Vinyl Review: "Top of the World" and "Confused" by Sam Huber

Top of the World

Confused

Let's get something off of the table straightaway. This particular
vinyl review is different than any other I have done thus far.

This one is a bit like my digital reviews, which make up about 80% of all of them.

I have a hard and fast rule, that can be excepted, about digital reviews; they must be published before the album is released.

It's the only fair way of handling it as there are always about 500 unread emails in my inbox.

That's just the reality.

Now, vinyl reviews, all but one or two of them, are posted after the albums are released. Some of them have been published years after release. Digital reviews aren't much of an outlay for the labels, the bands, and the PR firms, because a digital file doesn't cost anything.

Sam Huber

Vinyl is different. They're expensive to manufacture and to mail. Today's came to me via UPS delivery. That's a first in and of itself. So, rules are far more lax. And more often than not, the vinyl arrives to me at the same time it arrives to the people have have already put down their bucks on a preorder.

Hopefully you  noticed that my unboxing videos have returned and if you caught that, it won't escape you that this review doesn't have one, a picture of the record, or anything at all. There's a simple reason for this.

I'm reviewing the test pressings.

My Vaudevileins review was a test pressing, but it wasn't like this. I received a picture of the cover, signed by all members of the band. It was pretty cool.

My copies of the Sam Huber albums, will explain more later, didn't come in anything but record sleeves. The label features True Groove Records printed and everything else was handwritten, presumably by the pressing plant.

I've been over the moon about this. Unfortunately, you won't get information about the physical product, but I'm the first person outside of the label and Huber to actually hear these grooves. That's awesome.

This package is a double album or a series of two albums, it's hard to explain exactly which. In my emails it's called a double LP with a bonus LP.

The new album is Top of the World and True Groove Records has decided to throw in a bonus LP, Huber's previous work, Confused.

Sam Huber is a native of Helsinki, Finland. Over in his native Scandinavia, he's a known commodity. He's long been an actor, musician, and a general media gadfly. In the States though, well, he's an unknown quantity. Now, as Finland is right next to Sweden, who has the highest concentration of metal bands, we can rightly assume that Huber himself is metal as all get out right?

Tomas Doncker

Well No.

Huber and Co, of which there appears to be a goodly number of them, are described as Global Soul. This is a new tag for this blogger. That term is defined as basically everything we've ever heard committed to wax and then tossed into the dryer to mix it up all good like.

In the mean time, I've chosen to review these albums separately because it doesn't seem fair to consider it one release.

Let's start with the new LP, Top of the World.

Huber is joined by long time collaborator, guitarist Tomas Doncker. If I can Eddie Trunk you for a minute, Doncker and I are internet friends and he's the owner of True Groove Records. However, that just makes me cool.

Let's start with what's heard as the record begins spinning. Huber has strong, baritone voice. Doncker has a wonderful funky guitar sound. The two working in concert (ha, ha) makes for a powerful tandem.

The songs feature all sorts of styles. In a rare bit of public relations, what we get is precisely what was advertised. It's largely funk and soul, but then there are snippets of 80's pop. The guitars are all sorts of funked out reggae. The offbeat up stroked chords Bob Marley used so effectively are the primary order of the day.

There's wet snares, synth claps, and where this could come across as cheesy, it feels like home, for me anyway. Even though it's couched in the music of my salad days, it doesn't sound dated. It's comfortable and warm.

Any time I felt comfortable in the sounds I was hearing, they would change it up. For the most part, they didn't pepper me with all sorts of musical styles. Sam Huber certainly isn't Yes. There were no classical pianos seguing into flamenco.

But when the funk was grooving and my toes were tapping, Doncker would break out a shoegaze solo. Then on side two, they finally treat the listener to a full on reggae assault that they were teasing the entire time.

The songs were put together by masterful writing. The vocals, featuring a slight rasp, were given to us in a deep and soulful baritone. Then there was a low end harmonizing about an octave lower. It made the vocals more powerful and the music more intertwined. In the circles I typically run in, vocal and musical interplay is at a premium to say the least.

Top of the World is an unintended concept record. It's kind of Huber's love letter to the United States, but more specifically New York City. He knows that even though our current government is seeking cultural, racial, and ideological homogeneity, that's not who the people of America are.

If The Soft Parade by The Doors represents a parade down Market St (or The Sunset Strip I suppose), Top of the World is a walking tour of New York. It's the melting pot of all American melting pots and it's impossible to ignore the symbolism featured in the changes.

It's not just New York. My home, St. Louis, MO is the same way. We've shed our homogeneity. Huber, a Finn, has created the music of my homeland, of America.

As there are two pressings of two separate albums, I'll discuss the sound quality of each separately. As of right now, this record has become my go to in order to demonstrate the glorious power of vinyl. There is no record in my collection that has the dynamic range, the clarity, and the pure power of this analog deity.

Confused.

This set gives us a great insight to a musician. My personal hope for every artist I enjoy is that each time, they grow and change, a little bit. Each album should be an expansion on what they are. That's my perfection.

As True Groove Records has included a whole second LP, everybody gets an opportunity to see where Huber has come from.

As the final notes ring from my speakers, it's time to begin writing the second half of this review. (You know I took a break right?)

What's the best case scenario here? Honestly, the mistake I made was listening to the new album first I think, because the previous album is precisely what I'd hope it to be. It's not as good as the  Top of the World.

The latter album is a very ambitiously conceived and executed album. Whereas the former is far more of a straight forward groove record. Make sure you get ready to dance.

Like it's predecessor, it sounds phenomenal. There's a complete absence of surface noise, no scratchiness or anything. It's crystal, sparking, clear.

Release: Uh, Soon? There's a bit of confusion as to when you'll be able to order this album due to all of the delays.

Keep an eye on Sam Huber's OFFICIAL SITE for upcoming announcements as well as True Groove and Sam Huber on Facebook.