awesome 'What Is this?' opened up 'AnotherLateNight') when he recorded this, so soulful and mysterious are the sounds on this disc.

The first song to really grab me on the disc is 'Musical Mayday' (#3). It is a duet between Howie B. and Karmen Wijnberg. There is a really cool programmed sound that shows up several times in the song, and a general feeling of space in the sparse arrangement.

The next song that completely captured me is 'Duet' (#5). It has the same women singing with him, and the tune from the David Essex song 'Rock On' as its base. Really incredible - way better than I would have thought.

Every song on this record has the same type of feel as The Undisputed Truth did - very sparse, very hip, and in a groove you want to join. Howie B.'s disc is in a world of it's own.

This is not the playboy sound of Tim Love Lee or the highly skilled Latin groove of the Bobby Hughes Experience. This is soul without the pump of adrenaline, it is a street beat for the laid back cat watching it all go down from the shade.

Faves: 3,5

---Carl, September 25, 2001