Hil St. Soul's debut album Soul Organic on Dome Records was one of the best records in 1999. And since this time...nothing except for some vocal duties by Hilary Mwelwa on Down To Bone's recent album Crazy Vibes and Things. So the first 12" from the album was a welcome return for Hilary and Victor Redwood-Sawyerr although I favour the original version of All That (+ A Bag O' Chips), unfortunately the record label chose to include the asian-flavoured Mushtaq Remix on this album sampler.
But there are some very strong cuts here, like the funky Alright that's more in the Strictly A Vibe Thang sound. Or listen to the beautiful ballad Pieces or the mellow midtempo song Blue Tears (never have castanets sounded better since Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis used it for some Cherrelle songs). I'm not so sure about Think Again that appears here as a radio edit version...to me it's just stealing a glance at, er, radio. I hope the original version will be better. The sixth track on this sampler is the southern influenced Lonely Road that reminds me slightly of some deeper Hot House songs.
3 very good songs out of six isn't bad and I hope the album will be more like Alright, Pieces or Blue Tears.