Review: Various Artists - We Wah 25 (Part 11/32 - Part-Time Heroes - 'Realise' feat. Jono McCleery) (Wah Wah 45s)

Regular readers of YATM will know that we go a long way back with Wah Wah 45s and Mr. Dom Servini so for the 25th Birthday Party compilation that came out last week, here's a bit of a selective retrospective!

Especially as there's a massive 32 tracks to celebrate 25 years (Ed. Wonder who thought of that equation?) and as Jono McCleery is riding high on his album on Sonar Kollectiv, 'Reconcile' (see review HERE), has anyone mentioned that he featured on Part-Time Heroes track 'Realise'? (Track 11. on the compilation - see below and original album review in October, 2008).

Part-Time Heroes - Meanwhile... After Gilles Peterson’s recent trip to Japan where he met up with Part-Time Heroes promoting the new album, Meanwhile…, don’t be surprised to see these guys back in the Worldwide awards at the end of the year.
Just to reiterate, Part-time Heroes are from Southampton (not Bournemouth, Gilles how could you make such a basic error as that?) and their classic track ‘Realise’ was voted 26th in the Best Track category of Gilles Peterson’s 2006 Worldwide awards. Not bad for a couple of part-timers but since then, the duo of Ross Wakefield and Toby Vane are now very much full-time with this project and this is the debut album. Their mix of thoughtful soul-jazz and dancefloor knowledge has helped them work with some excellent vocalist that really suit their style. ‘Realise’ will always be a standout track in any set (see the single review HERE) but Jono McCleery also sings on a downtempo flute strings number called ‘Angels Fly’ which is just awesome. And whilst we’re getting reflective, ‘Stop, Fade, Blur’ (with highly acclaimed jazz vocalist Laura Vane; any relation?) is as good as it gets! These two tracks together, ‘Stop, Fade, Blur’ and Angels Fly’, get me every time but Ms. Vane, like most of the vocal guests, gets two tracks and her other track ‘In My Soul’ ends the CD up the up. These guys certainly have an ear/eye for a femaile vocalist as Bridgitte Amofah has appeared on The Nextmen’s album This Was Supposed To Be The Future and Dr. Rubberfunk’s My Life At 33. Here she gets the optimistic ‘Sun Will Shine’ and sentimental on ‘Method’. Liane Carroll featured on ‘Shadowlands’ on the ‘Realise EP’ and she continues to be a regular on the Hospital label. Her other track is ‘What It Could Be’ that’s linked with the instrumental ‘What’s The Noise? (Part II)’. What with the other instrumental, ‘Distance’, Part-Time Heroes take on the Koop’s, Zero 7s and Portishead’s of the world and come out points winners. The single from the album is more of a dancefloor sound, ‘Ready For Change’ featuring Pete (Elektrons, Domu Presents Pete Simpson, Joey Negro & The Sunshine Band) Simpson although the idea is to keep their PTH Projects guise for the club scene. The album launch was at Cargo in September and more llive band gigs are promiesed for next year but when they are not live, they are just as happy with their PTH Soundsystem so keep an eye open and don’t miss at any opportunity to see and hear them. Mr. Servini sir, you’ve done it again - Wah Wah 45s forever! Hectic Mix nominations: ‘Realise’, ‘Shadowlands’ [modern classics], ‘Stop, Fade, Blur’, ‘Angels Fly’, ‘Distance’. Reviewed: Part-time Heroes - Meanwhile… (Wah Wah 45s) Cat. No. WAHCD009 Release date: September 2008 Tracklisting: 1 Intro (0:39) 2 Ready For Change (4:20) feat. Pete Simpson 3 Shadowlands (5:07) feat. Liane Carroll 4 Realise (7:15) feat. Jono McCleery 5 Stop, Fade, Blur (4:56) feat. Laura Vane 6 Angels Fly (5:25) feat. Jono McCleery 7 Sun Will Shine (5:38) feat. Bridgette Amofah 8 What’s The Noise? (Part II) / What It Could Be (6:32) feat. Laura Vane 9 Method (Don’t Say Goodbye) (4:36) feat. Bridgette Amofah 10 Distance (5:36) 11 In My Soul (5:57) feat. Laura Vane + Hidden Track Links www.parttimeheroes.co.uk www.myspace.com/theparttimeheroes www.wahwah45s.com www.myspace.com/Misslauravane www.lianecarroll.co.uk www.mumsthewordmusic.com Gilles Peterson :: 2nd October 2008 :: Gilles Peterson’s Nu Japanese Mix Dee Dee Bridgewater - ‘Tokyo Blues’ (Verve) Hajime Yoshizawa - ‘Open Door’ (Village Again) Tokyo Zawinul Bach - ‘Mint Palladium’ (Body Electric) Cro-Magnon - ‘Morning Haze’ (Jazzy Sport) Audace - ‘Track 7’ (White) Forty Five - ‘Wa’ (Origami Productions) Sleep Walker - ‘Brotherhood’ (Mark Mac Remix) (Jazzamar) Kingdom Afrocks - ‘The Sunshine Has Gone’ (P-Vine) Nation Of Multiverse - ‘Unknown’ (Pravda Test) Quasimode Ft. Carmen Lundy - ‘Sounds of Peace’ (Geneon) United Legends - Thank You (Danny Krivit Re-edit) (Geneon) —Gerry Hectic Sunday 19 October 2008