TOP's The Great American Soulbook, mini review

[burk48237]

First, I love TOP, love Rocco and Dave G. I sincerely believe they are one of the best rhythm sections of all time. Now to the CD.

The idea sounds great, pick a eleven great soul "standards", bring in some great soul singers, add one JB tribute song and mix it up. In theory this should be a great CD right? TOP's weaknesses IMO are song-writing, no Stevie Wonders in the band, an their singers have mostly been generic (good but not great) soul singers.

Well unfortunately it doesn't work. I love the TOP sound, the muted busy bass lines with straight ahead punchy drumming and a monster horn section.. But what we get here is a tight generic sounding cover band. Basically they stayed with the original arrangements to the point where they never really put their stamp on any tune. Even the horn section sounds mediocre and uninspired, almost like a real good wedding band. The best tune by far is "It takes two" with Joss Stone. I would love to see her do a CD with these guys. The JB tribute original tune is not bad, but not up to the standards of "I'm still digging on James Brown". Suggestion, save your money and if you don't have any TOP buy "Soul Vaccination Live" instead.

[JimK]

I think "Me & Mrs Jones" is PDB.

[DWBass]

I agree. I don't dig the record at all! Rocco is a great bassist............for Tower Of Power and TOP-ish tunes! You can tell by listening that he is exercising some great restraint not to add a blur of 1/16 notes! Personally, I think he's the 'weak link' on this particular record.