Blues & Soul Contemporary

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Name of Mag: Blues and Soul

Frequency: Fortnightly

Price: Ł2.10

Subscription Details: Tel 020 7402 7708

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The content of this magazine is five pages of news, several lists of club floorfillers (UK and US), 15 pages of CD reviews, A couple of interviews with artists hell bent on feeling sorry for themselves, double page spreads on modern soul derivatives such as Urban, Hip Hop,Jazz, Soul, House/Garage, followed by four pages of adverts for clubs around the country. Typical of the magazine's style are Tony Rounce's 'Sound Check' in which he reviews new releases. One sentence selected at random reads as follows:-

"Maybe its just a very dull D-Influence "No Scrubs" like mix, and an even duller Ignorantz stripdown, that take the edge off it (Artful Dodger's stealthy, semi speed Garage lick works better)."

Can anybody tell me what the hell he's talking about? Much of this magazine leaves the English speaking world bewildered, but there was one gem I found which was rather lost amongst the other garbage. It was entitled 'Blues and Soul's Hall of Shame' and reviewed inept and poor albums released by Soul Legends such as Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin. Not only was this article intelligible it was also reasonably entertaining as well and therefore totally out of place in this magazine.

I had been trying to get a contemporary copy of B&S for a long time, and whilst they were once commonplace in the Newsagents they are now much less available. I even tried to get one at "That Beatin Rhythm' who are supposedly Soul specialists but they don't stock them on account that they "don't sell". This once hallowed magazine seems to be struggling, and with the rubbish they're churning out its not hard to see why. It isn't only the fact that they're aiming their product at the illiterate, but they also lack any kind of direction. How can a single magazine possibly cover House/Garage, Hip-Hop, and Urban (whatever they all are) and Modern Soul, Jazz, Northern Soul and classical Soul as well? As a sixties soul buff I could only find three pages of interest throughout the publication and I am sure lovers of other styles must feel the same. Reviewing Kent CD's alongside Rave music was totally incongruous and my advice to them would be to stop trying to be 'all things to all men', find a market, and stick with it.

As if they hadn't already done enough, the worst crime of the hacks who produced this magazine, was to be downright boring. CD reviews rightly take their place in any music periodical, but 15 pages of them?? In the seventies Dave Godin's column used to make people think about the music, but this modern derivative has nothing remotely comparable. Sixty pages of mindless pap, even soul related pap is too much for anyone to take. Part of the problem is that B&S has also lost its homeliness. As Frank Elson went 'Checkin it out', he used to mention the clubs he'd visited and the people he'd met which made the soulies feel like one big happy family. The clubs reviewed today are much more cosmopolitan and as a consequence have made the publication soul-less.

Make no mistake this magazine is a total shambles. I used to love look forward with eager anticipation to the next edition but I can safely say I won't be wasting Ł2.10 on any more of these.