By Dylann DeAnna
Soul is soul whether your name is Tyrone, Aretha or Emil. The timeless music of black culture has graced and has been embraced worldwide. Sweden’s Emil & The Ecstatics pay tribute to the Soul/Blues genre with an impressive, authentic set of 12 covers on ”Legacy” (****). Singer Emil Arvidsson says in the liners he picked six artists who’ve impacted his life and has cut 2 songs performed by each. Emil’s rich, vibrato-heavy voice nails Otis Rush’s ”You Know My Love” as do his tart guitar licks here and ”Three Times A Fool”. Next he and the Ecstatics, consisting of Johan Bendrik (organ, piano), Mats Hammarlof & drummer Tom Steffensen, render smoking takes on Albert King’s ”Wild Woman” & ”Left Hand Woman”. Jacob Norgren (sax), Christian Pederson (sax) and Karl Olandersson (trumpet) augment Don Bryant’s ”The Call Of Distress” & ”She’s Lookin’ Good”. From there Magic Sam, Lonnie Mack & Little Milton also get 2 song tributes and every single cut is terrific. Britain’s James Hunter may be all the rage with his homage to 60’s Soul/Blues but Emil & The Ecstatics may just trump that lad. Highly recommended. Visit ecstatics.se for more info.