NO PLACE LIKE SOUL - SOULIVE
Soulive began life in 1999 as a funk-jazz trio of considerable power and inventiveness. Even when it took partial detours into hip-hop and Hendrix, or indulged its rock-collaborative influences as the band did on 2005’s “Break Out,” the members’ feet were never far from their jazz foundations. As such, “No Place Like Soul” sounds like no less than a comprehensive reinvention bordering on occasionally a different band. Soulive is now relocated to the newly reconstituted Stax label, and it sounds like it. “Waterfall” is something close to Robert Randolph, and ballads like “Never Know” and “Callin”‘ work up a Stax-appropriate lather. Some fans may lament the directness of the new sound, and there’s an occasional production smoothness that hasn’t been around before. But the jiggly grooves on tracks like “Comfort” should help ease the transition.(Stax Records)
