VERNA FRANCIS

Down To Earth

Chillifunk

Dunno about’cha peeps, but me feeling good. Miami giving me the opportunity to give a hook to some of my dearest pals, party all nite long while discovering a whole bunch of new jams and have a couple of Pina Coladas (one of’em with Andy of Soul Central !). As if it wasn’t enough, our work looks like pretty much appreciated by a growing amount of you from a week to another and the music we’re provided with on an every day basis looks like it’s never been so good for an eternity. So let me wonder : what could I decently ask more on such circumstances ?

Well, if there was any x-tra thang, UK singer Verna Francis who you might remember for scoring a Single Of The Week here on IDMW.Com prior to the summer holidays has it with a full album. And you know what ? This brings us back to those good ol’days of the Brit Soul era with people such as Mica Paris, the Young Disciples, Diana Brown & Barrie K Sharpe, the McCoy Family and Omar to name but a few. People who’s simplicity soundwise redefined the genre prior giving birth years later to the so called nu soul Stateside. Not too surprising to see on her production staff people like Felix Hopkins who’s a member of the distinguished Restless Soul collective, Scott Baylis who’s brought his horns to record and play live with Reel People and New Zealand’s famous Nathain Haines who Verna’s collaborated with on the memorable ‘Earth Is The Place’ (delivered here on an infectious new version). What we’ve got here is a serious collection of dope jazzy soulful funk grooves with stunning vocal performances, the rendition of which giving you the impression that they’ve been recorded live. Waow !

What I’d like to call a multi facetted juicy fruit… MFSB