UK P-funk pioneer Yellow Days returns to his soul roots with new album, Rock And A Hard Place. And he channels everyone from George Clinton, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Gil Scott-Heron to John Lennon, James Brown and Ray Charles along the way.
A RETURN TO SOUL ROOTS
The last time we featured UK singer-songwriter and soul/P-funk pioneer Yellow Days in these pages, he’d just released his 2024 escapist concept album, Hotel Heaven. That was an album that – to put it politely – blew our socks off. Indeed, it moved us to remark that: “Hotel Heaven is an album that has a great deal to offer… an album built to last.”
Yellow Days – aka George van den Broek – hasn’t been idle over the intervening months since Hotel Heaven. Last year saw him collaborating with Laura Quinn, Lex Fransche and others for his party-centric P-funk project, Freddy Can Fly. Now, he’s back again – with a return to his soul roots.
With Rock And A Hard Place, Yellow Day channels an extensive list of his heroes and those who, over the years, have provided him with inspiration. The influence of everyone from Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Gil Scott-Heron to John Lennon, James Brown, Otis Redding and Ray Charles is detectable somewhere in these songs. The songs are constructed with love and great care and they’re packaged in some of the smoothest, cleanest, jazzy funk that you’re likely to hear this year. That sound is due, at least in part, to the contribution of Newcastle-based jazz/soul outfit, Knats – Stan Woodward (bass), King David Ike Elechi (drums) and Ferg Kilsby (trumpet) who provide a hefty chunk of the sweetening to Yellow’s impassioned vocals.
FIRST ADULT ALBUM
Speaking of the finished album, Yellow/George says: “It’s a return to innocence. As a teenager, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, musically. As time goes by, you lose a bit of passion and edge. It’s easy to get carried away. I’ve been like a disobedient dog that needed training. I see this as the first adult album that I’ve ever done.”
Like the coming of dawn, Rock And A Hard Place starts gradually, but relentlessly. A passage of smooth synthesized sound grows in intensity until it occupies the whole room – then crash-lands. And that’s where the funk starts. Special Kind of Woman is a song that comes right out of the Sly Stone instruction manual, circa There’s a Riot Goin’ On. Yellow’s voice is vivid and impassioned but always under full control and it seems to occupy the undiscovered piece of ground between Sly himself and Van Morrison. And, to add a splash of icing – the horns are as smooth as silk.
A soft guitar lick and syrupy organ lead the Motown groove of Let Me Down Easy. Yellow’s voice is clear and intimate and the horns, when they kick in, are deliciously jazzy. It’s the perfect song with which to kick off a lazy Sunday morning. The rocky funk of Glitter And Gold shatters that moment of somnambulance. Plodding bass and howling guitar provide the foundation as Yellow channels Plastic Ono-era John Lennon and, as we know, that’s a persona that he inhabits so very convincingly.
LIKE A WELL-ASSEMBLED JIGSAW PUZZLE
Sharon – the album’s lead single – is a chunk of purest jazz-funk, and it’s sizzling hot. Smooth, sophisticated and so, so tight, with horns that have the texture of smooth dark chocolate. Yellow’s vocals have a Stevie Wonder feel on that one, but it’s Michael Jackson that provides the inspiration for the riotous, brass-drenched Love is Getting Complicated. The punchy production is reminiscent of MJ’s Off the Wall period, especially during the “I love you… I always will” spoken-word passage.
Yellow’s mood switches between conciliation and anger for Baby I’m For Real, a rich soul ballad. Gentle organ, tinkling piano and softly-tapped drums provide the backing and they fit together like a well-assembled jigsaw puzzle.
Described as: “…an electrifying funk-out worthy of Gil Scott-Heron,” the epic I Cannot Believe In Tomorrow is, to my mind at least, the album’s standout track. It’s a song with as much potential power as a supercharged battery and Yellow and the band release that power generously, but with supreme control. And those sighs at the end of the song are just one indication of the passion and energy that went into it.
ROCKY, FUNKY… AND PERVY
Electronic voices repeat the message: “I love you like a baby; I need you,” before the band crash the party with a jazzy cacophony for the baffling I’m Worried I‘ll Break Your Heart. The song’s anarchy is the very counterpoint to the sophistication to be found elsewhere on the album; even a passage of soothing piano doesn’t quite bring things back to Earth.
The title to Shoot Me With Your Love Gun has a Spinal Tap feel about it – and the suggestiveness doesn’t stop there. It’s pervy, yes, but it’s also wonderfully rocky and funky, and it’s another song that takes inspiration from Lennon. A pulsing, insistent rhythm is coated in tasty wha-wha guitar and sizzling synth. At 7:10, it’s the album’s longest track by some distance, but it’s one of those tunes that you don’t ever want to end. At the opposite extreme, Daylight Miracles is a slice of lush soul, with guitars, piano, soft drums and horns all in jazzy accord.
California, a bluesy, jazzy ballad that gives Yellow ample opportunity to take us through his vocal portfolio is another album highlight. In contrast to Yellow’s vocal exercises, the backing is laid-back and the saxes and trumpets are magnificent.
MORE HIGHLIGHTS – AND A TOUR
And the highlights continue with Can’t Fight The Tears, the album’s current single. Speaking of the song, Yellow says: “[It’s] a song about not crying for many years and finally the dam breaking. After putting a brave face on for so long, it becomes hard to believe you can cry anymore, the older you get. Then, suddenly, all that tension releases. The song was inspired by Ray Charles.” Painstakingly slow and packed with passion, it’s an excellent song, with bass, piano and restrained brass providing the bedrock for Yellow’s vocal exertions.
The electronic voices are back as the band enter slowly and deliberately for You Didn’t Leave Me, the album’s closing track. In truth, the voices add a kind of Barry White effect that, perhaps, isn’t necessary. But things lift off halfway through, when the song becomes a James Brown-type screamer, with Yellow giving it everything he has. It might not be amongst my favourite tracks on the album, but the cascade of sound at the end is a truly fitting way to conclude an album that is, on several levels, an epic.
Having appeared everywhere from Coachella to Glastonbury, via Fuji Rock, Yellow Days take Rock And A Hard place on a sprawling tour. The tour includes shows across the US and Canada, before it arrives in Europe in late April. Full details of the tour and tickets for all shows are available here.
Watch the official video to Sharon – the album’s lead single – below:
Yellow Days: Official Website