Thursday 5 August 2010

Soul II Soul 'I Care (Soul II Soul)'

Chart Peak: 17

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Written by legendary funk songwriter Juni Morrison (Funkadelic/Ohio Players, etc) and featuring the vocals of Charlotte Kelly, 'I Care' entered the chart at No 17 on 15th October '95.
It's often said that Soul II Soul had a pivotal impact on music at the end of the 1980s; one of the first acts to combine soul, dance and hip-hop, one of the first British "urban" acts to cross over to the USA, one of the first to produce a recognised classic album in the shape of Club Classics Vol 1. And I can't really argue with any of that, despite my shameful failure to have actually heard that album.

However, not much than five years later, when I became a serious music fan, they were one of the many acts struggling to live up to important early material. And whilst it might seem a bit naff to drop the band's name into the chorus of the song, at least it does serve some purpose in making the otherwise fairly generic track recogniseable. It's not entirely surprising in retrospect that this proved to be their last major hit: they managed two more minor Top 40 singles, one of which was a remix of 'Keep On Movin' for no apparent reason. Maybe they just wanted to remind us who they were.

Also appearing on: Now 15, 18, 22, 26, 31
Available on: Soul II Soul Vol.5 - Believe

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