Rick Clarke - Guess Who (2023)

Street soul grail alert! We drop a much-needed reissue for the previously white label-only Guess Who LP - originally self-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 stealthily during a period in the early 90s - when Rick was signed up to Soul II Soul's Funki Dreds label, which contractually restricted him from releasing his music elsewhere. Bubbling with creative energy and a slew of ideas, he just couldn't help himself from getting out this there. Clarke 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 within a couple days time.
Raw drum machines and simple but effective bass-lines & 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 on 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.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Rick Clarke - Show Me the Way (feat. Mark Antonio) (4:40)
1.02 - Rick Clarke - Do What We Gotta Do (feat. Delroy Dyer & Gina Foster) (4:26)
1.03 - Rick Clarke - I Like to Party (feat. Andre Stevens, Imaani, Kemi & Delroy Dyer) (4:35)
1.04 - Rick Clarke - Gonna Make You Happy (feat. Jill Francis) (3:45)
1.05 - Rick Clarke - Love Don't Strike Twice (feat. Easton) (3:53)
1.06 - Rick Clarke - Share My Love with You (feat. Imaani) (4:43)
1.07 - Rick Clarke - Fantasy (feat. Gina Foster) (4:40)
1.08 - Rick Clarke - Without You in My Life (feat. Delores) (4:04)
1.09 - Rick Clarke - Sweet Vibrations (1:54)