Smoove & Turrell is a collaboration between beat-maker Smoove & soul singer John Turrell.
“Antique Soul” is the sound of one of the finest beat producers in the UK hitting his stride. That man is Smoove and this is his second full album release – his first having been snapped up by the legendary Acid Jazz label.
Ask anyone on the funk or breaks scene who’s dropping a rocking beat and “A Man called Smoove” is the earnest reply. So far so good. A Nu-funk legend is dropping his latest album – should be good.
But it’s not just good, it’s career making good and the reason why is that in John Turrell, Smoove has found his vocal match.
Throwing down somewhere between Otis Redding and Animals frontman Eric Burdon, geordie Turrell is the epitome of blue-eyed soul. A working class family man with a voice that takes him and everyone who hears it to a place so far away from everyday life – it’s like a door to a different world is opened in your ear.
Known mostly for uptempo, northern soul influenced, funk and beats jams, on this album Smoove finds someone who can roll with him on those lofty highs but then provide the gravel voiced soul for the comedown. Songs like “Darker Dayz” and “Without You” mean that this is an album with depth from a soul that can be as twisted and dark as it is joyful.
Not that you’d know that from sitting in the pub with them. Then it’s two lads with warm accents and infectious laughter who light up a room and make everyone wonder who the hell it is that’s turning a drab local boozer into the funniest place in the world.
