Blast-from-the-past type sounds with horns and soulful orchestration reminiscent of the late 1960s to mid 1970s typify The Herbaliser [!K7 Records K7226CD], a group consisting of Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba, and hailing from West London in the U.K. Same As It Never Was is a play on the Talking Heads classic “Once In A Lifetime” where “Same as it Ever was” is the repetitious refrain, and only the first of many puns contained within this album. One song, “Can’t Help This Feeling” (purchase/download), even has variations on the lyrics of the Temptations classic, “Get Ready”. I’m thinking that the pun is the funky theme of these Herbalizers upon awakening in the latent purple haze.
Many of the cuts remind me of the themes or soundtracks to movies like “Coffey”, Cleopatra Jones, and others from the Hollywood Blackxploitation era. In a way, this is like hearing from an old friend. Our first co-star, Jessica Darling, almost hits young Millie Jackson notes on cut two, “On Your Knees” (purchase/download), and I love the vintage baritone sax that is not only heard on that cut, but throughout the entire album.
Touching all bases apparently is one of The Herb’s trademarks, and this is apparent as they feature the rapping talent of Yungun on “Just Don’t Stop”, and More or Les on “Game Set & Match” – both drop science insightfully and positively.
“The Next Spot” with its bawdy, brassy horn section lead cadence is the first of a few instrumentals that are movie soundtrack material. The quiet interludes give fodder to imagining the hero in chase mode after the bad guys, and closing-in on the nab.
“Street Karma” features the smooth female Hip Hop stylings of Jean Grae, a perennial friend of the Herbz. She is very listenable as she delivers a story of some rough doings in the ‘hood as a “cautionary tale”, and thus adding a little spice to this herbal stew.
Track six, “Amores Bongo” evokes the soundtrack for a cheesy spy movie spoof a la Peter Sellers’ “On Her Majesties Secret Service”. Indeed yes, there are many analogies to use in order to give you a flavor of whether this will appease your musical taste buds. These guys must have done their Stax-meets-Motown homework assignments.
There are shades of nursery rhymes and Betty Wright to characterize “You’re Not All That” with Jessica again breaking it down, “Who told you, who told you/you’re not all that, I can change that, I can change that...” on top of a funky groove that reminds me of King Curtis and the Memphis Horns complete with a take-me-to-the-bridge-type brief drum solo. We even experience a wee bit of Pink Floydian philosophy and the astral jazz tip from the album’s finale, “Stranded On Earth” which is a play on “Dark Side Of The Moon” apparently, except they didn’t want to be seen as biting on them that hard, admits Jake in the press release.
It is a fun journey on their musical discovery channel, with a good balance of funk and Hip Hop. Boomers and Generation-Xers above a certain age surely will find this great listening, and I guess everyone will dance in some shape or style to these tunes as well. It merits a very punny four stars for leaving me feeling like I just witnessed the seasoning of a stage show after the last note sounded.
Released May 27, 2008 on !k7 Records
