Lou Pride – Keep On Believing (Severn Records).

Lou Pride hails from The Windy City and his voice can, quite literally, blow you away at times. His latest album for Severn Records highlights one of the best soul/blues voices around at the moment. He opens with Midnight Call which is funky R&B with horns aplenty. Lou’s dusky voice sets the standard for the album and for others who may wish to follow. I don’t know what Bob Marley would make of Lou’s cover of Waiting In Vain and, voice apart, it’s not a winner. It is, however, the only cover on the album. I Can’t Hold Back is a return to the funky R&B of the opener and this is his forte. He shows a good vocal range and there’s really a groove on this one. Lou ups the pace, musically, for I’m Com’un Home In The Morn’un (a remake of his 1972 Northern Soul hit) but he remains steadfastly laid back. This has a certain Robert Cray style to the lyric. Love Will Make It Alright is lightweight soul but the sentiments are laudable and the backing vocals and the horns are the highlights. I Want To Hold Your Hand is slow and soulful and Another Broken Heart is more funky R&B that shows off Lou’s timeless voice.

Real Deal is one of the highlights along with Midnight Call. My only criticism is that it could have been played slightly faster. We get the blues at last on the strong and powerful Sunrise before drifting off into slow R&B on Without Your Love. However, this can only be described as standard fare. There’s some more of Lou’s funky R&B on I Wanna Be The Man You Want but there’s nothing too much here to get excited about. He gets back on form with Layin’ Eggs, a strong blues-based soul song. He maintains this strong finish to the album with Hold On To Your Dream and the constants are there, the dusky voice and the horns. This is certainly not the worst album that I’ve heard this year.

http://www.severnrecords.com/

Copyright David Blue 2006.