Album Review: The James Hunter Six - Off The Fence

The James Hunter Six 

Off The Fence

**** out of *****

The James Hunter Six have consistently crafted solid retro soul albums for the last decade plus. On the excellent Whatever It Takes and Nick of Time, they did so for the Daptone label. Now the group shifts to Easy Eye Sound for Off The Fence and the results remain the same as a mix of gloriously gritty soul and smooth R&B seep out with ease. 

 

The British based Hunter has always had a voice straight out of the late 50's/early 60's and as he ages his vocals continue to sound great. The band, Hunter (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Myles Weeks (double bass), Rudy Albin Petschauer (drums), Andrew Kingslow (keyboards, percussion), Michael Buckley (baritone saxophone) and Drew Vanderwinckel (tenor saxophone) pump up the energy or slow it down as needed with precision and style. 

Mixing get up and shake'em outings with slower love tunes, Off The Fence works well as the opening Latin groove of "Two Birds One Stone" features Hunter's strong vocals, backing "ooh" and "aah's" and plucking guitar. "Let Me Out of This Love" is a slower number that uses pulsing electro keys, soft horns and rat-tat-tat drumming. 

Two of the best tracks dig into that Sam Cooke inspired, retro R&B sound. "Gun Shy" has a swinging Quincy Jones like groove with upbeat playing, bubbling electro keys and a great sax solo while "Ain't That A Trip" uses big beats and horn blasts as Hunter welcomes Van Morrison to duet with him on the pumping track.   

Less successful is "Trouble Comes Calling" as Hunter deploys some clanging guitar work that feels out of place among the smooth sounds. The rest of the tunes, including the hand drums/slow shuffle of "Believe It When I See It", the rich bass of "One For Ripley" and the piano based blues of "Particular", really connect. The group always seem to work best on the shorter songs and "A Sure Thing" captures all that the band does well, feeling like it could have been written 20 or 80 years ago, as the popping good times just flow.

Each release from The James Hunter Six is a winner and Off The Fence is no exception as the band switches labels but keeps their sweet retro soul sound and style intact.   

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