Reuben's Thread feat. Rachael Rachael - Colour Me Blue

Reuben’s Thread feat. Rachael Rachael

Colour Me Blue

MySpace was responsible for bringing these two disparate artists together, which just shows that social networking sites can be useful for stuff other than downloading that John Barnes goal against Brazil in the Maracana and seeing how fat your old school bully has gotten. Rachael Rachael, in fact, was signed to Sony before splitting from the label. Amazing that she was, given some of the dreck the Japanese giants pump out on a weekly basis.

Whatever the circumstances, Colour Me Blue has been out a good few months but deserves a review on the strength of the frontwoman’s voice alone. It’s divine, like sucking up melted Galaxy chocolate through a straw made of gold. Mellow Bird’s would taste like it had been percolated in a long-distance trucker’s pants compared to how rich and smooth the vocals are. In effect, we’re talking about a real soul find – not in an annoying Joss Stone kind of way, but in an honest, talented way.

Not forgetting Reuben’s Thread, the mysterious engine room. He’s a real whiz on the old classical guitar, accompanying RR finely. ‘Are You Happy Now’ is a lovely ballad, as they all are on this debut, but…you knew there was one coming.

There just isn’t a market for this kind of music at the moment, tuneful as it may be. Coffee bar soul had its heyday in London sometime in the mid-to-late eighties, and although Sadé got an MBE or whatever, she’s not done much lately, has she? It’s a shame because Colour Me Blue is a decent, solid LP that deserves to be heard.