Search - Ryan Shaw :: This Is Ryan Shaw

Homegrown Soul

Glenn Nippert | Alpharetta, Georgia United States | 06/30/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"O.k, so everyone is going to label this retro soul and they would be right. Like Amy Winehouse(and me and you), this young cat is obsessed with the classic soul sound of the mid sixties to early seventies and he has beautifully and accurately recreated it here but unlike Miss Winehouse, who is somehow current as well as retro, Mr. Shaw is kind of stuck in a time warp. This is not really a negative, it's just a truthful observation. He recreates an era the way say The Stray Cats recreated rockabilly but didn't really add anything to it but their music was no less enjoyable as a result. Does Ryan's version of I Found A Love top Wilson Pickett's? Not really, but it's still beautiful to listen to.Between Bobby Womack and J. Geils, I've heard Lookin' For A Love a 1,000 times at least, but Ryan's version is so fresh and energetic(as is the whole album) and I can't stop playing it. His original songs sound like classic soul songs and are excellent. I'm not sure why real soul music died in the first place, but artists like this do my heart good by showing me there is hope that real singing and passion just might make a comeback. I mean how did we ever go from Respect and Mr. Big Stuff and slow dancing to Dark End Of The Street and Slip Away to I'm Gonna Kill You And Skeet on Your face? People, please embrace this album and the positivity and true talent that it represents. In the name of James Brown and all things holy, embrace this man's talent and commitment to the music that we need to heal us as a people."

A must have.

Henrique Peirano | Brasilia, Brazil | 01/19/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These days it's common to see singers do cover albums of Soul and R&B classics. They usually do a pretty good job, like Seal just did on his "Soul" album, or Human Nature on their 3 Motown tribute albums. But every now and then, comes along somebody who was born to sing soul and R&B music. Ryan Shaw really impressed me with his vocals and his adequacy to this kind of music. This is not entirely a cover album, but better yet, an album that offers new songs with that classic soul flavor. Definately, a must have!"