Smith and Royal are a band that I keep reading lots about on the web. If they don't make it big then it's not for want of support from some heavyweights in the music industry. They've been championed on the radio by the likes of Rob Da Bank and behind the scenes have worked with an illustrous list of UK production talent: Jason Cox, Cameron McVey, Jony Rockstar to name but a few. The female front for S&R is Kelly-Marie Smith who was a precocious child talent and later worked with the Shapeshifters. I've looked and looked but can find no details on the enigmatic Royal.
The sound is fresh and pop-py that is bound to go down a storm in the Summer months. Amazingly they are currently unsigned to a record company but I would think that must be down to careful management rather than record company oversight. S&R certainly have enough mass appeal to be snapped up immediately. The reviews I've read all compare with Kelis but I'm going to throw another ridiculously talented lady in there too, Janelle Monae. Let's hope Smith and Royal enjoy the same success. If you go to their MySpace page you'll find some more tracks including a wonderfully retro 'Let it Out' that sounds a bit like an early 70s Ike and Tina cover version. It's an incredible song, really.
Inevitably this has got me thinking of that other Smith based duo. They were a prototype for the Bristol trip-hop sound of the late 80s and early 90s. They are of course Smith and Mighty. Along with the Wild Bunch and Monk & Cantella they helped shape British dance music for a generation.
They formed in the late 80s with two downtempo covers of soul classics 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' and 'Walk On By'. I still remember hearing the latter for the first time on a very early Pete Tong show. This was before the phrase trip-hop had come into being and I was blown away with how good the tune was. Rob Smith and Ray Mighty didn't release much stuff after that - a few EPs in the 90s, notably a DJ Kicks album and then a few albums on the !K7 record label (who also boast another down-tempo legend, Bomb the Bass on their alumni) - but their influence can still be heard today. I've always got time for trip-hop so let's dig out that DJ Kicks album and give it a blast. It's perfect music for a sunny Sunday.
and of course.....
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