Express Your Soul - Mixed by Levanna McLean

Nice mix of allsorts not at all what I expected . I,ll have to see if I can forgive the inclusion of Men of the north country 

What a brilliant concept, just like doing a tape and then charging for it!

typical major label attempt to get a piece of the (christmas) cake. plus I am surprised to learn that Universal owns the rights to the JT Parker tune

15 hours ago, Mark S said:

Nice mix of allsorts not at all what I expected . I,ll have to see if I can forgive the inclusion of Men of the north country 

What is that anyway?  Never heard of it.  Never heard of half these tracks to be honest.

41 minutes ago, Pete S said:

What is that anyway?  Never heard of it.  Never heard of half these tracks to be honest.

 

They're an Israeli band

1 hour ago, Pete S said:

What is that anyway?  Never heard of it.  Never heard of half these tracks to be honest.

 

Terrible version of Lou Pride from Acid Jazz 

all done with a Big smile, its party music for the masses, my bag when the urge takes me, but I have to take my hat off to Levanna, if I looked that great, and they asked me, sure, splash me all over the telly baby!!!

3 hours ago, Pete S said:

What is that anyway?  Never heard of it.  Never heard of half these tracks to be honest.

Have a butchers on youtube it will probably wind you up a treat it does me when I hear it played out its dire .

3 hours ago, Pete S said:

 

Levanna soul? When did this become a thing?

Oh dear, what a load of rubbish

8 hours ago, goodiegood said:

typical major label attempt to get a piece of the (christmas) cake. plus I am surprised to learn that Universal owns the rights to the JT Parker tune

Do they though or have they licenced the track for inclusion?  Do they have the masters or have they taken it from a disc.  If they do surprised they haven't used the academy catalogue in the past. 

I'm mixed on this.  On one hand I find it refreshing........new stuff like Lack Of Afro, Nicole Willis etc might be seen as a alternative take on things, and some less than obvious cuts from way back when.  I see that as a good thing really.

But the media hype "from zero to hero" of the compiler in little more than a year or two is a bit bizarre.  Not sure if her being seen as the new voice of the scene will go down too well but maybe we should lighten up and let it evolve with this new blood.

As I say, I'm dead 50/50 on this..........

Cheers,

Mark R

I'm old school whatever that means!  My cds in my car are all my vinyl to cd compilations.  I don't buy many compilation cd's these days.  I did buy this compilation for my wife for her car, plus there were a few on it I hadn't heard before.  I've only listened to cd1 so far and It is ok, even my wife likes 3 or 4 tracks on it.

Good luck to the young woman in her enterprise.  In my mind she has as much right to do a "tape-mix" as anyone else, especially, as she has been chosen as the marketing face of this product. 

47 minutes ago, Mark R said:

I'm mixed on this.  On one hand I find it refreshing........new stuff like Lack Of Afro, Nicole Willis etc might be seen as a alternative take on things, and some less than obvious cuts from way back when.  I see that as a good thing really.

But the media hype "from zero to hero" of the compiler in little more than a year or two is a bit bizarre.  Not sure if her being seen as the new voice of the scene will go down too well but maybe we should lighten up and let it evolve with this new blood.

As I say, I'm dead 50/50 on this..........

 

Cheers,

Mark R

Yes, there's some good tracks on there that aren't northern and as you say a fair few less obvious northern tracks. I'm amazed that it wasn't another repackaged 'northern family favourites'. However, I just don't get the relevance of a reasonably good young hoofer as a music compiler. Give me a Richard Searling any day (as long as he hasn't got his hands tied to a specific label). As you say though Mark, perhaps we should be less grumpy about this kind of thing and if Levanna is someone that the new (young) blood identify with and respect, then fair enough.

Its strange to think that she's become a brand or at least marketed as such. 

.what did we do before she came along......

Is it actually mixed, though? 

interesting track list. I guess I'll try to see if I can get it over here in Krautsville.

Pretty obvious you 50+ guys aren't the target audience

Irrespective of personal ethics or etiquette ,underground v commercial etc ...Levanna ,(who I have yet to meet or even see at a venue ,so no bias here ) comes across as a real soul fan ,expresses herself with her dance moves ,like she's feeling the sound and not just trying to slot in moves learned from YouTube clips of wigan dancers .

The tracks on this mix show that she is open to experimenting  and embracing new sounds  ,so for me ,whether you like or don't like her choices ,she is a good ambassador for those of us who like alternative from the top 500 and the  nostalgia trip retro scene .

I'm seeing a good amount of posts on forums from young soul fans ,expressing their thirst for hearing different sounds ,not just listening but also wanting to venture into the smaller rooms too .

Active young  soul fans ,who wanna hear and dance to my kinda soul sounds ,get my vote !

Well said Nev and by the way she is a genuine sweetheart, she may not be the most knowledgable but is keen find out more and hear new (to her) sounds. Check out her Soul Mates series of interviews on You Tube with the likes of Eddie Hubbard, Ben Summers and Paul Thrower all well worth a watch 

On 27 November 2015, Mark R said:

I'm mixed on this.  On one hand I find it refreshing........new stuff like Lack Of Afro, Nicole Willis etc might be seen as a alternative take on things, and some less than obvious cuts from way back when.  I see that as a good thing really.

But the media hype "from zero to hero" of the compiler in little more than a year or two is a bit bizarre.  Not sure if her being seen as the new voice of the scene will go down too well but maybe we should lighten up and let it evolve with this new blood.

As I say, I'm dead 50/50 on this..........

 

Cheers,

Mark R

Sorry mark,i thought Levanna mixed it.?

I'l get my Mum to do a mix. She can dance and loves House For sale etc...

I've no doubt she's a lovely girl and I've no wish to slag her or anyone else off but to quote Kev Roberts in an advert for the cd, you can  "Meet Levanna Mclean this Saturday at the Kings Hall. She'll be chatting about her new TV advertised album" 

A "personal appearance" no less - celebrity culture infiltrates the northern scene.

I don't care if it attracts young uns in their thousands, thats not what i signed up for, so for that reason......... I'm out

17 minutes ago, Steve L said:

I've no doubt she's a lovely girl and I've no wish to slag her or anyone else off but to quote Kev Roberts in an advert for the cd, you can  "Meet Levanna Mclean this Saturday at the Kings Hall. She'll be chatting about her new TV advertised album" 

A "personal appearance" no less - celebrity culture infiltrates the northern scene.

I don't care if it attracts young uns in their thousands, thats not what i signed up for, so for that reason......... I'm out

Agree ,she seems a lovely girl.

6 hours ago, Steve L said:

I've no doubt she's a lovely girl and I've no wish to slag her or anyone else off but to quote Kev Roberts in an advert for the cd, you can  "Meet Levanna Mclean this Saturday at the Kings Hall. She'll be chatting about her new TV advertised album" 

A "personal appearance" no less - celebrity culture infiltrates the northern scene.

I don't care if it attracts young uns in their thousands, thats not what i signed up for, so for that reason......... I'm out

I'm surprised a promoter has capitalised on her attendance :) For some reason I wouldn't imagine that would happen at Rugby or the 100 Club. 

That Robert Dobyne is straight off a Cellarful of Soul unreleased Motown cd, needless to say have seen it pressed on a 45 in Belgium!

1 hour ago, pomonkey said:

That Robert Dobyne is straight off a Cellarful of Soul unreleased Motown cd, needless to say have seen it pressed on a 45 in Belgium!

I thought the whole point was that it contained a few classics and left-of-field tracks, but that the unreleased Motown and stuff was the key as far as Universal or whoever it is was concerned. And that brings up the question again, is this young lady actually responsible for this compilation in any meaningful way or merely just a poster girl. 

Of course, none of us on here are in any way the target market - unless you can claim to look like her, dance like her, have her "attitude" or are broadly in the same age group. Nope, didn't think so. 

Although I'm not particularly keen on what she does - and nor the marketing hype that surrounds her - she is a modern day and very successful  walking, talking, completely interactive, multi-media, social-media friendly version of the classic still photos from the 70s that made the scene so iconic – not only to those who "kept the faith" and still do, but also to those on the periphery who think it looks kind of cool - and sort of sounds kind of cool as well. Out of that comes people who not only like a few tunes compiled here and there, but also those who might develop a deep sense of appreciation of the music as a whole - if they're allowed to without being mocked or derided. 

I have no problem with this comp at all, a nice mixture of obvious, not so obvious and the odd blinder. Being 57, I'm not in the target demographic at all, but I'm all in favour of young soulies who go out dancing regularly utilizing their internet fame to have some fun and make a few quid. Yes, Richard does a better job but he's a bit more experienced. Let's all lighten up and be a bit supportive of her efforts!

She's cute, and I hope this serves to get younger folks into the scene, but I will stick with whatever Ace/Kent puts out.

Best,

Mark

23 hours ago, KevH said:

Agree ,she seems a lovely girl.

I have no doubt she is........

Cheers,

Mark R

They did a heritage weekend in morecambe and the sunday was classed as northern soul alldayer which part of the event was dancing lessons from  Levanna Mclean which i cringed when i read it a promotional pamphlet. NOT saying she cant dance its the thought of dance lessons at an alldayer the mind boggles

I have no real opinion,apart from ,I couldn't give a toss 

Bazza 

On 11/27/2015, 3:10:20, Mark R said:

I'm mixed on this.  On one hand I find it refreshing........new stuff like Lack Of Afro, Nicole Willis etc might be seen as a alternative take on things, and some less than obvious cuts from way back when.  I see that as a good thing really.

But the media hype "from zero to hero" of the compiler in little more than a year or two is a bit bizarre.  Not sure if her being seen as the new voice of the scene will go down too well but maybe we should lighten up and let it evolve with this new blood.

As I say, I'm dead 50/50 on this..........

 

Cheers,

Mark R

With you on this Mark, quite surprised in a good way regarding the track listing, at least not all the same old, time to chill out and not be a grumpy.

atb

Barry 

My daughter (aged seventeen) bought this for me as a Xmas Tree present. Poor girl has had soul/R&B (old style) and blues thrust at her from a baby. Her older sister left home last year to escape Womack, Curtis, Etta, Temps and their ilk. I asked my daughter why she chose it and was informed she thought Levanna was great and that the music was right up my street which, with a few reservations it is. If the music is going to survive as a living entity it has to become part of the younger generation's cultural experience. Levanna and others can help. The new cuts were excellent particularly New Street Adventure's 'The Big AC'.