Music in the 2000’s is starting to seem a lot like some sci-fi movie where people no longer have new babies, but simply clone people from the past to keep the population going strong. There’s barely music that will be classified as “2000’s†in ten years, but everywhere you look there’s some kind of revivalism going on. There’s garage-rock revival, 80’s revival, dance rock revival, punk revival, shoegazer revival, lo-fi revival, etc. 
Since Amy Winehouse and Gnarls Barkley reached superstar status and Dreamgirls became a huge hit, the whole soul revival thing has been pretty big, particularly in the UK. Of course record companies jumped and started manufacturing their own neo-soul (so-called) artists like the Barbie version of Amy Winehouse, Duffy. Next up is Alice Russell. Alice Russell is another white, blond soul singer from the UK who’s basically doing exactly the same thing as the aforementioned Duffy and in exactly the same way.
Pot of Gold starts with two great, dark, soulful tracks: the infectious “Turn and Run†and “Two Stepsâ€, which cops “I Heard It Through The Grapevine†in the best way possible. Like Oscar Wilde once said, “talent borrows, genius steals†and yes, the track could qualify for genius status. That’s just about where the fun stops though. After the first two nuggets, the rest is standard soul and funk workout that never quite strikes that pot the album title refers to (I guess Winehouse stole all of that too…er, wrong kind of pot…). The compositions and performances adhere strictly to the rules and regulations of classic soul and never once break away or change up the age-old formula. You’d think that her cover of “Crazy†might not just American Idol-it-up to Aunt Jemima’s syrup factory…but you’d be wrong.
“Got The Hunger”
If Pot of Gold had delivered tracks as strong as the first two from start to finish, it wouldn’t be hard to ignore the fact that it was completely devoid of originality. It doesn’t though, and so not only is it unoriginal, it’s unendurable. Better check the end of the rainbow to see if you missed anything Alice, there’s precious little gold to be found in here.
Pot Of Gold comes out November 24th on Russell’s own Little Poppet label.
Tracklisting:
01. Turn And Run
02. Two Steps
03. Living The Life Of A Dreamer
04. Let Us Be Loving
05. Got The Hunger? (download)
06. Lights Went Out
07. Crazy
08. Hesitate
09. Universe
10. Hurry On Now
11. All Alone
Alice Russell: website | myspace
Written by Marc Z. Grub
