Neo Soul — All Formats  

A spacey, soulful and funky showcase for singer Amalia – one the finds her collaborating with an impressive roster of guests including Atjazz, Portformat, Opolopo and others! Amalia blends inspirations that range from heartfelt, though trippy 70s soul and funk, to 80s electro and the more creative underground soul of the hip hop generation and beyond. What sets Making Of Amalia apart is the way that she's adapting it all so seamlessly into a vibe of her own. It doesn't hurt that she has an amazing vocal range, and the creative mind to use it as a spontaneous, unpredictable instrument above all others. Nor does it hurt that the record is filled to catchy, sexy and spacey songs that are a flat out blast to listen to! Creative and stylistically daring soul in the tradition of Chaka Khan, Betty Davis, Erykah Badu, Labelle and other free spirits! Titles include "Just Like Magic" with B Bravo & Teeko, "Get Caught" and "Cuttify It!" credited to Cutty Lark & Amalia, "Where Do I Belong" (Portformat & Amalia)", "She Want It All" (Bakura feat Amalia), "Hysteria" (Reggie B & Amalia), "Still In Love With You" (Sage Monk & Amalia) and more.

Early, early work from the Heavies, with their original singer Jay Ella Ruth, working a tight funky groove that's very much like a slicked up James Brown sound, rather than the poliched modern soul vibe they'd move towards later.

US pressing, with 8 mixes, several by David Morales.

The best in years from Dwele – who honestly has yet to really make any kind of a creative misstep – and Greater Than One is one of his greatest records to date! Detroit singer and producer Dwele has long balanced a love for classic soul of the Donny Hathaway school with contemporary, though wisely trend-skirting production – and he does that once again here. There's a more focused feel, and really strong, insistent songs this time out, too. Of course Dwele's voice is the greatest selling point, and it's layered beautifully throughout! Includes "Greater Than One Less Than Three", "Going Leaving", "Takes22Tango", "What You Gotta Do" with Raheem DeVaughn, "What Profit", "Obey", "Must Be" feat J Tait, L'Renee & Black Milk, "Swank" and "Patrick Ronald" feat Monica Blaire, "Frankly My Dear (I'm Bennett I Ain't Innit)" and more.

Dwele returns with a thematically ambitious effort – a 3 section album divided into W.ants, W.orld and W.omen – and it pays off very well and actually works as cohesively as anything he's done to date! Wisely, Dwele doesn't veer to hard stylistically from one section to the next, a solid modern hip hop soul sound on the production tip, and we're not hearing any short sighted bows to current trends or throwback soul. It's honest and real, just as we'd hope from one of Detroits brightest graduates of the neo soul scene – with guests David Banner, Slum Village, Raheem Devaughn & others. Titles include "Wants (Intro)", "I Wish", "Grown", "Dodgin Your Phone" feat David Banner, "Dim The Lights" & Smoke Up The Back (Interlude)" feat Raheem DeVaughn, "World (Intro)", "How I Deal" feat Slum Village, "My People", "Women (Intro)" feat Kindra Parker, "I Understand", "Love You Right", "I Wanna" feat DJ Quik, "What's Not To Love" and more.