Pot of Gold [Slimline] (CD - 2008)

British retro-soul singer Alice Russell creates a true homage to her favorite music on 2009's POT OF GOLD. Drawing inspiration from Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, and Chaka Khan, Russell is clearly a student of late-1960s soul and R&B, and the album remains faithful to that era not only via Russell's wailing vocal style but also in everything from the feel of the tunes, the punchy horn charts, the steady backbeat drumming, and so on. Rather than feeling derivative or cloying, though, POT OF GOLD comes across as genuine and pleasurable. This is due to the quality of the songs and production and, most of all, to Russell's powerhouse pipes. minimize