4 Hero - Play with the changes
Marc Mac and Dego, better known as 4 Hero have been very active in the last six years. They have been working on a variety of side projects but fans have been patiently waiting for the follow up to "Creating Patterns". Folks, the wait is over. "Play with the changes is not only their best album to date (That's saying a lot), but this is simply the best cd of 2007 so far. From the opening track "Morning Child", with the wonderful string arrangements and the lovely voice of newcomer Carina Anderson, this track is symbolic of all the great work that 4 Hero has done over the years.
Anytime you have Ursula Rucker on board with these guys, something magical usually happens. Such was the case with "Loveless" from "Two Pages" and "Time" from "Creating Patterns", she does it again with "The awakening". Ursula's spoken word skills combined with socially conscious word play are in sync with the soulful strings to create an intense, potent, orchestral masterpiece. The legendary Larry Mizell adds the Magic touch to the title track "Play with the changes". While listening to this song, one could hear the similarities between this song and some of the great Donald Byrd songs of the seventies that were produced by the Mizell brothers. Normally I'm not the biggest fan of remakes. Unless you can match or surpass the original, please, leave it alone. Having said that, I was very pleased with the job Terry Devos did with Stevie Wonder's "Superwoman". He did some justice to the song and I think Stevie would be pleased. In addition, there are appearances from Jody Watley, Jack Davey (J*Davey), Lady Alma, Bembe Segue, Kaidi Taitham, Darien Brockington & Phonte. Once again Marc and Dego have managed to assemble many flavors of musical styles and make them fit perfectly. The great thing about these guys is that even though they are known as the pioneers of drum n bass and broken beat, their music has always been much more soulful than many of the songs under that genre. Never resting on past success, they continue to push the boundaries of modern soul music. The kind of disc that you can just press play, kick back and enjoy without skipping songs. Highly recommended.
www.4hero.co.uk
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