Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Kenny Thomas has never been what you would call a "cool" artist. At the time of his big chart hits in the early '90s Q magazine regularly sneered at his music suggesting it was "bland" and "anonymous white soul". In fact, as this release shows, Kenny is an excellent soul man with a gritty voice which can handle both funky shuffles and heartfelt ballads equally convincingly. 'Crazy World' features songs mainly co-written by the London-based singer who here composes with such impressive talents as prolific hitmaker Eliot Kenedy, South African-born writer/artist Jonathan Butler and producer Simon Law (Soul II Soul, Chante Moore). There is some excellent stuff here. Listen to the way that Kenny takes an old hit instrumental, originally cut by Icelandic jazz funk band Mezzofortes as "Garden Party" and gives it a new vocal lease of life as "I Will". Even more impressive is the seriously soulful "He", a lost love song penned by Thomas and Butler and which some Brit soul devotees are already acknowledging as one of the best UK soul tracks ever made. If you don't care about the opinions of prejudiced hipper-than-hip journalists but just want honest soul music without the sexually explicit overkill of much modern R&B, this is a delight on the ears.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.