Newcastle’s Nick Pride and the Pimptones have just released their new album,’Ideology’, and it’s the happiest, most upbeat, and joyful music I’ve had the pleasure of hearing all year.
Although the Pimptones formed way back in 2007, the line-up has been constantly changing and shifting, giving each album its own unique and distinguished sound.
This particular album has the benefit of a whole new rhythm section to complement the ever-present horns, and the brilliant Eliza Lawson on vocals, bringing a fresh edge that pulls the band firmly into the present day. Nick quite rightly says: “Eliza’s vocal performance just kills it”- in a good way.
The idea for ‘Ideology’ came as the outfit finished their 2016 album, ‘Go Deep’, featuring a track celebrating same-sex marriage in ‘Good Day’. When I talked to Nick, he said: “I’d never really tried to write songs about real subjects like that in the past, so that was a direction I wanted to take.”
He also admitted that a lot of it was hard to get right because each song on this album highlights a new part of the band’s “Ideology,” including feminism, equality, social justice, and the general acceptance of others.
‘Queens are Stronger Than Kings’ envisions a world run by women, heralding female brilliance from beautiful Aphrodite to fierce lionesses. In a similar vein, ‘Oh Michelle’ wonders at an America with Michelle Obama at the helm. Thinking to the unavoidable conflicts and debates over each social issue, the song ‘Talking ‘Bout Love’ asks each of us why we’re more interested in winning an argument than fighting on the side of compassion.
My personal favourite from the album is ‘UNITY’, a Latin jazz love song that makes it impossible not to dance along to.
Nick’s favourite of the tracks is ‘Woke’ which about the new awareness we’re all gaining as time goes on. “We all have learning to do,” he says. “We can all have these light bulb moments!” 2020 has been all about seeing things in a new light, in many respects, and the song juggles a lot of different ideas.
With “a twisty-turny melody” and “bizarre key changes”, he wasn’t sure at first how the song would turn out but loves the finished product: “Once the band got hold of it, it all sounded totally natural. It’s all about the groove and the nasty bass line.”
There are twelve tracks in all and not a weak one among them. I would recommend that every jazz, soul and funk fan gets themselves a copy.
You can purchase the album now at nickprideandthepimptones.bandcamp.com.
