Joe Breenheaps praise on James Hunter's new release.

JAMES HUNTER

The Hard Way

Hear Records

*****

Never was a recording so aptly named. At 43, Essex singer James Hunter could have been forgiven for believing that his time would never come, but three years ago his second album, People Gonna Talk, released almost 10 years after his debut, prompted rave reviews about this British retro-soul sensation.

Roll on three years and his second collection in his second coming, so to speak, finds him topping the Billboard blues charts. There is no mystery, except how he managed to avoid success to date.

Hunter's voice can evoke the soulful silk of Sam Cooke, one of his heroes, especially on the irresistible ballad Carina. His songs are loving recreations of 1950s and 1960s black pop, his band are subtle and skintight, and the production by Liam Watson in the analogue Toe-Rag Studios in London is a model of economy and expression.

[ www.jameshuntermusic.comOpens in new window ]

JOE BREEN

Download tracks: The Hard Way, Carina, Class Act