Chris Standring | Soul Express

Chris Standring | Soul Express
by Terrill J. Hanna

I know back in the day, My Momma once shared this promising phrase that would later become an omen for me in Life:

…..”Never Judge A Book by its Cover”….

And you know what? She’s right!

From the hoopla (some positive, some negative) shared about the Beautiful, partial nude Model (Ms. Holly Weber for those wanting to know…) on the front CD cover. Many should take the time & attention span to otherwise pick this up SIMPLY for the great musical pleasures Mr. Standring brought to my Kitchen table & quite possibly to yours!! If its for the CD cover….well…..Its on you!

Chris & His Crew got quite Funky on this one Folks! FUNKY!

These compositions complements guitar funkiness with ease. Chris came to play! And his “groove patrol” flanked his playing style all the way through the record.

I feel this is Chris’s best album to date.

Songs:

  • — Catwalk
  • — Kaleidoscope
  • — Constellation
  • — A Method To Madness
  • — I Can’t Help Myself
  • — Soul Express
  • — Through The Looking Glass
  • — Mumbo Jumbo
  • — As
  • — Shooting Stars
  • — Giant Steps

And His Crew?

  • — Rodney Lee (Keyboards & Programming)
  • — Chuck Cymone (Arrangements & Additional Programming)
  • — Jeff Robinson (Vocals)
  • — Rico Belled (Bass)
  • — Dave Karasony (Drums)
  • — Andre Berry (Bass)
  • — C.C. White (Vocals)
  • — Stan Sargent (Acoustic Bass)
  • — Larry Steen (Acoustic Bass)
  • — Roberto Vally (Bass)

>And yours truly: Paul Brown for Additional Percussion & “Groovyness”.

This CD has a good long standing Groove to it. Its Strong! Track after Track, these songs were placed musically in conjunction to each other perfectly. Hey..Just let the whole album play!

Chris on this disc reminds me of the old days when George Benson played on CTI back in the 70’s. Or when Norman Brown first came out with MoJazz. There were adventurous solos, guitar plucks that simply blazed! Fluid….Exquisite…Silky!

Instead of breaking down tracks one by one for this album, I would just go straight to the point & Highly Recommend picking this one up for your collection. A particular track that gets the “repeat” button every time I hear it, would be the scat laced “Mumbo Jumbo.” The bass-line did it for me! This cut jams the spot! And Jeff Robinson vocally backed it up!

The Paul Brown grooved “I Can’t Help Myself” was tight as well!

The Stevie Wonder written “As” had a great harmonica following from Dino Soldo. This track grooved right on time! The band did a good job staying closely to the originality of this song musically. If you are going to cover a Stevie Wonder cut, you betta come with your “A” game. And yes, Chris & Crew did just that!

That’s It! Go Grab this one for the musical joy you will experience out of this! If the CD cover grabbed you, then Chris didn’t fail there neither, huh???

I’m Out….

Terrill J. Hanna
The Urban Music Scene

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