Review of Better Days from Soul Tracks.com The influences of great performers from soul music’s past can be heard in many of the artists whose music we review here on SoulTracks. You won’t get too far before hearing a performer who derives influences from the sounds of Memphis, Motown and Muscle Shoals. And those who listen to Boshra Sham’s new album Better Days will hear a lot of Steely Dan influence in the band’s music. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the guiding forces behind Steely Dan, got much of their inspiration from listening to R&B, blues and jazz. The piano theme that opens the song “Ricki” is an allusion to Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father.” Boshra Sham brings some of those jazz, R&B and funk influences to the tracks heard on Better Days (though, it should be noted, lead vocalist Jamie Thain does not sound like Fagen). However, the quality that leads me to compare Boshra Sham to Steely Dan is worldview conveyed by the best tunes on this 10-track project. Steely Dan was best known for infusing songs such as “Peg,” “Deacon Blues” and “Hey Nineteen” with stories filled with pathos and self-awareness. Songs like “Josie” have whimsical and satirical observances on modern culture. Boshra Sham also displays a penchant for creating songs brimming with the band’s unique take on the human condition. “Metropolitan” finds Boshra Sham setting their sights on urban hipster culture that takes pride in their trend setting fashions and embrace independent non-mainstream views on politics, art and literature. The band perfectly captures the image in the song’s first verse: “In Momatra they dress to kill/panache they call it/they always will/where they smoke/and never tell a bad joke/the shoes they wear on those chic Parisian feet.” “The Price” explores the recognition that a person is dealing with addiction, co-dependency or some sort of pathology and the inability or unwillingness to do what it takes to recover. The tune’s verses describe a person ping-ponging between recovery and relapse. “It’s calling again it’s hard to resist it/I know that it’s wrong but it feels like the right fit/if you judge me and lay the blame/I’ll probably do it again.” “Compromise” is a relationship song that accurately describes the powerlessness a person feels when he or she is being crushed by the weight of expectations. The hook perfectly captures the exasperation expressed throughout the song. “All I want is a little bit of leeway/Just a little bit more than you’ve given before/All that I want is a little bit of compromise/You gotta make a good go/Gotta give it a try.” We spend a lot of time discussing the virtues and vices of what has become known as retro soul. The truth is that this sub genre of soul isn’t going anywhere. As sites such as SoulTracks attest, too many soul fans crave that classic soul sound and there are plenty of performers who do good job of recreating the production values, musical arrangements, lyricism and vocal styles of Memphis, Motown and Muscle Shoals. You won’t hear any allusions to hard-bop classics on Better Days. Still, Boshra Sham pulls off something that is more nuanced. The band captures the wry sarcasm and world weariness that was and remains so much a part of Steely Dan’s musical world view while also managing to maintain a distinct sound. That’s a pretty neat trick. Recommended. By Howard Dukes

Review of 'Better Days' from souljazzandfunk.com : Bosra Sham are a blue-eyed soul duo from South Wales. I've yet to work out why singer Jamie Thain and keyboardist Max Dickson named themselves after a top American thoroughbred racehorse. I guess that's a long story. What I do know for sure though is that the boys craft a lovely, warm laid back sound that's both attractive and beguiling. Making comparisons is never fair – but if it helps, think Steely Dan meets Jay Kay (in his more down-tempo moments). To help them weave their musical tapestry Jamie and Max enlisted the talents of Tim Jones of Love Town Music (see our recent news feature). He in turn called in favours from a bevy of top session players – bassist Chris Woods David Pic Conley (of US band, Surface) on flutes and horns, Martin Jenkins who added extra keyboards and backing vocalists Barry Read and Diane Smith. What they couldn't offer, Jones did – filling in on guitar, synths and programming. The team recorded the 10 tracker at Jones' Green Park Studio in downtown Bath but you'd easily be forgiven for thinking that the whole things was put together in some swish set up in LA or New York... yes , it has that easy-going, effortless feel of the very best of American blue-eyed soul. The set kicks off with the loping 'Like A Fool' – a sweet mid-tempo groove made the more attractive by unforced harmonies, subtle brass and a short guitar solo with just the right amount of bite. The heavier 'Better Days' and the gentle 'Every Time' plough similar grooves while 'Holiday Attraction' is faster and snappier altogether – not quite a clarion call to the floor, but almost there. It does though evoke the holiday feel that the title promises. Ditto the much more soporific 'July'... a classic, laid-back summer groove if there ever was one and a tune offering optimism in the bleak coldness of an English February. 'Métropolitain' is the set's most complex piece. Though its structure is looser than the other 9 tracks, it nevertheless possesses its own focus."Cinematic" would be a good adjective to apply. Bosra Sham's 'Better Days' looks rather unprepossessing but investigation will bring real rewards. Hardly surprising the album's been a permanent feature on Solar Radio's Sweet Rhythms charts for the last month or so. Find out more (but not a lot more) @ http://www.bosrasham.com/ (BB) 4/5

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SWEET RHYTHM CHART 21ST 28th JANUARY 2013(CHART 2 OF THE YEAR) 1…10-TEENA MARIE CD BEAUTIFUL UME 2…1-POSITIVE FLOW CD FLOW LINES TOKYO DAWN(2WEEKS AT NO.1) 3…2-REGROOVED FEAT KERRY MANUEL SINGLE WHAT I’M GONNA DO FOR YOUR LOVE REGROOVED 4…17-BOSRA SHAM CD BETTER DAYS ONTRACK 5…4-LINA CD THE LOVE CHRONICLES OF A LADY SONGBIRD MALINDY 6…6-VALENTINE BROTHERS SINGLE TASTE OF YOUR LOVE PROMO 7…9-VARIOUS CD LUXURY SOUL 2013 EXPANSION 8…5-ANGIE STONE CD RICH GIRL SAGUARO(7WKS AT NO.1) 9…24-ELEMENTS OF LIFE FEAT JOSH MILAN SINGLE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD VEGA 10.8-KARYN WHITE CD CAPE DIEN O(COPY DE O) KWE 11.3-RHONDA DORSEY CD CHOCOLATE SOUND RHONDA DORSEY 12.16-KEYSHIA COLE CD WOMAN TO WOMAN POLYDOR 13.18-LAYABOUTS FEAT OMAR AS LONG AS YOU BELIEVE REEL PEOPLE MUSIC 14.7-RAGAN WHITESIDE CD EVOLVE RANDIS 15.12-ANTHONY DAVID CD LOVE OUT LOUD DOME 16.11-NATASHA WATTS SINGLE GO SLOW SEDSOUL 17.30-THE RANCE ALLEN GROUP CD AMAZING GRACE TYSCOT 18.21-DAVID MENSAH CD MUSIC IS THE FOOD OF LOVE VIRTUAL MEDIA 19.15-EUGE GROOVE CD HOUSE OF GROOVE SHANACHIE 20.25-LADY SINGLE MONEY TRUTH & SOUL 21.22-DOC SHAW CD MY LIFE POCKET POWER 22.29-FRESH STEPS CD THE SOUND OF URBAN SOUL-JAZZ VOL 1 BELELI 23.26-JOSE JAMES CD NO BEGINNING NO END BLUE NOTE 24.23-DREW SCHULTZ CD BACK TO CLASS PAX 25.19-NE-YO CD R.E.D MERCURY 26.20-THE FOACIST CD PRESENTS FLOETRY RE-BIRTH SHANACHIE 27NEW-THE DOGGETT BROTHER CD DAYLIGHT PROMO 28.14-HOWARD JOHNSON CD ORANGE RAVEN 29NEW-ULTRANATE SINGLE GODS MESSAGE UNDERGROUND COLLECTIVE 30.13-JONATHAN BUTLER CD GRACE & MERCY RENDEZVOUS