The sessions with Jay Ella Ruth can be found here:




PLEASE compare the difference between Jay Ella's version of Dream come true or Ride in The Sky:

http://www.amazon.com/Aci...46&sr=1-35

To N'Deas Versions of those same songs:

http://www.amazon.com/Bra...314&sr=1-3


The right decision was made in pairing them up

Brand New Heavies Featuring N'Dea Davenport





























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[Edited 1/29/08 17:37pm]

The Brand New Heavies Featuring Seidah Garrett







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[Edited 1/29/08 15:26pm]

The Brand New Heavies Featuring Carleen Anderson

The Brand New Heavies Featuring "Sy Smith"

The Brand New Heavies Featuring Nicole Russo

I love this band especially with ndea davenport fronting them.
Dream come true, stay this way, don't stop, brother sister,
put the funk back in it, finish what you started, and i could go on and
on. I also liked their 2006 album get used to it. I would love to see
these guys live.

Great story!


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

This is not blog worthy



I am sure you remember how I waxed when I told you about my love for her and then you told me about doing sessions with her and you know you had to practically pick me up off the floor!

So now, I got to actually meet her and tell her my heart and I couldn't be more thrilled and happy Glad to know you can really get where I'm coming from



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[Edited 1/29/08 18:28pm]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I definitely remmeber.
One small correction. They were rehearsals not recording sessions.

Too bad I didn't go to see your reactions first hand.
Next time.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

are these pics from lp's they put out? how come I have never seen most of these I wonder? maan I am but I did like that acid jazz thing that took place back then. I Liked the remake of never stop also. it was on a compilation by some acid jazz group.

Very cool, Supa. N'dea litterally saved my life once. I was driving, and looked down to get something( prob. a cd), I was listening to her solo album(forget hte name of the song, though) and she's singing "stop..stop", I look up just in time to see a stop sign, with traffic whizzing by The only reason I looked up when I did was because of the music.
[Edited 1/30/08 6:25am]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Ok, let's start with Ms. Garrett

Like I said, when N'Dea first left the band I was crushed. But because this is such a quality musical act, I bought the "Shelter" album blind. I wanted to support them no matter what. So I played the CD and I'm like this I played it once and shelved that sucker for nearly a decade. Even though I did like Sometimes, that was not enough to save the album from my disappointed wrath. So over that near decade after I had purchased it, I trashed the hell out of Seidah Garrett. Trashed her. The customer reviews of this album over at Amazon mostly claim N'Dea just oversang the songs and that Seidah is a much better match for the Heavies. Ummm.....WRONG! Those people are high. N'Dea will always be what makes the Heavies who they truly are.

Well, one day after not hearing this for all that time, I was shuffling through a box of stuff and found the CD. I was bored and thought I would at least give it another spin to see if it was as horrid as I remembered. And something happened. I absolutely fell in love with it! My reaction to Seidah had more to do with my disappointment over N'Dea leaving the band than it did with her. I really hardly even knew who she was. I did know she wrote song(s) for Michael Jackson but other than that really was not familiar with any of her stuff as a recording artist. In 2003, I did check out her CD "Seidah" but still wasn't really feeling her.

Upon that re-listen I really discovered how great an album this really is. Seidah is not the greatest singer and coming on the heels of N'Dea my reaction fell so short because I couldn't see through the forest for the trees. This album really showcases her songwriting skills. And I am sure that the band really was able to coallesce around her musically because of her ability to write great songs. This album is very strong lyrically, which is a testament to Seidah's true strength. The message on Sometimes is so worth listening to.

The biggest criticism I have heard about this album is that it is too adult contemporary. And to a degree, that is true. But I think that has more to do with Seidah's limitations as a vocalist. Still, if you give the songs a chance, you can definitely hear that the Heavies sound is not missing from this album and that the "contemporary" charge is not of critical concern.

Of course there is a Jan Kincaid Solo. I have always loved his vocal contributions throughout their albums. Shelter is just a killer song. Like I said before, the ability to write such positivity is one thing I love about this band and Shelter is one of those songs. "After Forever" is a good example that backs up the contemporary charge. This is also a Jan Kincaid track. "You Are the Universe" starts out contempraryish but when you get to the chorus you are presented with such a crazily smart hook:

You are the Universe
And there aint nothin you can do
If you conceive it,
You can achieve it,
That's why I believe in you

More positivity I just love the timing of that chorus. It's just brilliant really. Highest High is more positivity. Day By Day is another that fits the "contemporary" mold, but again, the chorus is totally worth it. Then there are tracks like "Crying Water", "Stay Gone" and "Last to Know" dealing with the downside of relationships.

There are variations of the album going round and unfortunately my copy does not have "You Can Do it", which is an outstanding uptempo funky track. My disc instead has the "Never Gonna Let You Down", which is also a great track. I'd rather have both though

Overall you have a very tasty dish with different themes and sounds going on with very strong lyrics and song writing and the unmistakeable Heavies stamp on many of these songs. I would give this 3 1/2 stars, maybe even 4 stars. I never thought in my wildest dreams this album would ever have elevated from a negative 5 I hope Ms. Garrett accepts this in the form of an apology and my days of being mean to her are over

.
[Edited 2/6/08 17:06pm]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I have never seen this in any of the stores I have ever been in so I have never bought it. And Amazon.com does not have previews available so I am assuming that this best of, like others, has the original recordings and that they are not re-recorded by Ms. Anderson. Even though I don't have this album, I do have the single "Apparently Nothing". I think what happened here is that she recorded three new tracks that went with this best of but from what I can tell there isn't an actual whole album featuring her. Kind of odd that they would pull in someone to record only 3 songs but I think that is what happened.

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[Edited 2/6/08 17:22pm]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I am guessing that this is where Sy Smith appears. Like the album with Carleen, I have never spotted this in any of my excursions to the music store and it is only available as an import and I'm not sure I want to spend $35.00 for something I may not like. So I really have no idea what she sounds like with the band. This album features a variety of vocalists from what I understand. Can anyone give any input on this?

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[Edited 2/7/08 11:02am]

unkemptpueblo said:

Hmm....why can't I think of the song?

Good thing you weren't listening to Never Stop or you'd not be here to tell the tale!

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

This album absolutely thrills me AND it kills me. This is certainly the most studio driven of their albums

Nicole Russo is British and has the most affected voice of anyone the band has ever chosen. Her accent is thick and there is a certain way it helps to color the music. Not saying it's bad, it's just different. There are some absolutely STELLAR tracks on here. Boogie has the signature Heavies "Yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah....yeah yeah" thing going on which is such a wonderful driving force and this song is just killer to me.



That is just such a fucking clever pop song. LOVE IT

How You Think is just another absolutely clever song. Hooky and funky, great chorus:





Waste My Time and I feel Right are both grinding driving flurries of funk and are excellent songs. Keep On Shining is one of those signature Heavies songs flavored by Jan Kincaid and I just adore that track. Since I'm feeling nice, I will count Many Rivers to Cross as it is a nice vocal cut but a little too slow and sappy considering the other tracks I just mentioned. But it's a respectable track so I will include it.

The rest of the album, quite frankly is absolutely forgettable. That is the part that kills me I can't quite understand how they could have crafted such incredible songs on one hand and then be unable to continue with anything remotely decent. on the rest of the album.

I am not sure if this is true but I believe Jan Kincaid and Nicole Russo were lovers. This would make sense as they are both fucking hot They really played up the bombshell aspect with this chick. Maybe that was to distract from how crappy 2/3rds of this album is. But it's in my collection and I'd buy it again just to have them mentioned tracks

OK, Amazon.com lists Nicole Russo as Anglo/Italian but still, the accent is still there

N'Dea was a piece of ass, back in the day.

Ace said:

Was?! She's still bangable!

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

What does she look like now? And who's that in your avvie?

Ace said:

Check the album cover (Get Used to It) in the first post. His avatar is Chaka Khan.

AlexdeParis said:

Thanks! Judging by that pic, she's still lookin' fine!

AlexdeParis said:

Lammastide said:

yeah, they just make you feel so good and not in a cheesy way! I love the way they sing about love, relationships and the positive. Just heartfelt and sincere. I connected with it immediately. I can be very sparkly inside

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[Edited 2/19/08 16:40pm]