The Hi-Nobles : Shake :: Review

The tag line from the press release states that the Hi-Nobles will kick your soul into high gear.  Sadly, the kicking I received from the Hi-Nobles who consist of former members of The Avengers (Greg Ingraham) and thrash veteran Scott Holderby, was only able to force me to make a lousy Blues Brothers association.  The Hi-Nobles debut album “Shake” is supposedly a return to the rocking Stax era but the only thing that I picked up on was the triteness of the band.  Everything about the Hi-Nobles seems so over the top and cartoonish that I found it hard to enjoy any of the songs on this release.

Maybe I’m a snob and I prefer my soul to be more authentic and derived from a certain era.  Maybe the Hi-Nobles are destined to be a band that rocks out a bar on a Friday night and that’s about it.  I can’t completely condemn them because the musicianship on tracks like “Soul Sister” and “International Playboys” isn’t such a bad thing.  However, the  vocals are embarrassingly annoying.  It’s just all too much to take unless you’re a dedicated fan of the former bands that make up this new entity.  If white boy soul is your thing then you’re in for a treat.

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This post was submitted by greg.