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REVIEWS




                                          Sugaray Rayford—In Too Deep—Forty Below Records  ASIN :
                                          B09KNBCKLG


                                          Sugaray Rayford has a great voice and has used it to sing both

                                          soul and blues, with his previous album ‘Somebody Save Me’
                                          being nominated for a Grammy.  Like that album this one is also
                                          produced by Eric Corne of Forty Below Records who also co-wrote
                                          the songs with Sugaray. Opener ‘Invisible Soldier’ tells the story

                                          of veterans (like Sugaray himself) who are still suffering from
                                          PTSD – it sounds like the black protest songs of Marvin Gaye or
                                          Curtis Mayfield, while the title track is more rocky, built on a

    powerful guitar riff (Rick Holmstrom)— one of the album’s highlights.  ‘Under The Crescent Moon’
    takes us down to New Orleans a moody track over electric piano with riffing brass and flute and
    ‘Miss Information’ is another highlight as Sugaray testifies over wah-wah guitar and reggae
    sounding brass.



    ‘Please Take My Hand’ is a powerful acapella track with Sugaray and a choir singing about civil
    rights “marching, we’ve been marching since we put upon this land…” By contrast ‘One’ is a plea

    for peace and taking care of the environment with a melodic backing including strings.  ‘Gonna Lift
    You Up’ takes us to the dance floor with Stax-style riffing brass and pounding bass, then ‘Golden
    Lady Of The Canyon’ is a romantic ballad before we return to the dance floor with ‘United We

    Stand’ with more funky bass and riffing brass.  Personally I would have liked to have heard Sugaray
    include some blues here or old style R&B but his new/old soul is done very well with great grooves
    and his pleas for social justice echo the voices from the 1960s and 70s but are obviously still an

    issue in the 21st century USA.


    Graham Harrison


                                          Elles Bailey—Shining In The Half Light—OutLaw Music  ASIN :
                                          B09K5BKZRL


                                          Elles spent the lockdown and its aftermath having a baby and
                                          releasing a live album - 'Ain’t Nothin’ But' - but this new record
                                          sees her back in the studio in deepest Devon with producer Dan

                                          Weller and a band featuring Joe Wilkins (guitar), Johnny
                                          Henderson (keyboards), Matthew Waer (bass) and Matthew Jones

                                          (drums). She's also joined by Izo Fitzroy, Andrusilla Mosely and
                                          Jade Elliot who provide powerful, gospel-style backing vocals. The
                                          songs are all originals written with her usual collaborators
                                          Ashton Tucker, Will Edmunds and guitarist Joe Wilkins and she

    also enlists Matt Owens (Noah and the Whale) and guitarist Martin Harley as co-writers.
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