THE OLYMPIANS Vinilo y CD

Review: In 2016 the Olympians - an all-star soul combo featuring members of The Dap-Kings, The Expressions and the Menahan Street Band - landed on Daptone with a fine debut album. Three years on, the Toby Pazner helmed group returns to action with a brand new "45". A-side "Midnight Movement" is a particularly sweet and ear-pleasing affair, with the band layering sweeping strings and lilting horn parts over a jaunty, piano-dominated instrumental soul groove. Over on side B, "Stand Tall" is a sharper, punchier and slightly funkier affair, with the band's fuzzy horns and fluttering flute solos rising above a Blaxploitation era-influenced backing track.

Review: 1970's The Olympians came at the height of the Greek ensemble's popularity, and at a point where pop music was making its way into the mainstream through all sorts of subgenres. By that, we mean that this particular album is seeped in a distinctly jazzy kind of vibe, one which makes it both singular in its approach, but also very representative of the era in which it was conceived. Cool, sexy and laid-back, these eleven tracks a truly soulful in every sense of the word but, the interesting thing about them is that their not the usual US kind of sound; you can tell that there is something different in here, something European and a bit more wide-eyed to the choice of sounds and arrangements. Daptone coming through with the quality, as per...