All Music Shop Newsletter Volume 1- November 2002

Welcome to the first issue of All Music Shop Newsletter. We are very happy to present you our official web site. It's taking us a long while to develop this web site and finalize our online catalogue. We are pleased to say that almost all of the items listed in our catalogue are in stock. If any of the item is not in stock, we are committed to get it within two weeks.

Anyway, back to the business, our aim of this newsletter is to bring you the most up-to-date news on the soul music industry. We will cover exclusive music reviews, new arrivals and special recommendations.

Features

Peven Everett- Studio Confessions

We are proud to present you guys the first full and official album from Peven Everett -- a professional release that pulls together the strands from his underground, self-released albums of the past few years! Peven has remained an underground soul man for many years and his works have been circulated among soul fans. Finally he is able to release this beautiful soul set under his own label. This album's the first one that he's issued with professional packaging, formatting, and recording quality -- and it's the culmination of a number of years of woodshedding in the studio. All the songs are produced and written by Peven himself and we can tell you that this guy's a genius. I am especially thrilled to listen to his own interpretation of songs such as "World Love", "Everyday Girl", "They So Cold", "I Can Give It", "Sankofa", "Say It Back", and "I Wanna Make Love". If you're into D'Angelo or Omar kind of soul classics, you should not miss this one.

Tank - One Man Marlena Shaw - Live in Tokyo
Follow up to the gold debut album, "Force of Nature", The "Super Sexy Soldier of Soul" joins up with producers Mannie Fresh, Irv Gotti, and Rodney Jerkins, and guests Big Tymers and Jazze Pha, for a hot set including "One Man" and "Let Me Live." Marlena Shaw returns with a beautiful live set. This CD is quite different than her equally brilliant live set "Live in Montreux" way back in 1974. She teams up with local Japanese jazz orchestra and producers to deliver a very soulful yet jazzy album.

I really like Tank, not only because of his looks and muscular body shape, but also his sensuous and yet powerful voice. He is definitely one of the good soul stars in the US. Since "Force of Nature", he has been a lady's favorite and "One Man" will certainly bring him to the status he deserves. Please take a listen at the first single (also

You can almost feel the joyful and relaxing atmosphere among the audiences (wish I was there). Definitely one of the nicest Marlena Shaw albums I've heard in years -- dominating the album with a style that's got all the class and swing of her early sides, and none of the overdone style of her later ones. Titles include "Feel Like Makin Love", "Ooh Wee
titled) "One Man" and you know that he is really good at sexy bedroom R&B sound. Baby You're The One For Me", "Don't Ask To Stay Until Tomorrow", "Round Midnight", and "Loving You Was Like A Party".
Clydene Jackson - Fresh
For many years, Clydene Jackson remains a very underrated artists. She did a lot of background work with other singers like the late Richard "Dimples" Fields, Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle, Peabo Bryson, Luther Vandross, etc. I am very pleased to present here the extremely rare solo album from her titled "Fresh". It was released in 1975 under a small label called Crossover Records. The album was co-produced by the legendary Ray Charles. All the songs from the album are very jazzy. I really enjoy the songs like "In love we grow", her own version of "Mr. Bo Jangles", "I got time" and "Somebody else's love". There are also a few cuts written by Clydene herself making the album very unique. I am not sure if Clydene will release any more solo album in the future as she is not very active in the music business these days. Nevertheless, at least, we have this rare album and can enjoy the gifts offered by this talented lady.
Sharon Ridley - Full Moon
Similar to Clydene Jackson, almost all of the Sharon Ridley's albums are rare collectables. Certainly "Full Moon", her second and final album (as of today), remains the rarest soul album of all time. I have been looking for this album for nearly 3 years and fortunately I got a very clean copy of it. In "Full Moon", Sharon delivered a masterpiece of 9 soulful tracks such as the in-demand "Changin", beautiful remake of Mary Wells classic "You beat me to the punch" and the Marvin Gaye classic "Ain't that peculiar". She also wrote several songs like "Forever yours" and the 2-step title track "Full Moon" which are the most sought-after soul classics among black music market. Unfortunately, Sharon is no longer active in the music business. The most recent news we got from her was she's back to her home town in New Orleans and performed regularly in the local churches.
November New Arrivals
Kelly Rowland-Simply Deep Peggi Blu-Livin' On Love

1/3 member of Destiny's Child, Kelly Rowland, finally released her eager awaited debut album, oddly titled "Simply Deep". She recently enjoys a huge Billboard number 1 pop hit with the rapper songwriter, Nelly, with the song "Dilemma". The album's first single "Stole" has already gained significant air play in all local radio stations. I expect this will be a hit for her also. Vocal-wise, Kelly has a very bright voice as compared to her members. She tries to get into a wider audience by carefully interpreting songs like "Make U Wanna Stay" and "Everytime You Walk Out That Door". Nevertheless, I still rank her friend, Michelle Williams' "Heart to Yours" album as one of the best contemporary urban acts in 2002.

 One of my favorite female soul sisters, Peggi Blu returns to the music scene with a beautiful soul classic album "Livin' On Love" on UK's Expansion label. I recommend all the 12 tracks from the album simply because they are all real soul classics. Watch out this space for more special tributes of her.
Mariah Carey Updates
Mariah Carey's new studio album will be titled "Charmbracelet". The video of the first song "Through The Rain" has already been released and you can watch the video by clicking here. However, the single "Through the rain" has already been released in the UK. It is an intense ballad by Mariah after the disappointing flop of her another classic track "Never Too Far". I hope she can make a successful come back. I will keep you updated of more Mariah news.
Vital Releases

There will be a lot of exciting new releases scheduled in November and early December. They are:
Deborah Cox-The Morning After (J-Records)
Whitney Houston-Just Whitney (Arista)
Terry Steele-Day By Day (his third official album after almost 10 years hiatus)
Toni Braxton- More Than A Woman (LaFace/Arista)
Craig David- Slicker Than Your Average
Blue-One Love

November 2002-Raymond