Discerning listener of soul music will surely remember one of the best albums of 1997 on a major label. I’m talking about Too Much Woman on Virgin Records America, recorded by a certain Brigette McWilliams as her sophomore album to the 1994 debut Take Advantage of Me. Produced by Steve Harvey Too Much Woman was one of these albums you could play from start to finsih and over again without getting bored. But unfortunately Virgin dropped Brigette and it wasn’t until her marriage with film director Mark Romanek and her appearance in Starsky & Hutch in 2004 that we have heard from her again. A few months ago UK label Expansion Records released a three track EP aptly titled Three New Songs. And finally we get the follow up to Too Much Woman after eight years time of waiting.
Startlite Lounge is such a superb follow up that I almost would accept if Brigette vanishes into thin air for another eight years. Brigette worked with Steve Harvey again and the result is pure class, soul music with a strong Latin/Brazilian flavour.
The title track Starlite Lounge may be the closest contribution from Brigette to the neo soul genre. Sparse instrumentation that emphasizes Brigette georgeous vocal delivery. But yet there are also recognizable South American influences. And these influences take over on songs like the Bossa Nova inspired Much Too Much, My Oh My or Take Me. The latter (co-written by Brigette’s mother Paulette McWilliams by the way) also gets remixed with a driving beat as dance version.
With Brigette and Steve’s love for the Latin flavoured music it seems logical that the only cover version here is Jobim’s classical Brazilian tune Aqua De Beber (Water To Drink). And just like the rest of the album this is an outstanding tune.
Like its predecessor Starlite Lounge is an album you put into your CD player (or rip to your digital audio player these days) and you’ll find yourself listening to it over and over again. A very, very strong contestant for album of the year!

Tracklisting of Starlite Lounge: 1. Starlite Lounge/ 2. Much Too Much/ 3. Star/ 4. My Oh My/ 5. One Wish/ 6. Is It Love/ 7. Betcha/ 8. Somehow/ 9. What Would You Say/ 10. Take Me/ 11. Lonely Girl/ 12. Yes My Dear/ 13. Agua De Beber/ 14. Take Me (Remix) | released 2005 Expansion Records

For more infos visit expansionrecords.com, brigettemusic.com (which will hopefully have some content soon) and steveharveymusic.com.

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