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REVIEW
 Baby Lee: Right Here For U |
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American
soul singer, Baby Lee, currently resides in Kansas City but is originally
from a neighbourhood called Jamaica in the borough of queens in the
Big Apple. As a background vocalist, the sultry-looking Lee appeared
on a couple of cuts from smooth jazz guitarist, Norman Brown's "After
The Storm" set for MoJazz a few years back. Some of her solo material
was recently showcased in the UK on First Experience Records' excellent
"Simply Soul Flavas" series. This gospel-reared singer now makes her
solo debut for FER with "Right Here For U," a 15-track compendium
of tunes co-written and co-produced by Lee. "Right Here For U" is
a pleasing modern soul album that is notable for its absence of the
jerky, hip-hop rhythm tracks that are the scourge of the real soul
enthusiasts. Lee is an assured, expressive vocalist whose talent shines
on the dreamy, atmospheric "Blue Rain," the fluid, mid-tempo "Goodbye"
and emotive ballads like "When A Man Lies" and the tender quiet storm
slow-jam, "Sweet Lovin." The obsession by American major record labels
for signing precocious, juvenile r'n'b artists has meant that many
talented, more mature performers ( like Baby Lee ) have to go the
independent route for recognition. In many ways it's a shame, particularly
in view of financial restrictions and lack of powerful media machinery,
but perhaps in the long run, this route may prove more fruitful -
for at least in the independent sector performers seem to have more
artistic control which may lead to career longevity. I'll guarantee
Baby Lee will stimulate your taste buds. Another quality release from
FER |
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A name and a voice you might already be familiar with having featured
on Volumes 1 and 3 of this Leicestershire label's excellent compilation
series "Simply Soul Flavas". If not, you soon will be, with this Kansas
based lady poised to impress with her debut set which runs for over an
almost faultless hour. Vocally she sounds somewhere between Mica Paris
and Martine Girault, but her talents go deeper than that as she co-wrote
and co-produced virtually every track which range from the great mid-pacers
"Goodbye", "Not This Time", "So Not To Worry" and "Cryin", to the classy
steppers' delights "Sweet Lovin", "Go On" and "Here For U". Plenty more
besides and without doubt one of the best albums around at the moment. Reviewed by Steve Hobbs - Blues & Soul |
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This is the first of two releases from the FER label for this issue
of the Lowdown. The label has, over the last two or three years consistently
brought us extremely classy albums and compilations. It was from their
series of "Simply Soul Flavas" compilations that this lady first came
to my attention. I must confess though that I have just had a lesson
of "Don't judge a book by its cover" with this album. The sleeves would
imply that it could be a bit of a "yo yo mutha / street R&B" sort of
an album, if you catch my drift!! Yes it has a flavouring of that "now"
sound but it has been so diluted in favour of real soulful vocals and
fine arrangements that it barely shows at all. I guess you have gathered
by now that I'm not a fan of this so-called "R&B" sound today! The general
feel of this album for me has a late eighties / early nineties feel.
Her voice is quite pleasant actually, it's weird… I can here slight
twinges of Chaka Khan or maybe the merest pinch of Jody Watley in there
but also a strong Jaki Graham feel especially on the "Goodbye" track.
I could prattle on and describe track by track the entire album but
this would take up the whole page. What I will say is that it is a very
satisfying mix of mid-tempo and ballad tracks, the sort of album that
hasn't really got any bummers on it at all, so if you're the sort that
likes to put on a CD, kick back and relax, the I'm sure this is for
you. It can be played from start to finish without having to resort
to pushing "next track" on your remote control!!… A pretty darn good
release well worthy of your attention. |