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Carmel - Everybody's Got a Little... Soul (1987)

Posted By: Designol

Date: 18 Sep 2023 17:10:28

Manchester-based jazzy pop group who scored hits in the 1980s, but remained relevant for decades.

This UK act was formed in Manchester in 1981 by Carmel McCourt (b. 24 November 1958, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England; vocals) and former members of Bee Vamp, Jim Parris (b. 13 January 1957, Finchley, London, England; double bass) and Gerry Darby (b. 13 October 1959, Finchley, London, England; drums, percussion). On the release of the single ‘Storm’ and a mini-album in 1982 on the independent Red Flame label, Carmel drew praise for the fiery passion of all three members. Parris and Darby remarkably conjured the effect of a full ensemble backing to McCourt’s powerful vocals, and were able to alternate between soulful ballads, gospel, blues and stomping jazz. The stand-out ‘Tracks Of My Tears’ was performed with confidence, as though the song had been a group original rather than a new arrangement of the Smokey Robinson classic. An appearance at the 1983 ICA Rock Week led to Carmel signing to London Records, while a sell-out performance at the prestigious Ronnie Scott’s jazz club confirmed their status within the British ‘new jazz/pop’ scene. In accentuating the ‘jazz’ motif, the music and ‘style’ press unfortunately saddled the singer with an unwanted Billie Holiday image, which was eventually passed on to future ‘rival’, Sade. Carmel tasted success for the first time that August when the glorious, gospel-tinged ‘Bad Day’, featuring the Attractions’ Steve Nieve and the swooping backing vocals of Helen Watson and Rush Winters, reached number 15 in the UK singles chart. Carmel’s ‘50s jazz club’ image was evocatively captured on the single’s cover by Serge Clerc, who supplied the artwork to the subsequent ‘Willow Weep For Me’, February 1984’s number 23 hit ‘More, More, More’, and the album, The Drum Is Everything. Despite reaching number 19 in the charts, the album failed to capture the vitality of the singles or of the earlier Red Flame issues.

While the jazz fashion faded in the UK, Carmel found a much more attentive and appreciative audience in Europe, particularly France. A more satisfying release, The Falling, found the trio achieving their most successful studio performance up to that time, aided by several producers including Brian Eno and Hugh Johns. Subsequent albums displayed an increasing maturity that manifested itself in original compositions such as ‘Easy For You’, ‘Nothing Good’, ‘Napoli’ and ‘I’m Over You’. Their earlier talent for producing imaginative cover versions was evidenced in them tackling Randy Newman’s ‘Mama Told Me Not To Come’, Charles Dawes and Carl Sigman’s hit for Tommy Edwards, ‘It’s All In The Game’, and Duke Ellington’s ‘Azure’. Despite the disappointing lack of mass appeal in the home market, Carmel continue to command respect from critics and fans alike and are able to work equally well within the confines of an intimate jazz club or in the larger auditoriums. After a long association with London Records, Carmel left the label in 1991, signing with EastWest in 1992. The trio recorded two indifferent major label releases in the mid-90s, but they remain a compelling live attraction as documented on the live sets for Musidisc and Indigo.

Allmusic.com

To anyone who opened their ears to the few groups/artists who were allowed to record during the throwaway pop era of the 80s, Carmel were surely one group that everyone surely must have loved.

Beautifully crafted songs, natural & exciting progressions from previous works, this album was, and absolutely remains a true classic. Anyone failing to hum Azure for a week after being seduced by the lush rhythms of this, my standout track needs a musical taste test!

Cheers Carmel, you definitely have a lot of soul!

Review by Bluesmoky, Amazon.co.uk

A really great album - first got this on LP back in 1987/88 and reallyloved it then - lost the album over the years and delighted it's been re-released - it still sounds as great as ever and as fresh as when it was first released. I really think they were ahead of their time and, as such, never got the acclaim they deserved. All their stuff is great but for me this is them at their absolute best.

Review by John M. Overend, Amazon.co.uk

Carmel at Wiki

Tracklist:

01. It's All In The Game (3:58)
02. Every Little Bit (4:01)
03. Sweet And Lovely (4:41)
04. Nothing Good (5:07)
05. Azure (4:16)
06. Lay Down (3:30)
07. Jazz Robin (2:44)
08. I Do And Do (Full Length) (8:44)
09. A Hey Hey (Everybody's Got A Little … Soul) (2:57)
10. A Hey Hey (Reprise) (1:39)
11. It's All In The Game (12'') (7:17)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 4 from 7. December 2014

EAC extraction logfile from 17. April 2017, 12:02

Carmel / Everybody's Got A Little … Soul

Used drive : TSSTcorpCDDVDW SH-224DB Adapter: 1 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 896 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" %source% -o %dest%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.33 | 3:58.37 | 33 | 17919
2 | 3:58.70 | 4:01.25 | 17920 | 36019
3 | 8:00.20 | 4:40.50 | 36020 | 57069
4 | 12:40.70 | 5:06.38 | 57070 | 80057
5 | 17:47.33 | 4:16.12 | 80058 | 99269
6 | 22:03.45 | 3:29.38 | 99270 | 114982
7 | 25:33.08 | 2:43.62 | 114983 | 127269
8 | 28:16.70 | 8:44.13 | 127270 | 166582
9 | 37:01.08 | 2:56.55 | 166583 | 179837
10 | 39:57.63 | 1:38.70 | 179838 | 187257
11 | 41:36.58 | 7:16.62 | 187258 | 220019

Track 1

Filename C:\New Folder\01 - It's All In The Game.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.33

Peak level 97.7 %
Extraction speed 2.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 22417990
Copy CRC 22417990
Accurately ripped (confidence 61) [F07B94F8] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 2

Filename C:\New Folder\02 - Every Little Bit.wav

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Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 772B5A29
Copy CRC 772B5A29
Accurately ripped (confidence 61) [C35E6415] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 3

Filename C:\New Folder\03 - Sweet And Lovely.wav

Peak level 97.7 %
Extraction speed 2.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 48BB9500
Copy CRC 48BB9500
Accurately ripped (confidence 60) [9D06AD28] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 4

Filename C:\New Folder\04 - Nothing Good.wav

Peak level 85.0 %
Extraction speed 2.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC D5467F38
Copy CRC D5467F38
Accurately ripped (confidence 60) [6A85B151] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 5

Filename C:\New Folder\05 - Azure.wav

Peak level 97.7 %
Extraction speed 2.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 450BC39F
Copy CRC 450BC39F
Accurately ripped (confidence 61) [792AD59F] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 6

Filename C:\New Folder\06 - Lay Down.wav

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Peak level 97.7 %
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Test CRC 152D7BD5
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Accurately ripped (confidence 61) [79D2221B] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 7

Filename C:\New Folder\07 - Jazz Robin.wav

Peak level 84.7 %
Extraction speed 1.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 40F4823C
Copy CRC 40F4823C
Accurately ripped (confidence 62) [F9EC200D] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 8

Filename C:\New Folder\08 - I Do And Do (Full Length).wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.25

Peak level 97.7 %
Extraction speed 2.2 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C1302DFF
Copy CRC C1302DFF
Accurately ripped (confidence 61) [C9AC3138] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 9

Filename C:\New Folder\09 - A Hey Hey (Everybody's Got A Little … Soul).wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:01.50

Peak level 97.7 %
Extraction speed 2.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC CF9BE683
Copy CRC CF9BE683
Accurately ripped (confidence 61) [85F646BE] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 10

Filename C:\New Folder\10 - A Hey Hey (Reprise).wav

Peak level 88.1 %
Extraction speed 1.3 X
Track quality 99.8 %
Test CRC 6AD3073F
Copy CRC 6AD3073F
Accurately ripped (confidence 61) [67E18932] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 11

Filename C:\New Folder\11 - It's All In The Game (12'').wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.48

Peak level 97.7 %
Extraction speed 2.2 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC A79DB909
Copy CRC A79DB909
Accurately ripped (confidence 61) [B6B02837] (AR v2)
Copy OK

All tracks accurately ripped

No errors occurred

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.4

[CTDB TOCID: bR3Hh3QEgTOcDI1shzjhvR1021Y-] found
Submit result: bR3Hh3QEgTOcDI1shzjhvR1021Y- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (74/76) Accurately ripped, or (1/76) differs in 27427 samples @01:05:59-01:06:07
2 | (75/76) Accurately ripped
3 | (75/76) Accurately ripped
4 | (75/76) Accurately ripped
5 | (75/76) Accurately ripped
6 | (75/76) Accurately ripped
7 | (75/76) Accurately ripped
8 | (72/76) Accurately ripped
9 | (73/76) Accurately ripped
10 | (75/76) Accurately ripped
11 | (75/76) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum 6496C28647559DB5BAA77E88F78557B51FE8259A19D116659DE8DAADDA5C6C8E ====

DR log

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2017-09-09 18:39:16

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Carmel / Everybody's Got A Little … Soul
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR12 -0.20 dB -14.34 dB 3:58 01-It's All In The Game
DR12 -0.20 dB -15.29 dB 4:01 02-Every Little Bit
DR13 -0.20 dB -15.02 dB 4:41 03-Sweet And Lovely
DR11 -1.40 dB -16.93 dB 5:07 04-Nothing Good
DR13 -0.20 dB -15.02 dB 4:16 05-Azure
DR13 -0.20 dB -15.40 dB 3:30 06-Lay Down
DR11 -1.44 dB -15.23 dB 2:44 07-Jazz Robin
DR14 -0.20 dB -17.19 dB 8:44 08-I Do And Do (Full Length)
DR11 -0.20 dB -14.37 dB 2:57 09-A Hey Hey (Everybody's Got A Little … Soul)
DR11 -1.10 dB -16.47 dB 1:39 10-A Hey Hey (Reprise)
DR12 -0.20 dB -15.55 dB 7:17 11-It's All In The Game (12'')
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 11
Official DR value: DR12

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 801 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

All thanks to original releaser

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