New SOUL Release AYANNA HOBSON & The Soulmates -with streaming

AYANNA HOBSON&THE SOULMATES: Looking For A Home Too - FREE [wmp=480,111]http://www.cdbaby.com/allmp3/ahts.m3u?cdbaby=771a1e7646600ffb488d8bb7e3c5b52a[/wmp] or STREAMING at CD BABY http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ahts. AYANNA&THE SOULMATES "Looking For A Home Too" BY PETER "BLEWZZMAN" LAURO, MARY 4 BLUES © NOVEMBER, 2004 I cant quite put my finger on it, but there is obviously a reason I felt so compelled to review this CD. Usually I shy away from the R&B style of the blues and stay more focused on the real mainstream blues. Yet, during the several listens that I give a CD before making the final decision, each listen of "LOOKING FOR A HOME TOO", caused me to listen closer the next time. Ultimately, I was able to put the "style preference" behind me and when I did, what I heard was nothing short of shear excellence. On AYANNA&THE SOULMATES CD "LOOKING FOR A HOME TOO", all of the songs music and lyrics are written by BUSTER "LITTLE BUSTER" FOREHAND, and the title of the CD is directly taken from a previously released CD by LITTLE BUSTER called LOOKING FOR A HOME" - but the similarities stop there. Everything about this band, which consists of AYANNA HOBSON on vocals; CHRIS HIATT on guitar; RICH ALFANO on bass; JOHNNY FLORES on drums; special guests JOHN CAZAN on organ and guitar; KATHERINE QUINIF on background vocals; and DEAN MURPHY on guitar, is original Throughout the CD, AYANNAS vocals are one of its highlights. Her voice is so strong, commanding and articulate that you cant help but think she could carry the song without a microphone. It didnt surprise me one bit when I read in her bio that she has an operatic 4.5 Octave vocal range and that she performed in many musical theater productions. "MY DARLING", is one of the CDs bluesier tracks. CHRIS HIATT gets in his share of blues licks on this one. His playing throughout the CD impressed me enough to wish I could here him flat out play nothing but the blues. This track also features JOHNNY FLORES on a very nice drum solo. "TOUGHER THAN TOUGH" may be the best track on the CD. The whole band is peaking and the vocals and background vocal are superb. The song has a bit of a gospel sound to it as it progressively gets faster and faster after each verse. This was a hot one. The whole CD is hot. The Production Department deserves a nod here also. The mixing is perfect. Each instrument can be heard well enough to realize that respective musicians excellent talent, which "LOOKING FOR A HOME TOO" is abundant with. Thats it, it took me till the end of the review to realize what the compelling force of the CD was - TALENT!