Brand New Heavies

The 1990 debut from UK acid jazz/funksters The Brand New Heavies is, three decades on from its release, an impressively fresh-sounding UK soul/funk album. Influential on the acid jazz scene, The BNH’s skilful updating of seventies funk and disco into accessible, contemporary, retro-styled jams would be much copied. Across nine tracks, some instrumental, some vocal, they blend buoyant drums, sailing horn sections and chicken-scratch guitar into a party-friendly, highly danceable package. The BNH’s debut album sounds like the JBs playing Odyssey’s ‘Native New Yorker’, in a good way.