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Avg: 4.0 (71 ratings)
- Date Released: March 6, 2006
- Genre: Hip-Hop/R&B
- Style: R&B, Soul
- Label: Light In The Attic / IODA
'60s soul and '70s funk filtered through both Helsinki and Brooklyn.
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We Say...
Keep Reachin’ Up is a record with a curious back-story. Nicole Willis was born in Brooklyn but spent much of the mid-1980s and '90s touring (the Repercussions, the The) and collaborating with bands such as Deee-Lite and Leftfield. In the late 1990s she married Jimi Tenor, a Finnish techno producer, and moved to Europe.
Meanwhile a loose collection of musicians from soul bands and garage rock bands around Helsinki formed Calypso King and the Soul Investigators, releasing the well-received Soul Strike! in 2001 on Soul Fire Records. In 2005, after two solo records, Willis and a revamped line-up of the Soul Investigators began collaborating on the songs that would become Keep Reachin’ Up. There is a gorgeous, timeless quality to Keep Reachin’ Up — the album doesn’t aspire to sound like the soul records of the 1960s or the funk of the '70s, though it feels incredibly familiar in the way all great pop can. (Maybe it has to do with the fact that it was recorded in Finland, far from the source.)
Pizzicato strings announce the carefree opener “Feeling Free,” before a Motown-nicked chug of drums and bass arrives. “If This Ain’t Love,” the first single, is radiant; it opens tentatively, with a trickle of guitars and a thick ribbon of bass, before Willis sings one of the great, clap-along spring anthems. The screechy “Keep Reachin’ Up” and “Blues Downtown” are funkier, more conventional fare. A mighty trio follows: “My Four Leaf Clover,” skittishly blends girl-group pop and swinging northern soul; “A Perfect Kind of Love” feels like a soul tune anticipating the leaden drum-breaks of hip-hop; and “Invisible Man,” a soul-pop gem that charges with a full head of steam. “Invisible Man” was produced by house hero Maurice Fulton — the mastermind behind the messy disco of Kathy Diamond’s Miss Diamond to You, another of this year’s brilliantly out-of-time records. Perhaps the most anachronistic aspect of the song isn’t the music, but the lyrics. Willis sings about absurdly simple things: dancing and having carefree nights out, picking yourself up and dusting off and meeting the One (which — even more anachronistically — harks back to a time when the concept was a sturdy, universal one). But Willis sells it. She doesn’t have the strongest voice but it’s perfectly sized for the band and Tenor’s masterful arrangements. -
They Say...
After a pair of essentially modern-styled R&B outings, the Brooklyn-born, Europe-based vocalist Nicole Willis struck out in a new direction on her third full-length, teaming up with Finnish funk combo the Soul Investigators in 2005 for a hearty take on '60s and '70s stylings which, by accident or design, fit right in with the vintage soul resurgence that was then getting underway. Relative to other diva-led throwback acts such as Sharon Jones and Amy Winehouse, Willis and her cohorts come off as especially convincing revivalists (or especially deceptive simulators), despite seeming comparably laid-back about taking an authentically "retro" approach, or at least about sticking to one particular type of soul. Stylistically, they trend toward the more polished, pop-oriented Northern Soul end of things, occasionally using strings in place of horns and generally keeping things up and peppy, on stomping highlights like "If This Ain't Love," "Invisible Man" (which features girl group-styled falsetto backups sung by noted dance producers Maurice Fulton and Jimi Tenor, who's also Willis' husband) and "My Four Leaf Clover," which nods specifically and delightfully to early Motown and to Martha & the Vandellas in particular. Opener "Feeling Free," which boasts the album's most uplifting and irresistible chorus hook, sports a similarly chunky early-'60s backbeat wrapped in a lavish arrangement of strings, bongos, and palm-muted guitar that suggests more of an early-'70s, Philly International vibe, whereas the slightly groovier "A Perfect Kind of Love" lays on the Stax-style horn parts and chicken shack organ. The detours into harder-headed funk ("Holdin' On" and the title track) and smoky balladry ("Blues Downtown" and "No One's Gonna Love You") are somewhat less effective: despite some compelling and atmospheric playing from the Investigators, Willis' voice isn't quite richly textured enough to be as effortlessly authoritative here as it is on the more melodic, poppier material. Still, these tracks are far from serious missteps, and they do add some well-intentioned variety to an album that, on the whole, stands as one of the finer soul full-lengths of the decade.
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| 01. |  |
Feeling Free |
3:37 |
|
| 02. | |
If This Ain't Love (Don't Know What Is) |
3:28 |
|
| 03. | |
Keep Reachin' Up |
3:24 |
|
| 04. | |
Blues Downtown |
5:13 |
|
| 05. | |
My Four Leaf Clover |
2:53 |
|
| 06. | |
A Perfect Kind Of Love |
4:01 |
|
| 07. | |
Invisible Man |
2:59 |
|
| 08. | |
Holdin' On |
3:37 |
|
| 09. | |
No One's Gonna Love You |
6:06 |
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| 10. | |
Soul Investigators Theme |
2:42 |
|
| 11. | |
Outro (Bonus Track) |
1:40 |
|
11 Total Tracks, 39:40 Total Length
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Credits
- Jimi Tenor - Organ // Jimi Tenor - Flute // Jimi Tenor - Sax (Alto) // Jimi Tenor - Vocals // Jimi Tenor - Horn Arrangements // Erno Haukkala - Trombone // Erno Haukkala - Horn Arrangements // Eero Savela - Trumpet // Eero Savela - Horn Arrangements // Jay Kortehisto - Trombone // Jay Kortehisto - Soloist // Antti Lauronen - Baritone // Antti Lauronen - Horn Arrangements // Svante Forsbäck - Mastering
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