Track Listing

1. Something In The Way
2. El Medio
3. All Up In My Face
4. Four Lives
5. Adolescent Blues
6. Compelled
7. Tumbling
8. Show Your Face
9. Tortosie And The Hare
10. Give A Dog A Bone

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106794 in Music
• Released on: 2002-10-21
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Like Jazzyfatnastees' lauded but little-known debut, The Tortoise & The Hare is a modern soul album of considerable class, not bedevilled by the conservatism that can occasionally hamstring such affairs. The sultry and sophisticated vocal duo reached the apex of their prominence in the late 90s, when fellow Philadelphia natives The Roots began to feature them on their rustic rap albums. Despite some high profile work early in their career--they provided backing vocals on a Stevie Wonder album as long ago as 1995--Mercedes Martinez and Tracey Moore remain among new school soul's best kept secrets.

"Something in the Way", the inviting opener, benefits from a lush, homely production reminiscent of prime 70s Hi Records territory (think Ann Peebles with a 21st century sheen). "Compelled" strikes out in a rocky direction before reinventing itself, mid-song, as a disco floor-shaker, "El Medio" brings a slice of Mediterranean romance and, for just a couple of seconds, "Show Your Face" threatens to turn into, of all things, "Sweet Home Alabama". At 10 songs, this album is refreshingly focused, and deserves to bring Martinez and Moore to the audience their talent merits. --Angus Batey

Echoes, August 2002
".. as self-assured as their first. Stylishly funky"

Sunday Times Culture, February 2003
"If you want your soul music to have some real soul in it... listen to the Jazzyfatnastees"

Customer Reviews

Great soulful sound
This is a great album! Although jazzy, it mixes a variety of sounds including latino and soul. It was an impulse buy for me but hasn't let me down at all. Why aren't they more popular??? Buy it!

Retro Soul
If you've purchased the previous album then this is a must. The music is more of the same. Yet on a few of the songs like 'compelled' the sound draws influence from 70's soul/funk music. Also, there is a latino feel on the album best heard on El Medio. The album is a more experimental than their first offering but keeping within the boundaries of what makes Jazzyfatnastees. Well up there with the likes of D'Angelo and Maxwell.