JASMINE KARA
Blues Ain't Nothing But A Good Woman Gone Bad
There’s more to Jasmine Kara than the sexy publicity shots of her dressed in a gold-lamé bikini might suggest. This lady is no rapper’s video fantasy but a sassy, hard-hitting soul shouter.
Recorded at Cosmos studio in Stockholm, Kara’s debut album is a homage to Chess Records – well, her mentor is Marshall Chess after all. There are excellent covers of Willie Dixon’s ‘Fire’ with the singer sticking close to the blueprint laid down by Etta James at Muscle Shoals in 1968, a soul-blues workout of Jamo Thomas’ ‘Must I Holler’, The Kittens’ northern soul dancer ‘Ain’t No More Room’ and a wicked two-part version of ‘In The Basement’, initially cut as a duet by Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto. If it wasn’t for the three out-of-place slide-guitar instrumentals and the irritating tinny drums pushed to the fore on ‘Are You Doing Me Wrong’ and ‘Ordinary Joe’, this would have been the perfect calling card.
Alan Brown
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