Beat Sutras Vol. I

Lex (de Kalhex) - Pharaoh's Dance

The Soul Moovmnt (part 1)

The Soul Moovmnt (part 1) by John Schofield on Mixcloud

Franks Video

Choklate wide open

Mr Zippy's Soulful House Challenge

I'm not the most eager fan of Soulful House. I understand that people love it and I respect that. House Music now has so many sub genres that the first label is meaningless. The label Soulful House seems to have been acquired by Northern Soul fans which annoys the fuck out of me, but hey that's just me. I did this mix with my tongue in my cheek. Having read a long list of Soulful House tracks I did a "copy text and paste into Google" found free downloads and stitched them together in no real order (so it's not really a mix). I didn't really sit and and listen to the tracks other than quickly skim through them, I just butted them up against each other and used Wavelab's auto fade without recourse to BPM or such like. I trusted the fact that these tracks were recommended as indicator of quality. The outcome isn't great and having heard all the tracks on the mix together would now do it differently (certainly with regard to order and selection). Still 55 minutes to search, download, convert and put together isn't too bad.

Mr Zippy's Soulful House Challenge by John Schofield on Mixcloud

Warren Xclnce feat. Etta Bond-Examine me(Nigel One rmx)

Point Blank – The Train (ft. Inspired)

LouiLou - Rap 
Emil Hesselbæk - Trumpet 
Frederik Hagner - Saxophone 
Carl Emil Johansen - Piano 
Mathias Klysner - Guitar 
Thomas Lund - Bass 
Jakob Vinther - Drums

10th Letter Subtler Than Light

Disclosure- Latch ft Sam Smith

Esco Williams - I Want You More

Zodiac - Come ft. Jesse Boykins III

Fool Me Once from Dream Noir by Nostalgic Productions

Writer's Brick (Feat. JayHaze and Varth Dader) by Nasa

Restless Dreamer [King re.fix] Jesse Boykins III

Meshell Ndegeocello "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" feat. Cody ChestnuTT

Not being one for cover versions, I make an exception for Cody, I was too late to download this :(

JOHNSON & JONSON - OH, OX

Bob James [Breezy Lovejoy & TiRon] from The Cafeteria Line presents HNGRY by The Cafeteria Line

Desperte​-​se rápido from Brazilian Chronicles by Tall Black Guy

Stalley- Last Day on the MT feat. Rashad (Prod. Cardo)

Wake Up from J. ManifestO by J. ManifestO

Zion I - We Don't Ft. Grouch & Eligh

R&B Lite by John Schofield on Mixcloud

Getting back into it

A few weeks off and you know ........


Still lets stick up some music first and ask questions later....


Sublime beats, two examples of the sort of music I listen too on a regular basis, both are special "Brownie" probably being amongst my fave tracks of the year:

Playing Catch Up- K'Jon- I'm good boo

Having been doing better stuff than blogging finds me today going back over stuff I've missed. Take this track from the new K'Jon CD - pretty instant stuff !

Bandcamp of the Day- Cityreal & Wes Mackey

Hip Hop blues......

Mar serves up the quality once again

http://www.marmusic.net/

Soundcloud of the Day- Byron The Aquarius

Gotta show love to Byron

Chantel

Anthony Charles Williams II

From 1993 (?) and very much in the Tonex mode, in that it's kinda wonderful (worth it for the production and Kenny Turner alone) and yet sort of flawed...

Jade Alston- Searching

Nice track taken from her mix tape (HERE)

Full Crate & Jessie Boykins III

New single from Full Crate featuring uber vocalist Jessie Boykins. While "her throne" is OK, it's the flip "see with me" that impresses (yours truly). It's Full Crate in  "conversations with her" mode, dreamy stuff with our Jessie adding the whispers..

itunes

Bandcamp of the day...........BMB & AfriManik Soul

Russian African collaboration:

SWV.... If only you knew

From the new CD, a jump out slow jam

You can't keep a good sample down!

Sleepy and Frank

Sleepy Brown is a super talent, he's got that soul voice going on, he's the real deal. Dress Up is instant vintage, a track with real stones, a modern soul gem. It's not about the club but the party in the kitchen before the club. It's a sex soundtrack, and sounds like a warped 45, all over the place and yet knowing....  He followed up the CD which featured Dress Up with a real gem.... erm....... alas he didn't...After (apparently) toting round a complete CD for well over 12 months he could find anyone willing to release it (or he didn't accept any offers).  Such is the stuff of internet speculation. Still he's got his own label now (?), and here is his first single (which may or may not be from the ill fated CD). It speaks volumes to say that this was first heard on e music (WTF), and has met with a muted reception on the modern soul scene. My only compliant about it is that it isn't Dress Up, and we seemed to have moved from the kitchen to the club. Then again it's not too bad a club, it's a Zo! styled post Prestwitch super plodder, welcome respite from modern soul event jolly tempo fodder. As the weeks go on it is gaining a bit of momentum, and I'd like to think someone might play this out to a dance floor where the average age is over 40 (these things happen).



Much as Sleepy Brown's "Nights" seems like a nice compromise, Frank Ocean seems to have driven in (well his girlfriend seems to do the driving) and given me a track to play over and over. I've been waiting on this, Franks the man, best ever free download mixtape, probably the best song of 2011, and then...... not a great deal if I'm being honest.  However this track (a possible extra on the proper Sony version of his mixtape)- delivers. It's just special.

Hopelessly devoted to Mar

Moovmnt of the day- Pomrad

Typical of the Moovmnt collective, another rather ordinary, yet extra ordinary instrumental. This time out of Antwerp the talented producer Pomrad.

Soundcloud of the day- Leon Ware gives Orchids

Steve Jackson

About a week ago I learned of the death of UK Soul DJ Steve Jackson. I've mentioned Steve a couple of times in this blog and he was an infrequent visitor to these pages. A few weeks ago he contacted me about a Computer problem which I resolved for him through a long (2hr) phone conversation. We talked of many things soul music wise, about the scene in the UK, his part in it, and of where it was heading.


I first heard Steve DJ via the Real Love Internet Radio station. What first drew me to his show was his accent. When you are of a certain age and from the North West of England, Northern Soul simply percolates through everything. Northern Soul cannot be ignored nor it's influence negated once you've been touched by it. Steve wasn't from the North West and his take on Soul old and new reflected an unsullied approach. He wasn't the first southern based DJ I was listening too at the time, I was influenced by Bigger and by the new shows called podcasts, especially those of the Sour Mash Collective. Steve drew a line through the more Urban influences of say the Sour Mash podcasts, and kept to a more traditional old soul vibe. Steve was a Soul nerd, what he didn't know wasn't worth knowing, and what he did know seemed limitless. As a semi regular listener to Real Love I contacted him and in my pure vanity began to send him stuff to play. I then began to send him links to places on the net where I was sourcing material such as Soundclick, My Space, and the like.  When I began to send him links to blogs of 90t's material I quickly realised that he already owned most of what was on offer (and a great deal more of what wasn't).


Steve had an outsiders take on new material, he wasn't that interested in setting the scene but he was a canny listener. Indeed on several occasions I recall having a gentle pop at him for his crafty acquisitions of an oldies I'd posted on EMS.  I'd post up (for example) Heavy on my mind  and a week later it would be in his show. Steve dealt with my complaints by gently reminding me that in truth I was posting up classics, and I ought to be grateful for the further exposure of these tracks, moreover Steve never once indicated that I had an ego which was out of control (he had better grace). In truth Steve was pretty ego blind, he didn't really care if his show on Starpoint only had a few people listening live in the chat box, though he always enjoyed my rather blunt wit and faux criticism of old soul. Indeed I'd taken to listening to him quite a bit on a Tuesday evening in recent months, and admired the counterpoint of his text chat with Dave Grimes (another total Soul expert come nerd). Between the two of them they made old soul seem more interesting and fresh, and as the music I like moves ever further away from Soul, the show gave me a grounding, which I will miss.  I admit to feeling some frustration regarding the pious declarations of some of his Starpoint colleagues, who never seemed to visit his shows when on the air, however the Starpoint family have rallied round and served his memory well. Indeed I regret my own comments of last week which though in the spirit of my musings while his show was on air, have resulted in me being unable to take part in his main tribute on Starpoint- it's an irony Steve would have appreciated.


In our last conversation I spoke of my own disenfranchisement with modern soul, of its ageing demographic and the dwindling spiral of what constitutes "acceptable" material. Steve pretty much laughed off these comments, he suggested that by finding common ground in defining what modern soul was (i.e.play listing) the future might not be as fragmented as I suggest.


Here is a very rough low quality encode of the first hour of his show broadcast on 13/03/12.

R&B Lite of the day- Marcus Canty

I'm starting to like this, in places the vocal reminds me of Kem type track, but those big fat bass notes seem a bit Keith Washington.... pretty good  though.

Mar - Our Attempt

One of my favourite vocalists is back ! 

Soundcloud of the day Tamika Love Jones

A three track teaser has been clouded to promote the up coming new EP by the talented starlet Tamika Love Jones. It's a varied and interesting mix which indicates that this young Lady is in line for greater things. It's a recognition overdue.


My pick is the rather lovely Paradise.

Oddisee - Hustle Off

Brand new on Bandcamp a nice "Mello" compilation....

Anthony Charles Williams II

The term musical hero is much overused, but with over 30 CD's in 12 years Anthony Charles Williams II comes as close as many. I love this Guy- his talent stands out like a mountain.

Bandcamp of the day-Chris Turner

Gotta show Chris some love.

More Randomness - 1977 and all that

I was born in 1958 so frankly I've seen some shit in my time. Recently I saw a discussion taking place about the merits of new music as opposed to old music. It seems there was a "golden age" an age where somehow a high point was reached which will never be improved upon. "Music today all sounds the same" is the cry, these days it just hasn't got it. Of course I think this is a pretty flawed argument because there is no best of anything. People though are passionate to protect their values (and vested interests). As part of the argument a long list of classic singles was listed, as if throwing down the gauntlet to those of us interested enough to try and top the list with newer material. The list was mindbogglingly average. The last single posted was the ever grey "Brick House". My first reaction was that this 1977 release was typical of just how miserable 1977 was in terms of music. Brick House isn't even as good as the 1975 single "Slippery when Wet". Thinking it through at least Brick House had some balls compared to the insipid Disco around at the time. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, it's also easy to cash in on. Back in 1977 owing music meant just that, you had to pay for it and your taste was defined by your cash flow. Many of the people still in love with that music were DJ's at the time, who converted gig money to black plastic. Often the process of buying records was dominated by record shop workers, they told you what to buy based on stock,and this is a world away from shopping sat down alone at a monitor, so perhaps we have lost something.


We have also gained. Here is Brick House

Here is Malik Pendleton, it's a similar sort of thing with a 30 year gap (it is in fact the same subject matter, 36-24-36= Figure 8). You might argue that Figure 8 reflects the changes over the years, the use of the F Word and the Bada Bing culture, while it pays a homage to the spirit of"Brick House". Music perhaps hasn't changed much at all....Figure 8 wasn't a classic single because it wasn't released. It is however out on the Web. That has to be a good thing.

Random- when dropping out of love- was dropping into it.....

Thanks to Stevie and Shumaker I've recently been getting nostalgic for 2007 and all that. I was hungry back then trying to match downloads of R&B to "Modern Soul". The litmus test was more often than not Prestwitch and EMS. If I could get a track played at Prestwitch then I'd prance about the floor with a sense of pride, and that dear friends is a feeling long gone. I didn't realise I was one of many, and that my actual contribution was a team effort. Of course I tended to celebrate those tracks which I didn't manage to get played as well, waiting for time to catch me up, and a victory in a game played longer than month to month. Truth is I mow know that I was pretty hopeless and that when it comes to taste, it isn't about what others think.


I recall getting hold of Cheri Dennis "In and out of Love" in  early 2007 (FDH Blog), it's an OK to average CD. The track "Dropping out of Love", however is anything but average. It struck me as near perfect Modern Soul, slowish, sombre, girlie, with that "camp" sensibility you only get once in a Preston Guild. It never got played at Prestwitch but was too good to go unnoticed and thanks to EMS (and other Bloggers) is now a bit of a classic. The samples lifted from Sky's the Limit were in fact born from "My Flame" and "Keep On".


It's still very special....


A month or so ago I noticed that Kirby Maurier had re-visted  "Sky's the Limit" and kept it close. It's a better vocal but somehow doesn't really match our Cheri's masterpiece. Plus it's just too late for Prestwitch now....

Bandcamp of the day...........Marvin-Paul Ambrosius

From the tale end of last year- (thanks to LTF)

Teyana Taylor

Instant Vintage from her new mix tape (thanks to Bernard Walters and Blak Shumaka for the heads up)....


Loving that slo mo.....

Ghetto by The Liquid Crystal Project

Freebie from J Rawls -looking like a good CD : )

Reggie B

Friend of the Blog and always interesting listening Reggie B has a new CD out.... My pick is this track.

R&B Lite of the day- Q Parker

Back in 2007 I coined the term "R&B Lite" to describe the sort of tracks I was downloading from R&B4U, Donshanto and other one tracks sites. Much of what I downloaded was pretty dire but one out of a 100 was OK, well at least it was melodic. Here is a very recent example of my (made up) genre forthcoming from the always trying Q Parker...

Beat Maker of the Day 10​.​Minute​.​Tape by Thelonious Martin

Simples !

Soundcloud of the day One. Le Serveur

Rather exceptional instrumental  from a mixtape brought to my notice by those rather nice people at Laid Back Radio

Later On Tonight by Aviel

Seems like Blind I is back to its best and here is a recent post...

Updates

Sorry the updates are increasingly erratic, I've been pre occupied.


Many thanks to all who visit and especially those who leave a comment, I moderate all comments but I publish 99.9 percent of the time. Special thanks to other Bloggers, to Ill Clinton, Jinga Willis, Dave Grimes, Stevie Street, Chris Crates, Mike Ashley and all who take the trouble and provide inspiration.

Soundcloud of the day- shiula

Evil Needle on the production

Soundcloud of the Day, Northern Soul revival

Check that sample.... 

Soundcloud of the day Crazy*Juicy (dub)

Here we go....

Bandcamp of the day...........AJ Throwback - The Comeback

The Slakadeliqs

"The Other Side of Tomorrow by Slakah the Beatchild's alter ego The Slakadeliqs is the result of four years writing, experimenting and exploring different groups of musical influences than most would expect. If you like it... Share the Good Vibrations.  :)"


There is something quite special about this collection of songs, sitting as it does outside the mainstream. This may yet prove to be one of my favourite free downloads of 2012........

Al Green and Lamorris Williams

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lamorriswilliams15

Interesting track and new single which I only heard last night whilst listening to Steve Jackson's show on Starpoint. I needed to do some research because frankly I wondered if it wasn't just a sample of the great one. Turns out its a brand new song, and thanks to blog TICS here is a rough encode to feast your ears....


Why isn't everybody playing this ?

Soundcloud of the day- Ahmed Sirour

The Glasper Remix contest (See This) got a last minute entry by non other than Ahmed Sirour , who worked a bit of magic with his Hathaway remix. It's another fantastic re imagination.

Strange Drums of the Day- Ruben Studdard

From his new CD due out on March 3rd

Soundcloud of the day Soul Desire feat. Karl Frierson

Lifted from the German Blog "Soul Guru"

Random: 1981 and all that.......

A  friend and in some ways leading light of the UK Modern Soul Scene Roger Williams is going through some changes. For quite some time (years in fact) he has been a champion of New Music. He has gathered quite a following through his "Soulsorts" brand. If I was asked to describe his take on new soul I'd describe it as "melodic", he likes a  proper tune does our Roger, and he has always cast his net wide. He's broken more tracks than a Chinese Railway worker, and if truth be told upset a few people along the way, perhaps because his confidence in his own taste has been seen by some as arrogance. I've never prescribed to this view, Roger takes it all to heart, he means it. He introduced me to some awesome music over the years more than I could ever begin to thank him for. I respect him. Of course on the other hand he represents a jumping off point for me personally, back in the day on EMS I'd seek both his approval and disapproval for what I posted. He was the litmus test of just how far I could push the envelope within the confines of the Modern Soul scene. If he approved of something then a few would follow and whenever I became the selfish indulgent "look at me, I know best" beast he left me hanging out to dry. Of course now I no longer care if I represent something. The Modern Soul scene isn't something I work within or am about. I always thought that scene became crowded when Starpoint Radio began to trawl through it and I reacted accordingly by becoming more extreme. Much of what I post on this blog remains outside of it. The vast majority of my posts here (=where I take them from) would not make Starpoint let alone a modern Soul Event. Still hey that's me. I take comfort in groups like Boiler,in the electronic, in Hip Hop, in beat making.


Despite the ever increasing homogenisation of the Modern Soul Scene, RW kept true to his idea of what represented Modern Soul. His monthly Soul Sorts podcasts gained a world wide audience and he never let his angle change. Unlike myself he never seemed bitter about those in his wake who stole his thunder, it was simply all about the music.
Roger Williams recently though has taken another track. He has been re visiting the music that got him into it in the first place. What makes this change special is that he manages to bring along his new soul sensibility to the old. In doing this he is about to create a whole new market. 


I wish him well. Soulsorts will continue as a brand with new music again. I'm sure of this because he often defined the genre which these days is so vague that it needs his sort of leadership.


But for now enjoy his oldie selections here:
http://soulsorts.podomatic.com/

In order to end this post I've just done a search of my drives using the term 1981, here is what I came up with.... (one of 578 tracks)

578 and I chose that one eh readers - I'm not much good at this lark really

: )

Odd Cover Version of the Day

????- Strange but rather wonderful from RG




And for contrast....

Robin Thicke Exhale cover

I've not mentioned the passing of Whitney Houston because frankly I wasn't much of a fan and I'm not one for great outpourings of grief. I think it's been covered enough elsewhere, suffice to say she seemed to mean a great deal to many people and served as an inspiration.  

As a tribute I think Robin Thicke has served up a first class example....

Soundrotation of the day

After a short rest soundrotation is back -posting up a rather lovely selection of music for us all to enjoy. Pay them a visit and say I sent you...  : )


Here is a nice post from the site.

Toby (of Inverse)

I like Inverse, Sunny California is a real gem of a couple of years ago listen to it here.

So this track by Toby caught my notice, it's from a recent EP and it's rather nice.

Raheem Devaughn

Brand new and classy.


Get it here:
http://www.datpiff.com/Raheem-Devaughn-Destination-Loveland-mixtape.301232.html

More Bandcamp- Miles Bonny x B.Lewis

Top class stuff:

Bandcamp of the day...........Peter Hadar

Hadar back on the radar....

Soundcloud of the day Brother Ali ft Phonte & Stokley Williams

Do for you - Jonny Sass(produced by mez)

Thanks to Moovmnt..............

Bandcamp of the day Diggs Duke

This is a collection of 4 Herbie Hancock songs converted by Diggs Duke into 3 arrangements 


(in tribute to the legendary composer/pianist). 

Boiler room special

Many thanks to Jinga Willis, Daniel Hermann Collini, Jay Scarlett....

Soundcloud of the day-Robert Glasper feat KING-More 6/8th's Love(TBGRemix)

While we wait on the CD of the year- TBG makes a special track just a little bit more special... Thanks to Jay Scarlett (once again) for the heads up

Bandcamp of the day...........Keepin' On ft. Substantial, Obii Say & Kitty Wong

Odd Cover Version of the Day

London Starlet Jess Mills does a job on the old Roy Davis Jnr staple "Gabriel"... (?)

Mixcloud of the day- Ter'ell Shahid

Thanks to Chris Crates for flagging this up

Still Love You Everyday by Ter'ell Shahid on Mixcloud

Soundcloud of the day- Yuna

Quite special produced by Pharrell and very Neptunes sounding track from the Malaysian singer-songwriter... real grower....and it's been right up there on my playlist.

A Tale of two embeds

Recently a virtual friend of mine Ian Dewhirst released a compilation called Philadelphia International Re Edits Various-Artists.  


To quote Ian 

One reason why there has never been a package like this before is because it’s extremely difficult to improve upon perfection anyway plus the quality control standards at Philadelphia International have always been top level and generally out of reach in order to preserve the integrity of the catalogue. However, with the advent of re-edit culture and the increasing sophistication of affordable new technology, suddenly there was no longer the need to physically access the original master tapes – a costly and expensive process at the best of times. Now a re-editor could work from the comfort of his laptop and craft a re-edit at his or her leisure. This meant that rather than working in an expensive studio and compressing all your ideas into several hours or even several days, now re-edits can be done to each re-editors individual time-scales, whether they be over a couple of weeks or even a couple of years in some cases. The result has been that now a finished re-edit can finally be presented once someone has lived with it and tweaked it for weeks, months or even years. So, essentially, the disadvantages in not having access to the original multi-track tapes (and being able to isolate each track separately) can often be outweighed by the sheer time you can spend in getting something absolutely right without the time constraints of using an expensive studio. 


I applaud his efforts here and I'm pleased to see it's selling. 
Here is a track from it:


Meanwhile here is something from some time ago: : )

Soundcloud of the day Hustlin feat. Daniel G on Tenor by St Paul

Mixing, re grooving, turntablism call it what you will, but it's hard not to like this atmospheric instrumental.

Blind I for the day Saux ft. Joya Mooi

Posted a couple of Days ago on Blind I was this forth coming track from the Saux EP called "Rear Window".

Bandcamp of the day...........Lois Davina

Many thanks to Stevie Street for not only bringing this to my notice but bashing me over the head with it till I woke up out of my two week sleep of not posting.!!

Update...

Hello everybody !


My apologies for not updating, I've not felt the desire to peck out a few words or upload music. 

The big news from my own point of view is the closure of Megaupload, and the resulting fallout. Though I was a member and paid for a subscription, I always knew that it wouldn't last forever, but when it was shut down- it came as a surprise. I used Megavideo a lot for TV shows in the main but I also used the service for personal storage, though I never had anything stored on there that I didn't back up.


The piracy argument is very complex, I couldn't possibly make much sense on the topic in the narrow confines of a post on a blog that hardly anybody reads. I came to own a computer in order to record my records. I bought my first Computer with an IDE  CD writer back in 1999. Within a couple of days of buying it I'd joined the Library, and was taking out CD's to copy for my own use. I didn't even consider if this was wrong, for me it seemed perfectly natural. I quickly learned that my CD copies were pretty inferior, and that a lot of Music I'd thought about buying wasn't worth it. I kept going to the Library though because the excitement of getting hold of music this way was compelling. At the time I didn't see the copies as free, I'd bought a computer, blank CD's were expensive, and often the whole process took quite a bit of time. 


12 or so years later I came across blogs who used "one click webhosting" for whole CD's and welcomed them. Some blogs in particular changed my outlook on music, Soulmate, Lord Black, Quiet Storm, Wilforall and many others added so much value to my listening. It was more than simply going to a library and choosing stuff to copy, these people had knowledge and taste beyond mine. In time I had my own Rapidshare Account and was uploading recordings of Radio Shows to it. Many of these uploads got 500 downloads which is incredible seeing as I didn't go crazy advertising the links.


The question is was it right for me to download all this music for free ?


From my own viewpoint I'd say that I've never made a single penny from downloading music. I've never been asked to DJ, do a Radio Show, or been approached to sell a CDR. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people who have specifically asked me for copies of anything, so I'm hardly likely to have made much money selling pirate CD's. For all the hours I've spent downloading listening and writing about music (albeit in this cack handed manner) I've hardly cemented my reputation as an expert. I'd like to think I've given some exposure to tracks that wouldn't have got much, but I'm not really certain I've done that. All I can say for sure is that I've wasted a lot of time amusing myself.


Megaupload is gone but I'm still watching US TV the day after it's broadcast and I'm still able to get hold of a few new CD's via one click webhosters. Nobody can truly stem that flow. 


The closure had made me stop and think though, should I switch to mixcloud and do mixes rather than reflect tracks randomly as I do in this blog ?


I'd welcome some views on this topic.

Soundcloud of the cover version of the day

Some songs are class regardless. Even I could sing a decent version of this song, thankfully JoiStaRR asked PJ Morton instead


JoiStaRR - Nothing Even Matters Feat. PJ Morton by JoiStaRR

Soundcloud of the day -Gilbert Graef

F*cked up Disco, not my cup of Earl Grey to be honest. Yet again this is a bit perverse, low down dirty in fact. 
Gilbert Graef - Bump me (Free BoogieGee) by Box Aus Holz Records

TL Cross new(ish) EP- "The World Soul" seems on first listening a bit light on Soul, however seeing as it's on every Blogbus page, at least it's gone round the World.


First listens though can be deceptive because I really like this track, in fact it's excellent stuff !

Cover Version of the Day.... Richard Elliot

Produced by Jeff Lorber (who plays Keys) this is pretty by the numbers stuff.  Moreover the sight of "Inner City Blues" on the tracklist does make one sigh.  On the other hand it's well played and controlled without overt blandness. It's mood music, it's smooth but never slick.