The Sweet Vandals

The Sweet Vandals latest album, Love Liteis the best soul album not to come from Memphis in 1965. This group of Spaniards have studied, practiced, and mastered the Stax style of soul and replicated it to the point where it's almost impossible to believe that these guys are not part of the legendary label's stable of artists.

Led by an organ and horn section from the great beyond, the Sweet Vandals have more soul in them then about 80% of today's current crop of R&B superstars. Love Liteis a retro-fueled delight in much the same way that Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings are and it's simply amazing. Filled with enough sub-Booker T and the MG's musicianship to make them blush, Sweet Vandals are clearly a group on top of their game. When you add in the passionate heart wrenching blues soaked vocals of Mayka Edjole you have a record that sounds as sultry in your living room as it would be live in a smoky club.

Listening to Love Lite is like being taken by the ghost of soul music past and being dropped in the middle of the Soulsville USA for the recording of a Sweet Vandals session. It's as if time travel has become a reality. From the funky stomp of, "Take Me Now," to the nearly girl group harmonies of, "Every Woman is a Diva," Love Lite is simply fantastic. For a record made in 2009 it's hard to believe this sounds as authentically vintage as it does. But it does and the Sweet Vandals have tapped into their inner soul fingers here and they've come up with a record that clearly is among the best rhythm and blues albums of 2009.