UK soul and funk band, THE BAKER BROTHERS blasted out of sedate Bournemouth in 2000 when Chris Pedley and brothers Dan and Richard Baker met at a function gig; they realized that they shared a love of all things funky and soulful. Thus a band was born and over the years, despite personnel changes, the BBs have made a name for themselves on the live circuit and they now have a dozen albums under their collective belt! So, this ‘The Next Last Party’ is their lucky 13th collection and it’s the follow up to the band’s 2017’s ‘High Rez. That one saw the Bakers explore new territory, mixing, drum n bass, hip hop and house into their trademark soul sound. The album also featured some of the group’s signature straight up funk instrumentals.
For this new one, the team go back to where they started – soul and funk. And it’s a trio of fierce funkers that kick off the 11 tracker. They are ‘Sunrise’ – the LP’s lead single with guest vocals from Hannah Williams – and two bass-heavy, funk punches ‘Heartbreaker’ (guitarist Geoff Lai takes lead vocal on this one) and ‘You Are The One’. If tough funk’s you’re thing, then you’ll also enjoy the crunchy ‘Unrest’ and the loose, sparse Meters-flavoured ‘No Sweat’ .
But this album offers some respite from full-on funk. ‘Sleepwalking’ and ‘Yesterday, Holding, On’ channel that lovely classic EWF sound, while ‘I Hate It When You Go’ is very 80s retro pop! Much more complex is the instrumental ‘Brexican’ – this is a live, broken beat instrumental reflecting on the polarizing effects of Brexit.
From our soul perspective the standout tracks are the crisp beater, ‘Western Morning’ with guest vocals from Frankie Connolly and the delightful closing track, ‘All The Time’ which indicates that the Baker boys might well have been listening to some mellow Tower Of Power tracks.
So, across, 11 cuts there’s plenty of soul and funk variety and who’d have thought that good old fuddy duddy Bournemouth could spawn such soulful passion and feisty funk!
(BB) 4/5
