(Fingerlickin/Inertia)

In writing this review, I must confess that I’m an avid Fingerlickin’ fan. With enough funk to make James Brown proud, their artists often achieve that rare balance between street cred, whilst still being very accessible. So it was with great anticipation that I reviewed We Love It.

Fingerlickin’ Records We Love It is the fourth installment in this series. There is a release approximately every year which is designed to give listeners an insight into where the label is at. The previous edition, Fingerlickin’ Thang 3, was an excellent release riding off the back of the highly successful artist albums from Plump DJs and hip hop fuelled A. Skillz & Krafty Kuts.

Once again, the labels’ head honchos, Soul of Man, are on mixing duty. I recently read an interview where they explain they adopted a more traditional DJ approach to We Love It, where songs are mixed with little to no re-editing. I feel that compared with productions in other genres such as Sasha’s Involver, this approach makes We Love It sound a little dated.

The album starts with recently released 12” We Love It from Slyde. This is a great, slow paced, tune with a huge slamming groove and cool (non cheesy) vocals. This song is the best on the CD by a mile and really wets the appetite for their forthcoming artist album due early in ‘06.

I must admit, from here onwards (yes, track 2!) I really struggled with this CD. There is some very old material here, such as Soul of Man’s Kickback (originally released in ‘03), and the album repeats the Shake ‘em Down tune (this time remixed) from Fingerlickin’ Thang 3. It’s a solid remix by Dylan Rhymes in a very similar style to his own artist production, Salty.

I can’t help feeling We Love It also highlights a lack of quality artist releases over the past 12 months. New material such as All Right All Night by Lee Coombs and Rocksteady by the Drumattic Twins are OK, but lacks that killer hooks and polish the label has become famous for. There also seems to be a shift away from funky towards a more squeeky, bleepy sound. Whilst evolution is commendable/ necessary, I feel this new sound limits the longevity of the music.

So where does this leave us? Do we love it? I have to say unfortunately no. There is some cool new material that has been excluded here, such as the very funky new tune called Disco Dayze by duo Jem Stone & J.C., and the upcoming Sylde 12” Vibrate to This. I suspect Fingerlickin’ 5 will be a vastly improved beast with albums due shortly from Stereo 8, Soul of Man and A. Skillz. Word from the FLR camp suggests we can expect something special so watch this space!

I suggest readers check out the new Fingerlickin’ website, http://www.fingerlickin.co.uk, where you can listen to short clips from We Love It. Also, make sure you subscribe to Leah’s absolutely hilarious weekly e-newsletter to keep a finger on the pulse regarding new releases and tours.