The Terri Green Project is essentially sax man/keyboardist/producer/ writer and general all round good guy, Euro muso, Toddi Reed (real name Torsten Abrolat) and Washington born soul diva Terri Green. House anoraks will know Terri from her collaborative house hits that have dominated European dance charts over the last few years. Soul heads will know and love her from the two Terri Green Project singles (‘Night To Remember’ and ‘Giving It Up’) that have been omnipresent in various mixes this year.
Now the duo treats us to their first full album… ‘What A Feeling’, which was recently signalled by the single ‘Dance Tonight’ … a big, big tune that is a kind of hybrid of Chic and Earth Wind and Fire. Indeed the mighty EWF are just one of many top soul and dance acts name checked in the song. In it Terri also bigs up Chaka Khan, The Spinners, The O’Jays, Teddy P, Kool and the Gang and many, many more. And therein lies the (yes, obvious) clue where Terri and Toddi are coming from. They want to bring back the good times and, boy, do they succeed! Alongside those three ab fab singles, the 13 tracker is stuffed with plenty more great dance tunes – songs brimming with optimism and an atmosphere that will just make you smile!
That’s all obvious from the start with the mighty ‘What A Feeling’. The album title track takes the Philly sound as its reference point and if you were told that Kenny and Leon were at the controls you wouldn’t doubt it. The Philly flavour’s there too on the pacey ‘Fight No More’ complete with Larry Gold style strings. ‘Never Gonna Let’ is another earworm. It actually reminds me of those pop/soul classics from Liverpool’s The Real Thing… not a bad thing in my book!
With one exception, all the songs are originals. The cover is a new look at Burt Bacharach’s ‘The Look Of Love’ and it really is a “new look”. Like all good covers, Toddi and Terri don’t try to replicate the well-known versions. Rather, like dear old Luther used to do, they recreate it. Here they start with shifting strings and later add melancholy cello courtesy of former London Philharmonic cellist Rebecca Carrington to enhance Terri’s soulful rendition. Toddi’s sax solo is mighty impressive too. The duo are clearly proud of the achievement because they include the song again right at the end in mix that features Rebecca’s husband, Colin in duet with Terri. It’s all very grown up and sexy, and indeed, that’s how Toddi describes all the music he sets out to make with his Project. He’s patently succeeded… ‘What A Feeling’ IS “grown up and sexy” and a lot more besides!
(BB) 5/5
