Reviewed by Tony Cummings

R&B heads take note, tracks 1, 3 and 7 are the ones to play good an' loud, with phat bass, hip hop influenced grooves and Smokie's oily, soulful voice plucking every bit of soul power from his dazzling vocal armoury. These hot cuts put the album into the R&B category, though elsewhere he does the whole nine yards in black church style. Here, it's a bit too stylised to be truly convincing while some of the slow tunes Smokie has a tendency to overdo the pryotechnics so that melody lines get lost in vocal gymnastics. Also starting an acoustic ballad with a spoken recitation, "You know, I was looking at the position of the world the other day," is likely to bring howls of laughter from the more cynical. But nothing can eclipse the fact that the wondrously monickered Mr Norful has a voice every bit as good as any mainstream R&B star you could name. So if you're prepared to use the select button this is a debut you won't want to let pass you by.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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