Duffy, the Dusty Springfield from Gwynedd, is yet another soul/neo-soul singer-songwriter to add to the current wave of British female soul singers such as Amy, Adele, Stone et al but what an inspired choice for the debut release on Tri-Sound by The Third Degree.

With respect to Northern Soul scene, the re-worked version is already a hot radio play and this month’s Observer Music Monthly agrees with me (and the rest of FLY’s office), “it definitely trumps the original”.

The production is very Mark Ronson with big horns and there’s not much to chose between the vocal and instrumental versions. But even better, you might remember that when I turned up at the Big Chill last year, the first guy I met was telling me the best thing at the festival would be Greg Wilson and his Credit To The Edit set. Well on the remix we have said Mr. Greg Wilson who doubles up the original in length with the extended vocal and instrumental.

And then that’s not much of a surprise as the heads of the Tri-Sound are a trio of Marshall Chess (son and nephew of the founders of Chess Records), Eddie Piller (60’s music enthusiast and co-founder of seminal record label Acid Jazz with Gilles Peterson) and Fredrik Ekander (a native of Stockholm who have spend years in the industry and currently CEO of Bonnier Amigo).

The Third Degree - Mercy


What with other recent heavy soul goodies such as Cookin’ on 3 Burners’ ‘This Girl’ (feat. Kylie Auldist) and the swampy ‘Sixteen’ by The Heavy, the soul/acid-jazz scene is going thorough a purple patch at the moment so get out and support.

Reviewed: The Third Degree - Mercy (Tri-Sound) Cat. No TRI 3003 Release date: 29th July 2009
1. Mercy (3:16)
2. Mercy (Instrumental) (3:16)
3. Mercy (Greg Wilson’s Extended Mix) (6:03)

Links:
www.myspace.com/djgregwilson
www.myspace.com/trisoundmyspace
www.bonnieramigo.com