About this item

Street soul grail alert! Freestyle reissue the previously white label-only Guess Who LP, originally released anonymously by Rick Clarke in 1992.

Crossing ruff-but-sweet UK street soul sensibilities with stripped-back house, garage and hip-hop flavours, the Guess Who LP was dropped covertly during a period in the early 90s when Rick was signed up to Soul II Soul's Funki Dreds label, contractually restricting him from releasing his music elsewhere. Bubbling with creative energy and a slew of ideas that he just couldn't help himself from getting out there, Rick brought a range of friends and collaborators to his MJB Records studio in West Kensington where the LP was produced and recorded on his trusty Fostex E16 in a matter of a couple of days.

Raw drum machines and simple but effective basslines & melodies abound across the album's 9 offerings - with tracks at times feeling like pencilled musical ideas still in flux. Highlights include Jill Francis' sublime vocal riding the stripped-back samba-esque groove of Gonna Make You Happy, the sugary soul harmonies of Imaani's Share My Love With You, and criminally short outro track Sweet Vibrations.

TRACK LISTING

1. Show Me The Way (feat. Mark Antonio)
2. Do What We Gotta Do (feat. Delroy Dyer & Gina Foster)
3. I Like To Party (feat. Andre Stevens, Imaani, Kemi & Delroy Dyer)
4. Gonna Make You Happy (feat. Jill Francis)
5. Love Don't Strike Twice (feat. Easton)
6. Share My Love With You (feat. Imaani)
7. Fantasy (feat. Gina Foster)
8. Without You In My Life (feat. Delores)
9. Sweet Vibrations