Often, greatest hits albums are used as lures to get people
\ninterested in catalog albums from an artist. Seeing that I own
\nseveral such albums, I guess I have no problem with this – besides,
\nthis normally is the best way to get the absolute cream of the crop
\nfrom a group or an artist.<\/p>\n
In the case of Seattle’s Phat Sidy Smokehouse, their disc
\nSlingin’ Hubs<\/i>, a compilation of three independently-released
\ndiscs, is not labeled as a greatest hits. In a sense, that’s good,
\nsince most people would probably rail against such a disc from a
\ngroup which had never made it to the majors. Ah, but this is also
\nwhere the band, led by vocalist E-Dog, also does the smart thing.
\nSlingin’ Hubs<\/i> serves as the kind of disc that makes the
\nlistener want to discover more from this band – and should be the
\ndisc that makes a major label want to snag this highly talented
\ngroup up in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n
The group, which is augmented by a horn section, is a wonderful
\nmixture of “old-school” r&b and hip-hop, with a little funk
\nthrown in for good measure. But don’t label this group rap just
\nbecause this reviewer chooses to hang the “hip-hop” tag; in fact,
\nthere is no rap on this disc at all. What I mean by “hip-hop” is
\nthere is a lively bounciness to much of the music, creating an
\nabsolute groove that is reminiscent of many hip-hop groups I’ve
\nheard over the years. (Obviously a group like Digital Underground
\nagrees; Phat Sidy Smokehouse has opened for them in the past.)<\/p>\n
But I can understand a little bit of hesitancy on the part of
\nconsumers and record label execs. We’ve been down this path before,
\nthey all say. 24-7 Spyz. Fishbone. Psychefunkapus. Limbomaniacs.
\nAll groups who, for one reason or another, never achieved the kind
\nof success that was once dreamed about.<\/p>\n
Baloney. Just slap
\nSlingin’ Hubs<\/i> into the CD player, and hear for yourself why
\nPhat Sidy Smokehouse demands to be taken on their own merits. Lord
\nknows they have plenty of them. Tracks like “Ghetto Life,” “Phreaky
\nDeaky” and “Original Mac” have a joyful bounce to their rhythmic
\nbackbone, enough to get you up and dancing to the wonderful groove.
\nE-Dog lays down solid vocals throughout, sounding a little bit like
\na soulful Montell Jordan at times.<\/p>\n
And just like that, Phat Sidy Smokehouse can lay down a beat
\nwhich slows things to a gentle boil, and causes the listener to get
\nsucked into this new-fashioned soul. Tracks like “Don’t Do It” and
\n“Changes” all simmer with power and musicianship, and are further
\ntestimony to the mastery this group has over its genre.<\/p>\n
How down-to-earth is
\nSlingin’ Hubs<\/i>? “E-Dog Epilogue” is a brief thanks to the
\nlistener delivered by E-Dog, almost as if he was sitting across the
\ntable from you and you had spent the whole disc talking about what
\nthe band was up to. It actually is an appropriate finish – though I
\nwould have left off the final moments where it sounds like E-Dog
\nfired up a spliff to relax.<\/p>\n
\nSlingin’ Hubs<\/i> is a disc which should renew people’s interest
\nin soul, funk, r&b and hip-hop, and could well be an early
\nindication of a future superstar group. Phat Sidy Smokehouse has
\nbeen working on a double-album, and are hoping to find a record
\nlabel willing to give them a chance (as well as assistance to get
\nit finished). Here’s hoping someone in the industry takes a chance
\nand gives this group the break they deserve – in fact, I challenge
\nany major label to give them a chance. You can thank me later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6639],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37164","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-phat-sidy-smokehouse","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37164"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37164"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}