Lovelife lacks spice? Add some Sugar!

The Sweet Sound of Sugar!

Sugar Vallone - The soundtrack to finding love and keeping it. Jive
82876601752. www.sugarvallone.com

Andrew Keech has already posted an excellent comprehensive review on
the "Music from the Movies" website (
http://www.musicfromthemovies.com/review.asp?ID=3456 ). There's no
point reinventing the wheel, so what can I usefully add? Most of the
tracks will be familiar to forty-somethings, and many have probably
already furnished the background to youthful and not-so-youthful
romantic encounters of varying levels of satisfaction and wishfulness.
Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if many of these tunes, in their
original vinyl or tape formats, will be lurking in potential
purchasers' homes. Of course, there may just possibly be some younger
people who haven't heard any of this music at all! (You guys have
definitely got to buy it!) But, setting the latter group aside, why
shell out for this CD?

Well, firstly, if you've "got a groove on" with somebody - these are
great romantic easy-listening tunes, well suited to creating a mood -
do you want to have to keep getting up to change the record? Let Sugar
Vallone do it for you!

Secondly, there are, in fact, some new tracks here that are worth
having in their own right. Brian Bennett's creations crop up under a
variety of names. "Sugar's Theme" by the "Noise Mechanics" is sleazily
sexy, with sinuous organ and lubricious muted trumpet. "Road to
Montebello" by "Vallone's People" is post-coital in its delicious
dreaminess. Brian Bennett's "Chaseside Shoot Up" (yes, he uses his own
name for this one!) has that optimistic, anything-is-possible,
adrenalin-charged feel of seventies TV themes, alluded to by Andrew
Keech. For me, however, Eileen Hunter's "Falling" is the most
interesting track here. Why? Listen to it carefully, with the volume up
a bit, and I predict you'll be transported by the sensitivity and
precision of her modulated silky tones. There's a tantalising hint of
barely tapped power in the lower register here, promising much in the
future from this up-and-coming jazz songstress. A little bird tells me
that this CD could one day be an essential part of the Eileen Hunter
discography. But make up your own minds!