Album: Sour Soul
Producer: Frank Dukes
Release Date: February 24, 2015
Quick Review: Since starting the Map of Shaolin, I decided to add quick placeholder reviews or blog entries in whenever a new album by Wu-Tang (or one of the Wu generals) releases so as not to ignore new albums until I get to them on the Map (eg this summer/fall when I get to them properly). So, after Wu-Tang's A Better Tomorrow and Ghostface's 36 Seasons, Sour Soul is the third such album to step in.
And what an album it is. I'll admit, my only previous exposure to BADBADNOTGOOD (the live jazz/hip-hop act from Canada who supply the music on this record) is their killer remix of "Guv'nor" on JJ DOOM's Key to the Kuffs (Butter Edition), which sounds nothing like their music on Sour Soul. Here they use live instruments to emulate '60s and '70s music that would find a fitting home in Tarantino's Jackie Brown. The retro and often spooky music (eg "Six Degrees") provides a compelling and ear-catching backdrop that, unlike some of hip-hop's more "loops and drum machines" reliant tunes, never gets repetitive. Sometimes, as the guitar approaches a subdued surf-rock tone, it even approaches sounding like a David Lynch / Angelo Badalamenti composition ("Gunshowers" or "Tone's Rap"). But it all serves as a solid counterpart to Ghostface and guests' emceeing.
And, surprising no one, the rapping is all on point. Ghostface opens up "Gunshowers" (one of the album highlights) with "Simple minds get blown, shattered into pieces / My thesis is thick like the Book of Eli / We live, we die, we put 'em in the sky / Free your mind that's a slave like the Fourth of July." On that same track, guest Elzhi stands confident and says "'Cuz every meek head that speak street cred ain't banging heat lead / And probably cut like sweet bread wetting they sheet beds." Other album highlights include "Street Knowledge" featuring Tree and "Ray Gun" featuring DOOM (which also has an amazing video you can see here).
By now it's no surprise that GFK's hip-hop goes so well with live (or at least live-sounding) instruments; this is his third album in as many years relying on a full band sound. Although there were early hints of Ghost leaning towards using more musicians as early as The Big Doe Rehab ("Rec-Room Therapy" especially), it wasn't until 2013's Twelve Reasons to Die that Ghost paired with producer and Black Dynamite composer Adrian Younge for a much cleaner and more straightforward musical approach. Then, last year, Ghost released 36 Seasons, the music for which was performed and produced by The Revelations (a live Brooklyn band RZA discovered to perform on the Wu compilations Chamber Music and Legendary Weapons). Sour Soul, then, feels like a good third act to a trilogy of enjoyable "rap and live music" albums that remind one of The Roots.
If there's a problem with Sour Soul, it's that it's just too short. There are 12 tracks, but three of them are brief instrumentals, leaving just nine songs for Ghostface and Co. to rap over. Even padded out with these instrumentals, the entire album only clocks in at 32 minutes. It's by no means a waste of money - because it just sounds so damn good - but for your $11 plus S&H, it would be nice to have three or four more songs on board.
Expect more on Sour Soul this fall on the Map of Shaolin, and look forward to our retrospective on Wu-Tang's 8 Diagrams - a really divisive record for fans and the Wu themselves - in just 48 hours!
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