Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Not everybody has a story about Harlem, even those that live in the boroughs that surround the old Dutch enclave arguably, unless they are in the know and understand the delicate balance of life and the beauty contained within, find themselves more drawn to the dreams of excess in Manhattan and the outer reaches of New York City. Yet if you find yourself there, if you raise a smile in the direction of all, the stories you hear are amongst the most urgent, most stimulating and sincere you are likely to hear.
Too many avoid the old town, put off by their own entrenched ideas and fears, all without modern foundation, and it is too their loss, for the area is arguably more dynamic, full of rich character and history than the more modern approach insisted upon by its more accessible neighbour.
It is to area beyond 96th Street, to the personal history and association that King Solomon Hicks has with the area, that Harlem in the senses of the artist rises up and finds a place of expression that matches the aristocratic maiden who guides the way into the heart of New York and the America ahead.
The debut album is dominated by sincerity, by its eagerness to thrust its fist into the abyss of indifference and pull out its heart, not to destroy, to crush or obliterate but to ease the pain of suffering that the heart is experiencing, to make it understand that someone is listening to them and can relate with insight into the problem, with the darkness and with the soft shoe shuffle of the Blues, eradicate the depression of the brow beaten and add to the flavour of the borough.
Across such intricate songs such as Every day I Sing The Blues, What The Devil Loves, Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know, Headed Back To Memphis and Help Me, King Solomon Hicks brings to the listener’s ear a sense of worship, an adoration of the area to which only those who have spent so long in one place can truly capture, the positive vibe and the shadow that falls equally is always one played with respect.
A tremendously socially valuable album, one that gives Harlem the renaissance it deserves.
King Solomon Hicks releases Harlem on the 13th March via Provogue/Mascot Label Group.
Ian D. Hall