From one great Britpop soul song to another, but this time, we dip further south to Londontown to pick up Ali Howard and her group with the swinging horns and the lightly crunchy guitars, more classic American soul pop (think Dusty Springfield...uh, wait, she was British, too...right? Right) than Camera Obscura's indie soul pop, a little bit more supper-club, a little bit catchier, a little bit more sheen and gloss (and that's not always a bad thing), though a bit less political (though that's not always a bad thing, either).
If Dusty had a less sultry voice, and sang the Supremes or the Vandellas in the modern era, it might sound like this wonderful pop song, which should have been a major hit in the UK (it wasn't) if not at least a minor one here (didn't chart anywhere else, either). The song's wonderfully written, too (as is the entire album The Great Unwanted), and this would have been a hit forty years ago, for any soul chanteause or girl group, and it would have been playing on classic pop radio and commercials for years to come. Alas, radio ain't what it used to be, but, fortunately, the quality of the songs out there--if you listen for 'em--are as great now as they ever have been. Evidence of this? Just listen to this one, and you'll want Ali Howard to add her light to yours every single spin.
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