Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Morris Mills and The Assembly, Strawberry Hill Records 2021.
Morris Mills & The Assembly is the latest band delving back into ‘80s funk that has come my way in recent weeks.
Mills’ take on the Prince classic, Uptown, is musically faithful to the original and perfectly suited to Morris’ great feel for funky grooves.
The track is the first single lifted from his up-coming album, Je Ne Sais Qoui, which was due for release in June.
This album follows on from Revival which was an album of gospel inspired funk that charted well with the single of the same name crossing over from the Christian charts to the mainstream.
Not that Morris Mills is purely a Christian artist.
Whilst church music has had a large influence on his musical development his vision is not strictly confined to the religious.
Hence his choice of the profanely secular Uptown, a song concerned with physical gratification and rebelling against societal norms and expectations, as the lead out single from the new album.
Prince’s album Dirty Mind, that Uptown appeared on, was seen by many as being heretical when it was released and considering just how far we have progressed in accepting sexual variation, it not only goes to show how times have changed but also how far ahead of the times Prince was.
There seems to have been a funk/gospel/soul revival of sorts going on recently for this album comes hot on the heels of the excellent Black Pumas album that I reviewed last week.
Given Mills’ background, growing up in Texas and particularly Chicago, it’s not surprising that he gravitated towards these musical forms and particularly the work of Prince, who Mills counts as a mentor and influence.
Revival has been seen as Morris Mills’ seminal work to date but many critics believe that Je Ne Sais Qoui is the best album that he has released and will surpass the success of his earlier work.
