Hunter’s uncanny command of the American early-soul vernacular was unique back in 1994 when he first recorded Believe What I Say. There’s been a spate of British neo-soul artists since then, with everyone from Adele and Duffy to James Morrison and Amy Winehouse trying to get in on the act. Hunter laughs ruefully and admits that he’d have been really frustrated if he’d given up the soul sound – as many advised him to do – and then seen others ride it to success. “You’ve got to find what your quality is, and stick with that,” he advises.
There is one peril, however, in banking your career on recreating a sound of the past – it doesn’t give you a lot of room to develop in new directions. With The Hard Way, Hunter and his longtime band (drummer Jonathan Lee, saxophonists Damian Hand and Lee Badeau, bassist Jason Wilson, and organist Kyle Koehler) met that challenge by upping the production ante — adding strings to the durable horn section, for instance, and inviting the venerable Allen Toussaint to sit in on piano for three tracks.
But to keep the whole thing from getting too glossy, they recorded most tracks all at one go, over a two-week period, with the band playing on one track, Hunter’s vocals on the other. What you get on the CD is basically a one-take live performance, though the best of several takes of that song. This strategy only pays off, however, when you’re a sizzling live performer backed by a marvelously tight band.
“The spirit of the whole music is in how it was recorded,” Hunter says. “A lot of people get that old sound with effects, but it’s misguided to do it that way.” Lose the freshness and energy of the performance, Hunter’s convinced, and you lose your connection to the original records that inspired his sound.
If anything, The Hard Way comes blasting out of the speakers with even more raw vitality than People Gonna Talk did. James Hunter found this groove years ago; now he’s found the confidence to carve it even deeper. There’s really nothing “neo” about James Hunter’s soul sound, when you think about it — it's more like reincarnation. It'd be almost spooky, if you weren't too busy dancing to care.
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