Shakatak - Bitter Sweet

Shakatak is a London based British R&B-ish jazz funk band. Quite popular in the eighties right after they formed the band (back then without the current lead singer Jill Saward). Hits like "Steppin", "Down on the street" and "Easier said than done" may still ring a bell, but they had several more songs hitting the charts up until the late 80's.
Problem is they always had a problem reinventing themselves. Being a good alternative next to rock, new wave and regular disco, Shakatak was the more sophisticated choice, but the music changing into the nineties kind of left Shakatak in a vacuum. Not that they did not have anything to do, for instance like many band they became tremendously popular in upcoming markets like Japan. 

So this 1991 album is made in that vacuum and it is no surprise they aren't any surprises to be found, although they did reach the charts shortly with "You'll Never Know" the final track on this album. It is a nice album, but no more than that. They did try however after this album bringing in hip hop beats starting from 1993, but they never really made it back to the scene. The pop music scene that is, because in the jazz scene they remained popular as ever.

Just a tip: if you create a chill R&B playlist this is a great album to blend in.

Track		Artist		Song		BPM
1		Shakatak		Dont't Start Giving Up		118
2		Shakatak		Blue		134
3		Shakatak		Bitter Sweet		102
4		Shakatak		Cool Down		100
5		Shakatak		Don't Look Back		105
6		Shakatak		They Call That Cool		110
7		Shakatak		Holding On		94
8		Shakatak		Fly Away		98
9		Shakatak		Shake It Down		120
10		Shakatak		You'll Never Know		106