AFFINITY

Very nice little known british band that released only one album during their brief career. If you ever wonder where those 80´s acts like Everything But The Girl, Basia, Swing Out Sister and others got their inspiration from, this CD is a good clue: soft singing female vocals, cool jazz, R&B, bossa nova, soul music, gospel and a little prog. It´s all there. Affinity was doing it more than ten years before any of those artists. And although the production is not top notch, is still adequate for the style.

It is only a pity that this group did not stayed around longer. Their mix would prove to be a successful one some time later. And those guys (and lady) were indeed very talented. I just loved the tasteful arrangements with heavy use of Hammond organ, a versatile rhythm section and nice jazzy guitar lines. And, above all, the cool voice of Linda Hoyle. She had a style of her own that combines the soft and the strong side of the woman in music. And even if their 11 minute version of Dylan´s All Along The Watchtower was not entirely satisfying, their self titled album proves Affinity as a strong force in the competitive british scene of the late 60´s. Night Flight, a powerful tune mixing all elements mentioned above in a 7 minute track, is the CD´s highlight. My copy has two short bonus tracks that sit well with the original ones.

A hard album to rate. In a progressive site like this I think this CD is very good, but not really essential, as the progressive element is present, but in a very subtle way. So I guess 3,5 stars is quite fitting.