Originally published by L.S. Media. January 10th 2011.
It feels good to get out of your usual listening once in a while and appreciate something that will grab your attention and have you humming along without you even realising it. Liverpool’s own Kate Robbins new album Soho Nights is one such album.
From the opening bar of the title song, you feel as though you have been taken back to the heady days of the 1940’s jazz clubs that gave so much pleasure when there was very little in supply. Kate’s voice is a mixture of laid back and with a subtle hint of the great Karen Carpenter unique vibrato sound that made her a star.
Kate has filled the album with all manner of talented musicians, in other cases this could detract from the artist and have the listener wondering if it has been done on purpose to hide any problems or failings on the performers’ part. This, by any stretch of the imagination does not apply to Kate whose background of doing the club circuit and a vast amount of television work has paid off in droves for this recording.
Amongst those taking part on the album is Italian saxophonist Alessandro Tomei, who also is credited with half the contributions on the album, the wonderful Antonio Forcione on acoustic guitar and the late and sadly missed Ronnie Scott’s session drummer Chris Dagley who passed on shortly after the album was finished.
Soho Nights includes a spell binding version of the Lennon/McCartney classic In My Life. It’s a brave choice of song by Kate, given that its one her cousin’s most famous compositions but also it takes a very special kind of musician or singer to cover it. From one of the music spectrum to the other, Johnny Cash, Ozzy Osbourne and even actor Sir Sean Connery have put their own personal stamp on it, however Kate really strips the song back and it’s this version with her distinctive smoky tones that will set the bench mark for future versions.
A truly super album, one that Kate can rightly be proud of. It is a stand out contribution to the world of music and one that when you buy, you just won’t stop playing.
Ian D. Hall