Heralded by two fab singles – ‘Without Your Love’ featuring KENNY THOMAS and ‘We Can Work It Out’ with vocals from the WEST COAST SOUL STARS, the new COOL MILLION album is now set to hit the sales racks. Imaginatively titled ‘III’, it’s stuffed with the very best brand new, modern soul music you’ll hear all year…though, of course, the irony is that though “brand new” and thoroughly “modern” the music crafted by ROB HARDT and FRANK RYLE has its roots deep in the past and is built on a wonderful retro chassis. Listen, even superficially, and you’ll hear echoes of all your favourite 80s Weekender tunes from people like SHANNON, PHYLLIS HYMAN, BOOKER NEWBERY, CHANGE and SHARON REDD… only echoes of course, ‘cos ROB and FRANK don’t sample; they just use those delicious classics as inspiration.
To help them flesh out their ideas the duo has drafted in some big name vocalists. Apart from the aforementioned KENNY THOMAS and the WEST COAST SOUL STARS (JANINE JOHNSON and ELI THOMPSON) there’s contributions from people like PEGGI BLU, DONNA GARDIER, NATASHA WATTS, MONIQUE THOMAS and GARY B POOLE. It all makes for an irresistible modern soul set and you can expect a full review here at SJF very
