Soul II Soul 'Wish'

Chart Peak: 24

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'Wish' is the new Soul II Soul single due for release on 25th October '93... Mainman Jazzie B, AKA Beresford Romeo, started the collective in the early 1980s and they have had numerous UK hits to date, such as 'Keep On Moving', 'Back To Life' and 'Joy'.

It's the second time SIIS have shown up on this blog, but unfortunately both mentions have been from this point in the mid-1990s. Their time at the centre of the musical universe had already elapsed and they'd drifted into a certain blandness. 'Wish' was the token new track from a singles collection and as such is perhaps not the track they worked hardest on, but although it's not unpleasant to listen to it does nothing to attract interest or retain it. Jazzie's rap sounds especially thrown in.

One little bit of trivia - the vocalist on this track is Melissa Bell, whose daughter Alexandra Burke went on to win X-Factor 15 years later and thus appears on a few Now! albums herself.

Also appearing on: Now 15, 18, 22, 31, 32
Available on: This Is... 1993

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