Soul Sucker "is everything"
(Shut Up & Eat 1999, SUE!009)
Songs (click on the -icons
for audio) 1.
Dirty Thing
2. Sugar
3. I'll Be Gone
4. My Own Backdoor
5. Soul Sucker
6. Messengers From Space
7. Funky Beat
8. c.A.C.K.
9. Natural Green
10. The Hype
11. Melting In The Rain
12. In A Mood
13. Ordinary
14. Don't Lie To Your Mama
Written & Performed by Soul Sucker
Produced by Thomas De Prins & Gino Campenaerts
Musicians :
- Thomas De Prins : vocals, piano, percussion, melodica
- Jan Blieck : guitars, howling vocals
- Didier Heggerick : tuba, sousaphone
- Gino Campenaerts : drums, percussion, shouts
Guests :
The Housewives (An Carpentier, Carmen Vansteenkiste, Judith Elseviers, Katelijne
Loete, Ingrid De Wit en Angélique Wilkie) : Backing vocals
Recorded at Louisstudio (Louis Jans) & Railroad Studio, December
1998-March 1999
Artwork : Mighty Sam Dams, Photo : Mark Tops
Press Release / Biography
Listen to this!
The unusual line-up of a piano - a tuba (!) - guitar - drums produces the absolute
personal sound of SOUL SUCKER.
SOUL SUCKER selects tasty elements from a variety of styles (from R&B to film
scores, pornorock and funky beats) and brews them into a delicious coctail sounding
definitely up-to-date. Always with a wink and a crazy twist, never obvious. And
they keep on dancing happily!
SOUL SUCKER are surely no bores...
Experts recognize that they are men of great parts:
OOR: "Arrangements à la John Barry or tricks that seem to come out
of the magic box of the legendary producer Joe Meek"
HUMO: "Exciting and highly entertaining"
JOOLS HOLLAND: "Nice sound, good songs!"
Two years ago, the debut album LIGHT was greeted with approval by the press
and the public alike. Followed by the MINI CD LIVE AT PARADISO after a smashing
gig on the Dutch radio which established the band¹s solid performing reputation.
And here is SOUL SUCKER IS EVERYTHING. The unusual and thrilling new album
confirms convincingly that on the Belgian music scene, SOUL SUCKER is the jewel
to be discovered.
The single DIRTY THING announces the album, including a slightly kinky clip revealing
more jokes at each viewing. Two slices of the album FUNKY BEAT and SOUL SUCKER,
will appear on the soundtrack of the movie SHADES with Mickey Rourke.
SOUL SUCKER IS EVERYTHING demonstrates that the band is nervously ready
for a European break through.
Sent in by Bob Campenaerts.
My opinion
A voluminous tuba-player, a drummer that outshines Ben Crabbé as far
as expressive capabilities go, a guitarist that would find his strings even in
te dark, a piano that was brought up in a saloon, and a singer with the cool of
green bean : those are the ingredients that the gentlemen of Soul Sucker have
to offer to persuade us this group "is everything". Maybe it is for
themselves and their close family. But it's certainly not for me.
The general standard is relatively flat and uninspired compared to the things
that made their debut "Light" in 1997 cause some stir. While the original
mix of r&b, swamp, jazz, honky-tonk, boogie-woogie, musical etc. etc. was
still surprising on that cd, the songs on "Is Everything" such as "Sugar",
"Natural Green" and "The Hype" are much weaker. The single-choice
"Dirty Thing"
is even utterly boring and even the accompanying "kinky video" (also
available on the cd) didn't manage to change that.
On this cd, the shaking (almost-)instrumentals ("In a Mood", "Funky
Beat"
and "Messengers From Space") are the tracks I like most. Also the songs
with a dirty guitar-edge such as "I'll Be Gone"
and especially the dark "Soul Sucker"
are certainly okay.
"Funky Beat"
is a distant relative to both "C in China" and "Lust for Life",
but also contains a lyric that sadly sums up this cd for me : "Ain't this
a funky beat ? Yeah ! But I don't Like It". Sorry guys.
My advice is : get to know this group by purchasing their previous cd "Light"
: that one was excellent, varied, adventurous, swinging from the beginning to
the end - or did I already mention this ?? - and advice #2 : get a second opinion
on this one, since the other reviews the band is getting are quite favourable.
And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about
this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !
This Album in the Press
- Metro (bijlage van De Morgen) : "Undiluted rhythm & blues with
a jazz-injection. That is the merchandise of this Antwerp-based quartet that certainly
doesn't seem to lack sense of perspective and sheer fun ... Pleasant cd with a
high entertainment value."
- Tim Coene in Shuffle :
"Next to El Fish & The Seatsniffers, Flanders now has a third young,
wild & old-fashioned party pig, that's slurping soul from a pool of swinging
musical history. ... Get on the table, cut a sigar, point your finger with a smoot
move in gracious Elvis-style towards the stereo. Honky Tonky Wham Bam : Soul Sucker
is in da house."
Did you see a good (or bad) review of this album ? Tell
me about it !
You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on April
29th, 1999, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).
The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't
take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more
than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those
for customers in Belgium.
Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop
with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations
: let me know.
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-icons
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