Summer
2005: from the split of the Marcus Pepper Love Revue
comes the birth of the Blue-Eyed Soul Team (whose acronym B.E.S.T.
recalls the ironical exaggerations of the names of some black groups of the
past), composed from the same formation that did the last concert under the
name Love Revue, held in May 2005, before "yielding" definitively
the original name to one of the founder members that had left the group.
The new name of the band, chosen after endless brainstorming about many proposals, is an idea of Gino De Angelis (bass-player of the band, see below) and it's based on the term "Blue-Eyed Soul", the nth attempt of "labeling" a branch of black music: in this case it's the term used (mostly in the Sixties) to identify Soul music played by "white people".
In order to celebrate the new beginning, at the end of July the Soul Team begins the recording of a "demo CD" with five tracks; after three days of job at the "Pop Life Studio" of Milan, and after some sessions of remixing, the record is ready.
The selected songs are already part of the new live repertoire: five classics not extremely known to the great masses, but of sure interest for the connoisseurs; included in the track list there is a "retroactive" arrangement of "H.A.P.P.Y. Radio", a hit from Edwin Starr in the period of Disco Music, revisited in up-tempo style for speaking the more typical language of the highly acclaimed Motown Records of Detroit between the Sixties and the first Seventies, with a contagious passage of handclapping as a true vintage floorfiller, and another one from the repertoire of Starr as well (but this time from the Sixties), picking up a classic finger-snappin' like "S.O.S. (Stop Her On Sight)", in which are enjoyable the interlaced vocals supporting the main melody.
The other three selected songs have a special value for most experts of the genre, for which they don't need no introduction, but for all the other listeners it will be enough to know that "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" by Frank Wilson is by many considered the rarest 45" of the Soul history, and in spite of that it had conquered an absolute top place in the Olympus of black music of the Sixties; with "With This Ring" the famous (even if for other songs) Platters celebrated the wedding ring and its meaning, with a surprising mixture of sweetness and intensity; finally, the obscure duo named Two People with "Stop! Leave My Heart Alone" told about a wrong love story, with the strength of the classic Soul male duets such as the prestigious Sam & Dave amongst many others. In all the three cases the Blue-Eyed Soul Team version includes personal ingredients that don't damage the originals but rather avoid them to look like flat reproductions.
During the months after
the recording, the band continues to have highs and lows on many aspects; after
a year and a half of activity, with a balance of a few concerts and many discussions,
in November 2006 I decide to leave the B.E.S.T. despite the significant enhancements
obtained with the arrival of a new female singer.
Lineup
The original lineup of Blue-Eyed Soul Team (see picture above) included: Stefano "ConcoBeach" Faini on drums; Claudia "Gorgeous" Serra on vocals; Marco "DocTube" Pepe on keyboards and backing vocals; Claudio "Dr. Soul" Falcone on lead vocals; Gino "BassDancer" De Angelis on bass; Maria "Charmful" De Vecchi (who's been in the band until September 2006, replaced by Marcella Casciaro) on vocals; Giancarlo "Ginko" Di Fiore on guitar.
For updates about the band click here
download
page originally reserved to the registered users (includes the full
demo recording described above).
sampler medley - from the 5-tracks demo CD of the band.
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galleries