Blue Six - Aquarian Angel album flac

After Blue Six's gorgeous debut with BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW, hopes were riding high with their sophomore album, AQUARIAN ANGEL. And with the opener, "Tropicalia," it sounds as they're sticking with the formula of smooth, late-night house... but the house beat never comes. There's a hint of one on the slow and slow "You Just Can't Stop" whereas "Half Light" strips out the percussion almost entirely, letting the track just drift there. A gentle Latin whisper glides onto "I've Given Enough," replete with sexy sax, while "A Woman of the World" drifts by smoothly. But lest you get the impression that all the tracks are as graceful, there's also the easy-listening pap of "Harbour." Vocalists Lisa Shaw, Catherine Russell and Aya do the best with what they're given, but things are a bit too nicey-nicey, particularly without the benefit of a house beat to sink your teeth into. Aya's breathy delivery, especially, lend the barely-there compositions even more of an vaporous quality, as on the title track. Luckily Lisa Shaw has enough presence to ground the heartbeat of "Here I Come" and the admittedly silly "Fast Free Delivery," and Catherine Russell offers some gravitas to "Real as Anything." But the album seems to drift away, and not even the more house-driven "Tropicalia (Jay's Bahia Remix)" and bring it back to earth. A disappointment, though one that goes down easy.

Naked Music gets a bad wrap allot of the times by serious music fans. Even myself sometimes. Heck though, I did add Beautiful Tommorrow to the database some 10 years ago. I'm proud of that. Because like most know it was an excellent album with cool grooves, good cheesy lyrics and a good late / early morning vibe / haze. But was Naked Music ever to be serious? Or taken seriously? The label basically started when Boogie Nights was out. Disco was 20 years roughly and retro sexy house music with ladies was cool. The album doesn't hit the notes the original has but the main single Tropiclia would have fit and been one of the better on their debut album. Check the 12" for 2 good versions of it. User below complains of ambient melodies and minimal percussion? And? You mean deep house basically? Sounds like a fun thing to me. Listen to Half Light. That track is a winner. Allot better than some of the better "classics" on Naked. Sounds just more mature. A Woman of the World for a good summery memorable jam. t's a decent album. Or Aquarian Angel. Sort of reminds me of what Paul Hardcastle was doing with post 2000 music. Don't expect too much and you will get a good listen out of it. A better mix of levels on songs and a more creative theme could have turned it better. Lackluster production. Good artwork. Including the lyrics in the notes lends a bit of album feel which helps this be more mature also.

Beautiful Tomorrow, Blue Six's debut album, combined smooth deep house with soulful vocals to create an instant classic and a promising beginning for Naked Music which was relatively new at that stage. So does Aquarian Angel match the quality of the previous effort? Sadly, no. Gone are the funky house rhythms of past releases instead replaced by ambient melodies and minimal percussion. Most tracks feature vocals from the likes of Aya, Lisa Shaw and Catherine Russell but the lyrics are pretty weak. All in all it’s just a bland chillout album and certainly doesn’t stand out from any of the many other albums of this style being released all the time. It seems that the quality of releases from Naked Music has really dropped over the last few years. Some months ago I read an interview with a top American DJ who when asked what his least favourite label at that time was replied “Naked Music". I somehow doubt if he is the only one who feels that way.