The hard facts about Incognito's "Fiction"
Once upon a time in the late 80's, a British R&B outfit called Soul II Soul burst onto the music scene with the talented, charismatic singer Caron Wheeler. Their sound was fresh, their sales were big, and a good time was had by all. But then Wheeler ended up going solo, and though Soul II Soul enjoyed a few more less-successful hits without her, things were never quite the same. Change the band and singer to The Brand New Heavies and N'Dea Davenport, and the story repeated itself in the early 90's.Now, if anyone should be making a note of these things, it's Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick, considering his group Incognito enjoyed a similar success in a similar genre, time span, and georgraphical region. But no, for the band's ninth release, "Life, Stranger than Fiction," on-again/off-again diva Maysa Leak, the voice behind some of Incognito's biggest hits, is once again conspicuously absent. This will be a big problem for some of their fans and is a noticeable one for the album; Bluey has enlisted no less than three female singers to try to fill Maysa's shoes, but curiously they all end up sounding pretty much the same. That's not to say they don't handle their material well: Sarah Brown lays down some righteous funk stylings on "Slow Down (Get a Grip)," Dianna Joseph offers a soulful fire on "Bring You Down" and "Cut it Loose," and Kelli Sae caresses "Skin on My Skin" to sultry near-perfection. And then all three divas join male vocalist Xavier Barnett on the optimistic 70's-flavored ballad "There Will Come a Day." These five tracks are also the finest in the set, as Bluey and company branch out to explore chord progressions, production flourishes, and rhythms all atypical than the usual Incognito fare. As it turns out, the real problem isn't a missing vocalist, but rather the fact that the band only had half an album on their hands and decided to stretch it into a whole one. "Stay Mine" and "Reach Out" are similar enough to past Incognito tunes to try our patience from the get-go; respective lyrics like "since you came into my life/I'm caught in a wave of ecstacy" and "light the inner fire/it will see you through" sink them straight to the level of downright boring. "Rivers Runnin Black" is another routine, string- and horn-laden Incognito instrumental, and sounds no better than the weakest material off 1993's "Tribes, Vibes, and Scribes." The funk track "Got to Know" borrows a page out of the Isley Brothers book and reads it well, but lyrics are again the downfall, as "got to know/got to know/got to know/people got to know it" isn't much of a hook and the line "no more wars" is enough to make you retort, "no more cliches." Bluey has plenty of musical ideas on "Castles in the Air," but the unusual rhythms and overcrowded chord changes are hard to follow, and even vocalist Xavier Barnett sounds lost and is exposed as a limited singer. Even when the band samples Beatnik Jack Kerouac on the Bossa Nova gem "On the Road" and expand it into a second, more fiery experimentation that begs repeated listenings, it isn't enough to stop the notion that Incognito was either rushed, lazy, or uninspired for half the album. Thank God for CD burners; with modern technology you can take the band's too-brief 1999 set, "No Time Like the Future," and compile it with the best tracks from "Life, Stranger than Fiction" to make the one strong album Incognito stretched into two. There are bright spots to be had, yes; but the fact is, "Fiction" has weak spots even Maysa Leak couldn't rescue. Strange but true.
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Holds up well against Incognito's best work.
I was disappointed to read that several fans thought this CD was a step in the wrong direction. Yes, there is an R&B feel to the first few cuts. Yes, Maysa and Randy Hope Taylor are out, but Incognito really transcends all the players except Bluey. Brilliant bassist Julian Crampton isn't exactly a stranger here either. What we get are several wonderful singers, the most recognizable being Kelli Sae from Count Basic, who are recorded and mixed beautifully. The themes are the same: joy and inspiration of love and pleas for peace and understanding. There's also a great torch song, Skin on my Skin, where Kelli Sae laments like she's never done with Count Basic. Yes there are more synthetic drums, but there are also horns and strings in almost every song. The best song by far is Rivers Running Black, Incognito at its most pure: Great instruments and just enough vocals to spice things up. It reminded me of I can see the Future. The horns are right up front in this one. If people have led you to believe this is all R&B, there is a 9 minute Bossa Nova epic called On the Road with a Jack Kerouac monologue near the end of the CD. It's a true Incognito sound with an awesome scat by Ms. Sae. There's a lot to enjoy here and plenty of great Incognito touches to keep you coming back for more.
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