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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Left-Of-Center Quintet Gives Great Soul!, 17 Feb 2005
I heard "Soulskin" for the first time on an NPR broadcast & could not get their sound out of my head. Best solution: I bought their CD, and now can listen to their great sounding soul on my sound system, which has better acoustics.This is Soulskin's debut CD. The quintet members describe themselves as "five virtuoso musicians with absolutely no interest in virtuosity." The tracks include a wide range of music from Mitchell Parish's romantic "Ruby," the joyous pop of "Concrete and Clay," Bettye Jean Crutcher's socially conscious "Drown Yourself," Randy Newman's "Shining," a wonderful tango/caberet kind-of take on "Whatever Lola Wants," and instrumental improvisations like "Siberian Nighttrain," and "Pathos Bill." Karen Kraft, the group's vocalist, is outright outstanding! Her voice contributes much to all the above cuts, and is at her best in the depression era "Bread and Gravy" by Hoagy Carmichael, and an unbelievably original version of "Town Without Pity." In the NPR interview, I heard Liane Hanson compare Ms. Kraft to Marlene Deitrich. She has also been likened to a "latter-day Marianne Faithfull, in terms of her emotional impact, charisma, and taste in material, although she possesses a far, far better natural instrument than either chanteuse." That Soulskin produces haunting music is an understatement, and nowhere have I read words that accurately describe their sound. You just have to listen for your self. Can't recommend this one highly enough!
JANA
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