What made Soul II Soul's first album such a revelation was its sound, a sinuous, bass-driven groove that was unlike anything else in R&B at the time. In late 1988, when Keep On Movin' arrived from England, most American R&B seemed beholden to the preprogrammed precision of drum machines and sequencers; for that reason, there was something refreshingly human about the strings, vocals and percussion that fleshed out ear-catching singles like "Keep On Movin'" and "Back to Life."
Better still, though Soul II Soul was largely the work of its acknowledged mastermind, DJ and master mixer Jazzie B., the music was shaped by the tastes and abilities of an entire community, the singers and
Read More
players that Jazzie B. had gathered around him. As a result, what we heard wasn't just a band but the sound of a scene. It made for one hell of a debut.
So what does Soul II Soul do for an encore? Refine the formula, of course – reiterate the good bits, polish up the lesser parts and toss in enough new ideas to make sure the band keeps on movin' regardless of how familiar it's all become. That is essentially what Jazzie B. and company have done for Vol. II – 1990 – A New Decade.
Just listen to how "Get a Life," the album's first single, borrows from Keep On Movin'. Not only does the loping bass line recall the cadence of "African Dance," but the burst of horns that crops up midsong is the same sample used in "Jazzie's Groove." In fact, the song structure itself seems largely based on "Feeling Free." As much as it echoes songs from the last album, however, "Get a Life" is no mere retread; it's a synthesis, like the Soul II Soul sound itself. Just as the rhythm bed marshals disparate elements – rumbling and reggaefied bass, percolating African percussion, prodding house-style piano – into an utterly singular groove, so too does the arrangement stir a wide range of sounds into a surprisingly cohesive blend. Yet what ultimately makes the song work isn't the way these pieces fit together but the way they set one another off, controlling the music's mood through contrasting styles and textures.
Jazzie couches the entire message of "Get a Life" in these terms. To convey a sense of naive questing, he gives us children singing, "What's the meaning of life?" while he relies on hip-hop scratching and hardcore beats to show us jaded adulthood. As for his contemplative, philosophical side, that gets covered by the cool commentary of an Afro-jazz flute obbligato. Put it all together, and you can almost hear Jazzie's mental processes at work.
That's quite an ambitious turn for a dance record, even one that aims as high as A New Decade obviously does. (In fact, it's such an impressive bit of work that I'm almost embarrassed to add that Jazzie's big message turns out to be nothing more original than that old saw: Life is what you make it.) Yet for all its big plans and good intentions, this new albu
Guided by impresario Jazzie B (né Beresford Romeo) and Überproducer Nellee Hooper, Soul II Soul found success with songs that grooved, deceptively simple beats and the enthralling voice of Caron Wheeler. Positive racial messages were laid over seductive house beats and African percussion on 1989's Keep On Movin'.
But the vision soon unraveled. Vol. II – 1990 – A New Decade, the follow-up LP, lacked a clear focus, echoing the debut album's sentiments and tempos. Soul II Soul hit the global road with new vocalists (Wheeler had bailed for a solo career), shouting their dictum, "A happy face, a thumping bass for a loving race," while the intragroup squabbling grew louder. Musicians and dancers quit with dizzying speed, then Hooper left for more enticing projects like Björk and U2. Jazzie was alone.
Hooper's confident mixing of samples and rhythmic complexities was missed on the Jazzie-produced Vol. III: Just Right. He had fallen asleep at the wheel while acid jazz and trip-hop crept onto England's dance floors. Vol. V: Believe, a valiant effort considering the source, doesn't fail as miserably. But trite, warmed-over ballads like "Be a Man" and the haven't-I-heard-this-somewhere-before traditional R&B grooves of "Pride," "I Care (Soul II Soul)" and "Love Enuff" won't persuade anyone to stick around for long.
Yet gems emerge. The acid-jazz-inspired instrumentals "How Long," "Zion" and "Game Dunn" manage to charm (such numbers were more filler than propulsive entr'actes even on Vol. I). The Middle Eastern-flavored "Ride On" and "Sunday" show imagination; Jazzie still has an ear for the ladies: Charlotte Kelly and Penny Ford are warm-voiced stylists, and Caron Wheeler makes a welcome return.
But try as he might, Jazzie B can't persuade, er, fool, us again. Japan's acid-jazz king, DJ Krush, trip-hopper Tricky, American producer Dallas Austin and even Nellee Hooper have taken what positive things they could from Soul II Soul's carcass – the sudden but subtle tempo changes, the bold mixing of musical genres for effect, the use of offbeat instrumentation – for their own innovative purposes. (RS 720)
MARIE ELSIE ST. LÉGER
