Jump to content

Express Your Soul - Mixed by Levanna McLean

Express Your Soul - Mixed by Levanna McLean magazine cover

Express Your Soul -  Mixed by Levanna McLean - Universal Music

An interesting comp concept from Universal Music with what seems to be a curator type role taken by the youtube dancer/dj Levanna McLean. Maybe not on everyone's christmas present list but after seeing over the years more than a fair few weary comps with even wearier names attached to them, then this comp does make a mark by offering something different.

Tv Advert follows

 

Track Listings.

46 tracks 

Disc: 1
  1. Grace Love And The True Loves - Fire
  2. The Originals - Judge's Daughter
  3. Jean Dushon - Feeling Good
  4. Men Of The North Country - I'm Com'un Home (In The Morn'un)
  5. Baby Washington - I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face
  6. Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters - As Long As I Have You
  7. Bobby Bland - Honey Child
  8. Eddie Kendricks - Date With The Rain
  9. New World - We're Gonna Make it
  10. Jack Hammer - Swim
  11. Velvet Hammer - Happy
  12. Fantastic Four - I Love You Madly
  13. Barbara McNair - It Happens Every Time
  14. Martha & The Vandellas - One Way Out
  15. Four Tops - What You Gonna Do With Me Baby
  16. Chuck Jackson - I'll Fight It ('Til I Win Your Love)
  17. The Drifters, Ben E. King - I Count The Tears
  18. J. T. Parker - If You Want To Hold On
  19. J.J. Barnes - (Tell Me) Ain't It The Truth
  20. Brenda Holloway - My World Is Crumbling
  21. Jo Ann Garrett - Whole New Plan
  22. Jimmy Ruffin - Just Before Love Ends
  23. S.O.U.L. - Express Yourself

Disc: 2
  1. Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators - One In A Million
  2. Robert Dobyne - All I Need Is A Chance
  3. The Velvelettes - Stop Beating Around the Bush
  4. The Temptations - Witchcraft (For Your Love)
  5. Diana Ross & The Supremes - Stormy
  6. Terry Callier - Ordinary Joe
  7. Amy Winehouse - Tears Dry
  8. Lack Of Afro - Recipe For love
  9. Edwin Starr - Time
  10. New Street Adventure - The Big A.C.
  11. The Golden Flamingo Orchestra feat. Margo Williams - The Guardian Angel Is Watching Over Us
  12. Gladys Knight & The Pips - No One Could Love You More
  13. Steve Karmen Big Band - Breakaway
  14. The Vel - Vets
  15. Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell - Ain't No Mountain High Enough
  16. Young - Holt Unlimited
  17. Reggie Garner - Hot Line
  18. Gino Parks - For This I Thank You
  19. The Radiants - Ain't No Big Thing
  20. Bobby Taylor - Don't' Be Afraid
  21. Crystal Clear - Stay With Me
  22. Lollipops - Sweet Sweet Love
  23. Doris & Kelley - You Don't Have To Worry

cd and digital formats

express-soul-cover.jpg.278b0f936c57fab85

 




Members Comments

Recommended Comments

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 :thumbsup:

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

 

Link to comment
Social source share

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!!!

Link to comment
Social source share

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:

 

 

Link to comment
Social source share

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. 

Link to comment
Social source share

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

Link to comment
Social source share

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. 

Link to comment
Social source share

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.

Link to comment
Social source share

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 !

Link to comment
Social source share

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 :yes:

Link to comment
Social source share

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...

Link to comment
Social source share

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:huh:

Link to comment
Social source share

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:huh:

Agree ,she seems a lovely girl.

Link to comment
Social source share

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:huh:

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. 

Link to comment
Social source share

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. 

 

Link to comment
Social source share

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!:thumbsup:

Link to comment
Social source share

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

Link to comment
Social source share

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 

Link to comment
Social source share

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'.

Link to comment
Social source share




×
×
  • Create New...