Graham Reid | | <1 min read
Alice Russell: Got the Hunger?
This white, funky-soul chanteuse from Britain who can sound like Nina Simone as much as having stepped out of the Motown roster, doesn't always pen the most memorable of songs -- but it's all in the gutsy and committed delivery.
She can get down'n'gritty or deliver up a sensuous yelp, and she backs it up with a hot band of horns honking, offering stabbing punctuations or great sweeps of sound.
This album (which includes a cover of Crazy) finds her high-stepping between Sixties/Stax-styled pop-soul (Turn and Run), funk (Hesitate, Got the Hunger?), Seventies Motown (Two Steps) and lashings of earthy soul stylings (Living the Life of a Dreamer).
She even slips into a sultry European cabaret clubland for Lights Went Out.
This is a diverse and sassy, sensual and soul-full collection -- and the good news is Alice Russell and her six-piece band play Wellington and Auckland at the end of the month. They will be shows to see. My guess is they will rock mightily.
Angela - Jan 16, 2009
Whew!
SaveMark - Jan 19, 2009
Alice always produces great albums, but I have to say that this isn't her strongest. The songwriting is at times weak on this album (a challenge I don't feel can be levelled at Under The Munka Moon), and it feels at times a little scattered. And Crazy just doesn't measure up to her rep for producing exciting cover versions. I would recommend buying an Alice Russell album without hesitation, but I wouldn't make this the first one of hers you get.
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