Review - The Five Aces new LP, Shout and Shimmy!

fiveaces Review The Five Aces new LP, <em>Shout and Shimmy!</em> Too many bands look toward the sixties thinkin’ ‘that sounds great! I’ll have some of that!’ and then end up sounding nothing like the records they love. Is it a production thing? A songwriting thing? A mastering thing even? Whatever it is, The Five Aces have it buckets. Their new LP, Shout and Shimmy! (that’s an order) is a soulful cut that’s all killer and no filler. Hell, even Mark Lamarr is a fan… and if that doesn’t strike a chord with you, you must be dead from the waist down, brotha.
It’s quite hard to pin down what the main force behind this LP is. It’s a magpie of an album that takes in Ray Charles, Booker T & The MGs, Mod, soul… even bebop. Either way, Shout and Shimmy! is the sound of a drinking session with a load of hip-cats and gorgeous gals showing their moves way past bedtime. You think Amy Winehouse has the soul? Kid, you better see doctor Five Ace.

From LP opener “Kick The Bucket” to closer “Coming Home”, the album steams, grooves and snaps a finger. Huge slabs of hammond goodness come erupting from the speakers while gob organ dances around some seriously smooth vocals. Behind all that is a rhythm section powerful enough to keep Swindon in electricity for a year.
Fans of the group will be waving goodbye to the former monicker, The Boogaloo Investigators, which is only a shame because the word boogaloo is so much fun to say. That said, The Five Aces are numbered onetwothreefourFIVE and ace! This LP, fighting the corner of real R’n'B, is a sexy, surly and sweat-drenched long player that you need to buy, unwrap and enjoy… you’ll be seduced and / or knocked out.
Click here to buy Shout and Shimmy!