Incognito 100 Degrees And Rising CD

Personnel includes: Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick (vocals, guitar, handclaps, programming); Maxton Gig Beesley, Jr. (vocals, Fender Rhodes electric piano, vibraphone, drums, percussion); Joy Malcolm, Pamela Anderson, Barry Stewart (vocals); Bud Beadle (flute, alto & baritone saxophones); Adrian Ravell (flute, tenor saxophone); Ed Jones (soprano & tenor saxophones); Gerard Presencer, Kevin Robinson (trumpet, flugelhorn); Fayyaz Virji, Mark Nightingale (trombone); Graham Harvey (piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano, synthesizer, Moog bass); Peter Hinds (piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano, synthesizer).
Producers: Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick, Richard Bull.
Principally recorded at Trident 2 Studio, London, England.
Personnel: Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick (vocals, guitar, hand claps, drum programming, background vocals); Joy Malcolm, Pamela Anderson-Lee (vocals, background vocals); Richard Bull (acoustic guitar, synthesizer, programming, drum programming, percussion programming); Bud Beadle (flute, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone); Rowland Sutherland (bass flute); Ed Jones (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Jason Yarde (soprano saxophone); Gerard Presencer (trumpet, flugelhorn); Mark Nightingale, Richard Edwards, Fayyaz Virji (trombone); Peter Hinds (piano, Fender Rhodes piano); Maxton G. Beesley, Jr. (drums, percussion, drum programming); Simon Cotsworth (hand claps); Snowboy (percussion); Elizabeth Troy (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Simon Cotsworth.
Recording information: EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England; Trident 2 Studio, London, England.
Photographer: Ulrich Weber.
On 100 Degrees and Rising, the pioneering acid house outfit, Incognito, turn in another first-rate record, featuring their trademark mixture of jazz, soul, and funk. There's not much to distinguish 100 Degrees from their previous handful of records, but the band is smooth, accomplished, and deep, finding new variations on their trademark sound. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Singer Maysa Leak has left the fold, but Incognito's big, brassy British soul remains the same on 100 DEGREES AND RISING. Electric pianos lay down jazzy R&B vamps, strings sweep in with graceful accents, and horns play with and respond to the vocals, all over a variety of percolating funk beats. Put these parts together and you might call it acid jazz. It's a modern name for music that sounds like they used to make it--group-driven, roots-conscious and, above all, sophisticatedly soulful. And the superb new trio of vocalists that contributes to this, the band's fifth album, slides right in as part of the collective.
As the title implies, sweat drips and tension bubbles beneath the smooth surface of 100 DEGREES AND RISING in the tradition of all great urban soul. From the foreboding stabs of strings that kick off the opener, "Where Did We Go Wrong," like something out of the old sound of Philadelphia, Incognito honors that tradition. "Roots (Back To A Way Of Life)" announces itself with a blast of brass straight out of Earth, Wind & Fire's "Shining Star." "Too Far Gone," an electric piano ballad featuring a marvelously melancholic vocal turn by Barry Stewart, has the feel of early Stevie Wonder. And Incognito can simply lay back and groove too: "Barumba" is Spanish soul, and "After The Fall," one of the album's three instrumentals, has a breezy flugelhorn feel, like Chuck Mangione overhauled and reimagined by the Brand New Heavies.Rolling Stone (10/19/95) - 3.5 Stars - Good - "...On...100 DEGREES...Jean- Paul `Bluey' Maunick actually proves himself as a worthy student of the old school. He's a band leader, producer, arranger, songwriter, and guitarist. Maunick realizes that sheer musicality is what made R&B so grand in the '70s..."
Q (7/95, p.120) - 3 Stars - Good - "...there is no denying the immediately identifiable and cooly attractive summer party sound that is Incognito's..."
Vibe (8/95, p.139) - "...an essential funk-soul sensation....Sing-along tracks...recall a time when soul was still a symbol of stripped-down emotion and inner-city revolution....Incognito still shine as keepers of the lone groove, definitive in their stance..."