BELLA BROWN AND THE JEALOUS LOVERS; Soul Clap (LRK Records)

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Over the past 18 months or so modern day funkateers, BELLA BROWN AND THE JEALOUS LOVERS have made quite a name for themselves. From out of nowhere  it seems Bella (real name Carol Hatchett) and her team have emerged as a purveyors of premier league funk. However we learned that Ms B didn’t suddenly emerge in 2022 with the LRK single, ‘Get Mine’. That track had originally  been released in 2018 and it had made considerable waves in an around the Los Angeles soul and funk scene where Bella is a respected player… indeed considered by many as the natural successor to dear Sharon Jones!

Since 2022, Bella’s link with boutique label LRK has blossomed and since that initial LRK 45, the liaison has delivered four more quality  and successful singles… the sweet and effective ‘What Will You Leave Behind’, the Northern banger ‘Bang, Bang, Bang’, the catchy ‘Living Proof’ and the brassy stomper ‘Soul Clap’ (no, not the Booker T tune!).

Those  four tracks are at the core of Bella’s first LRK album which is actually named for the ‘Soul Clap’ song – a great  title choice, by the way. On the album the tune comes in a hugely precusive  7 minutes plus version and a radio edit  for the faint hearted! Both versions will set feet tapping (which was/is the idea) and the three other “known” songs have lost none of their charm or appeal either … timeless funk and soul!

As indeed is all the new stuff. ‘Lady Time’ is a brassy workout with a touch of the Caribbean about it. The lyrics, by the way, address the issue of homelessness. ‘Coming For You’ is a powerful piece that builds and builds. The lyric is semi-spoken and maybe it should have been sequenced as the first track as it kind of introduces us to Bella and the band; setting out the stall, as it were. ‘I Found You’ has a distinct old school feel – very 60s. ‘Fast As Lightning’ is rockier – a Tine Turner influence maybe? That just leaves ‘There Is Love’ – the sweetest, most classically “soulful” track on the ten tracker. It’s a dramatic ballad with some intriguing instrumentation. As with most of the songs on the set this one has  a message in the music. It deals with mental health issues and proves that Ms Brown can do emotion  just as well as she can do energy! And it adds real variety  to the album.

Bella Brown’s ‘Soul Clap’ album is released on vinyl on February 2nd via LRK. Pre-orders are being taken now and we believe that there aren’t that many left . Learn more @ https://lrkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/soul-clap-2

(BB) 4/5

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