Ah, on paper this sounds like a vocal lover's dream coming true with Michelle Wilson and Dawn Tallman singing together on one record. And it's just what one would expect, produced by Italian Luis Radio this is a great piece of more organic house with the inclusion of wurlitzer, guitar, bass, trumpet and trombone (not dissimilar to Michelle's Moving On on Kif). Over nine minutes of pure delight in the Luis & Raffa Main Vocal Mix that every lover of vocal house should have!

From Solar House's full length album Magic Of The City comes the title track as single 12" release. Featuring Angie Reid on vocals there's the very good Original Mix with its late night house/jazz feeling evoked by a nice trumpet and some vibes.
Kerri Chandler's Deepside Remix captures the spirit of the original by just adding some of his typical bass patterns...less jazz on this version but still an overall more bluesy feeling.

It looks like 2003 will be renamed the Michelle Weeks year since this is the umpteenth house record this year that features Mrs. Weeks vocals. Produced by Joey Musaphia Heaven is just another blueprint of an inspirational house record with great vocals. There are two great mixes on Part I, Joey's Refunkt Mix and Richard Earnshaw's Classic Mix, that's more to the point and gives you the essence of Heaven in nearly seven minutes. Finally, there's also the Alliance D.C. Boogie Mix but I really could've done without it.

Like Sunshine Anderson once sang 'I've Heard It All Before'...this track is a pleasant tribute to vintage Fingers Inc stuff. It sounds just like an unreleased Larry Heard record from the mid 80ies with Fingers Inc member Robert Owens on vocals. Great, if you like the old house sound like me and even better to hear that the old records in your collection are still influential today.

Another week, another T. Kolai release. Their second release on Chilli Funk is a taster of the forthcoming Teak All Eye album that's soon to be relased on Chilli Funk.
Exodus is a fine groove with a bluesy guitar, saxophone and flute together with African chanting harmonies. Marvellous in its long original version, but I'm not so sure about the housed up/lounge like Fragile State Remix on the flipside.

Licensed from Slaag Records to the Italian No Label we get three remixes of this tune that was originally written by Glenn D. Thornton. The Nick Corline Remix is the one for you, if you like Dawn's previous work, Nick gives this track a great gospel house feeling with some stomping beats, saxophone, piano and Dawn's heavenly vocals. Makes you believe in everything on the dancefloor.
The Soundplan Mix really is a mess, it begins nice with some dark and moody beats but then looses its magic with some unnecessary sound effects. There's even a dub version by Ron Carroll but compared to the gospel flavoured remix it really does nothing to my ears.

That's a record that has really took ages until it has been released. Finally we get some songs by Cassandra Wilson in a Joe Claussell mix. Run The Voodoo Down from her Traveling Miles album and You Don't Know What Love is from her Blue Light 'Til Dawn album. And these mixes are just what you would expect from Joe Claussell, percussionladen deep re-works that comes in various mixes spread over two 12"es. Certainly a must have for fans of Joe's sound and a welcome addition to Cassandra's earthy jazz songs.

Another Moodyman production starting with some talking until Roberta Sweed begins to sing over a sparse drum beat with some piano licks. Only a one-sided release but the version we get is just great, deep and soulful as we all know and like Kenny Dixon Jr aka Moodyman.

Nice, a record in blue vinyl...and even nicer is that Change The World is a great song sung by Percy Duke and produced by the ubiquitous Harley & Muscle. Just go straight to the Harley & Muscle Deep Mix that's just what was promised, deep and soulful with a nice bass and some Fender Rhodes. A fine piece of modern uptempo soul music. There are also Harley & Muscle's Main Mix, Spanka Nkpg's Remix and Fragment Orchestra's There's A Spirit Here Remix to choose from.

Produced by Ivan Iacobucci I Wanna Gotcha Back comes as Ivan's Boogie Mix and Victor Simonelli Club Mix. And it's Ivan's mix that really does it for me, a nice driving house rhythm with great vocals by LT Brown who reminds me a little of a throaty Michael Watford and some uncredited background singers. Victor's Club Mix is a little slower but still quite nice.

I really loved what Greg Gauthier and Tony L. did with Michelle Weeks on their By Your Side song some years ago. And they did it again with Michelle on this new release for the Kif Records label. We all know that Michelle can really shout out a tune like no one else but with Greg Gauthier and Tony L. she really gets soulful and just sings with her great voice. Movin' On is a great piece of modern uptempo soul that really isn't only-house anymore and it doesn't matter if you take the Main Mix or the Jericho Remix since they are both great. With the inclusion of drums, bass, guitar, Fender Rhodes and a horn section, Movin' On creates a nice live feeling and sounds reminiscent of uptempo Incognito songs. And it's just one of the best records this year!

Deepswing has always been a provider of good uptempo house tracks and Raindrops is really no exception to this rule. With flutes by Gareth Lockrane, vocals and Rhodes by Wayne Howard and guitar and keys by Eric Wikman this is a fine piece of soulful house music. With 4 different mixes there's one mix for every taste. There's a four to the floor version, a nice reprise that's just vocals and flute, the Mindfull Of Music mix that goes a little deeper and the best version for me, the Deepest Mix, that's just, er, so deep it hurts...that's the way I like my house records to be done!

Murena Records is a Danish label I've only noticed so far from their release of Carla Alexandar's É Assim...but judging from their website murenarecords.com I must've missed a lot of their releases. Running With The Devil is a very good song with a deep vibe and a great trumpet by Lars Vissing on top of it. And an uncredited male singer who's telling us 'I've been down so long, you set me free....I've been running with the devil'. For me this sounds best in the Original Mix and the Buscemi Remix, the Universal Funk Remix offers more of a house flavour than a funk flavour for me. The Hakan Lidbo Anthem Remix spices things up with more percussion and by raising the pace of the song. It may not capture the spirit of the original version but really sounds nice.

Washington Classics is despite the name a UK label that has released some fine soul 12"es in the past. Love Sunshine is another good example of their sound. Real soul music sung by Sienna and in this context even the short rap break by Funky DL fits in quite well. Love Sunshine sounds best in the Album Version, which means there will (hopefully) be an album soon. The Breakdancers Remix is alright but in my opinion not as good as the album mix.

Like Washington Classics FER is a label from the UK and has also released some fine soul records so far. Althought the sound of FER records is usually a little less modern than the sound of Washington Classic. One listen to I Want U (not the Marvin Gaye song by the way) and you know what I mean...a fine soul song with a nice 80ies feeling and some Fender Rhodes. Set Your Spirit Free is a soulful house song or maybe we should say a modern uptempo soul song and it's the real winner here for me. There's an Album Version and a Club Mix of Set Your Spirit Free available here but just go straight to the album mix since it really sums up what this song's about.

From Portugal's Kaos label comes this tasty sampler with 4 tracks from the Total Kaos 02 CD. There are 4 songs on offer with remixes that are unavailable elsewhere. Like Byron Stingly with U Turn Me On (DJ Vibe Redi To Dance) that's presented as a nice uptempo mix with less Byron but more percussion and an overall darker vibe. Cevin Fisher's Loving You (DJ Jiggy Jet Mix) really means nothing to me as does Deep In with In A Summer Time (Paul Jays Free Mix). But the highlight is saved for last and can be found on side D. Nathan Haines ft. Verna Francis Earth Is The Place gets a great rework with the Deep In Free Mix that transforms this song that just refuses to die into a brilliant midtempo song with flute and congas. I just love this version!

From Switzerland's finest house label comes this little vocal gem. Sung by Miriam Dee Now Or Never is just another song with have-fun-and-party-type of lyrics. But with remixes by the Pound Boys and by Souldrop I really can't argue with it. The Pound Boys PM Vocal Mix is just a solid four to the floor house mix you would've expected from Craig C and Dealer. The Souldrops Main Vocal Mix, mixed by Roberto De Carlo and Dario Dattis, is a little more deeper and soulful and my favourite version here.

Bonne Soirée is a nice 4 track 12" with tracks written by Derrick Thompson. Moondance is a very good, late night jazz-influenced deep house track and the one that does it for me on this 12". Acid Love Pt. 2 features some fine scatting by an uncredited female over an accoustic bass with some bells, guitar, trumpet and keys...very tasty. The flipside with Bye Bye and Eternal Treasure pales a little in comparison although Eternal Treasure is a good and slow lounge like track. All in all a good 12" from a good label.

Stories in the original version is such a fine soul single, that lets us hear Carleen Anderson in one of her best performances for some time now (unfortunately nobody has send me a copy of Carleen Anderson's new album Alberta's Grand Daughter so far for a review). This song wouldn't have been out of place on an album by the Young Disciples. The Full Flava Remix adds a little more percussion and a tabla for extra attraction to the mix. There's even another song here that features Carleen: You Are (My Destiny) which is equally appealing and really makes this record a must have for all soul music fans.
Hopefully the Full Flava album Colour Of My Soul will soon be released on Dome.

After their Zabalaza release from some months ago, the Brothers Of Peace aka B.O.P. are back with the MAW label to release a nice double-header. Victory Song is a fine piece of what can best be descripted as South African Jazz with a chanted version of (what sounds to me like) the Marseillaise. Really different from what can be heard elsewhere at the moment. Zimbi'Ndaba is a little dancefloor friendlier with it's driving percussion, flute, horns and afro feeling. If you are more open minded musically this one's surely a winner for you!

Celebrate is a pleasant four to the floor gospel inspired house song sung by Jahma. Like with Simon's This Life Is My Own this is not the re-invention of house music but a good and solid, feel good uptempo house track with additional production and remix by Keith 'KCC' Franklin.

Wonderful Life is Sahara's second release and what a great record it is! With vocals sung by Mustafa Akbar and a great remix by T.Kolai this is a really good deep house record with all the right ingredients, lush instrumentation with piano, percussion and organ and fine vocals with a positive message. There's also an A.S.E. Remix and an album version on this 12" but in my opinion Wonderful life works best as T.Kolai remix.

This is the debut release from the new imprint Sahara. And Zouk! is just what the title suggests: a housed up version of a zouk song. Zouk is music that comes from the West Indies and thus it has a nice carribean feeling to it. There are three versions of Zouk! on this 12". The Main Mix, the Tribute To Niv Mix and the Percussive Dub that includes more percussion than the other mixes (mmm, maybe that's why they called it that way...lol). A record that makes me long for those hot summer days!