Antique Soul

First off, yes this is really two blokes from the "Toon", but hang on - Sting? Pet Shop Boys? LightHouse Family(almost)? Bryan Ferry? Animals? Prefab Sprout? Kane Gang?. Hey! Geordie boys we are here!Before we plumb the depths of Cheryl T-Weedy-soon to be ex-Mrs.Cole, or the X-factor-bloke-we've-forgotten-already, the North East has a lot to answer for and ANTIQUE SOUL is definately up with the former group rather than Simon Cowell's latter.Lots of loops loosely lashed to the sort of raspy vocal that turns up once in a generation emptying a pint glass to the soundtrack of The Committments. Decorated with layers of often synthetic Jazz, but very craftily so to convey Soul sufficiently northern or blue-eyed.Favourites? Try it yourself and make up your own mind, but HAMMOND stands out for doing exactly what it says on the B3? tin.I CAN'T GIVE YOU UP sounds slightly cliched, but is genuinely faithful.BEGGARMAN is brightly remarkable and WITHOUT YOU it's moody, brooding reposte and a fitting closing to a rather splendid first out.Can you dance? Hell you are gonna have to, whether you like it or not.

First heard "Beggarman" on the Radcliffe & Maconie Show on BBC Radio 2 - it was their record of the week, and caused one of those moments that cause you to buy an entire album on the strength of one track - and I have not been disappointed!! Soul as a genre is always marked by its so-called "authenticity"....so when these guys turn up (from the NE of England) mixing contemporary electronic sounds with (northern) soul, it works at every level. Joyous tunes, guaranteed to get you smiling, dancing...or both. Turrell's voice has been compared to Paul Weller - a fair analogy, but he has a fantastic and powerful range, that covers 4 decades of soul sound....this is a really great album - one of my best finds of 2009. Craig Charles on BBC 6 Music has also championed them, and he contributes to the sleeve-notes. Very highly recommended.

I buy 2 or 3 cd’s a week. Yeah I know I’m that last dinosaur who still gets a thrill when the postman posts a tangible thing through the door. This is the best album I have bought for a very long time. If they tour I’m there in a heartbeat. Will be boring friends about how good this is.

Great CD: I'd recommend it to any fan of soul....It ranges from 'shouters' to the magical and mysterious...

good tunes, what a voice, old school style funk soul vibe. Spot on!Will be getting their new album too!

Brilliant album.

Craig Charles interviewed one of the guys from the album on his funk and soul show. I then ordered this straight away. I've never stopped playing it! It's one hell of a cool and funky album. Can't wait to see them live!

I bought Smoove and Turrell's newer album so based on that I looked at what they did before. I am so glad I did. Fab a must buy.