Not this week anyway, but it wouldn’t be that much of a surprise as the career of Sa-Ra to-date is a strange one. After their initial success, they seem to have been on hold for the past two years. Whoever thought Sa-Ra should do a version of Radiohead’s ‘In Limbo’ on the Exit Music has a very dry sense of humour. However, now the long awaited album is here, has The Hollywood Recordings raised or lowered the bar?

Well, I don’t like to jump to conclusions so I’d advise you to give this one every chance. On first hearing(s), I can’t say I was as excited as I was with the sampler came out. Perhaps, it’s because that was nearly a year ago and the well known tracks are even better known now.

The Talib Kweli track, ‘Feel The Bass’ is the most immediate of the set but there are loads of other collaborations with well known artists (Bilal, Erykah Badu, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Pharoahe Monch) to the not so well known, like Rozzi Daime who makes ‘So Special’ so special. It’s another track, (we’ve had a few lately) that harks back to the glory days of soul (perhaps those glory days are back?)

Talking of lesser known folks, Ty (of Ty & Kory and not Ty of Big Dada) features on the soulfully broken space dribble of ‘And If’, the post-N-E-R-D ‘Do Me Girl’ and Capone-N-Noreaga and Lord Nez get grimey on the dirty bounce of ‘Not On Our Level’.

There are not many tracks that they do on their own but when they’re like ‘Ladies Sing’ and ‘Bitch’ it makes you wonder why.

In addition to the cosmic crunk of ‘Bitch’, there’s also ‘Tracy’ to get Prince all hot for Sheena’s ‘Sugar Walls’, ‘Fly Away’ and ‘Sweet Sour You’ with its Herbie/Clinton heritage for the leftfield action.

‘Lean On Me’ stands out as it’s a bit more uptempo Sa-Ra party and is the start of a big finish with a Pharoahe ‘Agent Orange’ Monch rap (lovin’ freakin’ fish at the moment), Dilla on ‘Thrilla’ and a suitably flamboyant re-directed version of ‘Hollywood’.

Even though it’s now three years since they won the Gilles Peterson Worldwide John Peel ‘Play More Jazz’ Award, finally, Sa-Ra have shown us they’re more than just three flash Harries.

Hectic Mix nominations; [excluding ‘Rosebuds’, ‘Glorious’, ‘Hollywood’] ‘So Special’, ‘And If’, ‘Do Me Girl’, ‘Sweet Sour You’, ‘Lean On Me’, ‘Fish Fillet’, ‘Thrilla’, ‘Not On Our Level’.

Reviewed: Sa-Ra — The Hollywood Recordings (Babygrande) Cat. No: BBG-CD-313 Release date: 23 July 2007

Tracklisting:
1. Seagulls (Intro) (1:00)
2. Hey Love (3:41)
3. Glorious (4:41)
4. So Special featuring Rozzi Daime (3:35)
5. And If featuring Ty (2:37)
6. Rosebuds (4:18)
7. Feel The Bass featuring Talib Kweli (3:00)
8. Not On Our Level featuring Capone-N-Noreaga & Lord Nez (3:34)
9. White! (On The Floor) vocals Fenneta Lowe & Kyona Beady (2:57)
10. Bitch (3:22)
11. Do Me Gurl (3:57)
12. Ladies Sing (3:30) vocals Kwame James & Rozzi Daime
13. Sweet Sour You (3:23) featuring Bilal
14. Tracy (3:23) vocals Rozzi Daime
15. Fly Away (2:24) vocals Erykah Badu & Georgia Anne Muldrow
16. Lean On Me (4:12) featuring Kurupt, Lord Nez & Erika Rose
17. Fish Fillet (3:31) featuring Pharoahe Monch
18. Thrilla featuring J Dilla (3:37)
19. Hollywood (Redux) (5:31)

Links:
www.sa-ramusic
www.myspace.com/saramusic
SA-RA Listening Party Monday, April 23 2007 Canal Room, New York NY “Many artists talk about going to the proverbial “next level.” Om’Mas Keith, Taz Arnold, and Shafiq Husayn who make up Sa-Ra simply exist there”.