Album Notes

Legendary BBC DJ John Peel once said, “Northern Soul is the only true underground music scene”. Boston’s World’s Greatest Sinners (named the city’s Best R&B Act by the Boston Phoenix) have brought the sounds of this rabidly beloved genre of American R&B to life, making believers out of the old-timers and the uninitiated alike. With the release of their first full-length, Ten Before Eight, the ‘Sinners continue their calling to bring the dancers back to the floor and the true sounds of 60s soul back to the people.

Across eleven horn-stoked tracks, Ten Before Eight swaggers easily between the many flavors of northern, from the sunny LA soul of Miss Treatment, to the southern bump of He’ll Take It, to the swampy vamp of Its Your Voodoo Workin’. The tracks are driven by the raw power of vocalist Jordan Valentine, whom the Boston Globe praised as being “among the most dynamic singers, male or female, to hit town in a while”. The album’s infectious backbeat is provided by Greg Steinbaugh (bass) and Boby Bear (drums), and ably stoked by award-winning guitarist Tony Savarino, and saxophonists Andre Delbos and Andrew Hickman (better known as “The Saints”).

And while Ten Before Eight wears its Stax and Tamla influences proudly on its sleeve, the ‘Sinners also inject the music with a ferocity that is as thoroughly modern as it is faithful. This is much more than a revival. In describing this deft fusion of mod fire and 60s faith, the Noise Magazine’s Frank Strom said of the ‘Sinners’ performance, “The 1969 model Rolling Stones wanted to be doing that”. And even the northern soul intelligentsia agree that it works. After booking the ‘Sinners as his house band for Soul Trip, the largest northern soul festival in the US, Goldsoul Records CEO and legendary Wigan Casino DJ Kev Roberts had only this to say: “World's Greatest Sinners are undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with. Book 'em immediately.”

WHAT THE PRESS SAYS...

"(These tracks) are buried treasures, all done up sweaty and live-sounding. Valentine’s vocals are suitably brassy but also warm and emotive, a counterpart to the glamorous image she projects on stage." -- Brett Milano, Boston Phoenix

"Behind the powerful vocals of Jordan Valentine, the super-talented Sinners provide a rollicking wall of joyous sound—enough to make you think they just moved here from Memphis. All the songs on this disc are covers of blues and soul classics, but not the ones you’ve heard a million times already, so it sounds fresh and not clichéd. And with Miss Valentine sounding like Otis Redding’s long lost daughter raised on a steady diet of Billie Holiday, there is nothing not to like about this band, or this CD." -- Brian Mosher, The Noise

FOR MORE INFORMATION...
Please visit the band's website at www.worldsgreatestsinners.com

MORE ABOUT THE 'SINNERS...

- Winner, Best R&B/Blues Act, 2006 Boston Phoenix
Best Music Poll
- In 2006, World’s Greatest Sinners were selected
as house band for Soul Trip, the largest northern
soul festival in the US.
- The ‘Sinners have backed up legendary original
soul acts, including Archie Bell, Sandi Sheldon,
the Del-Larks, the Spellbinders, and Laura Lee.

Your amalgamated tradeworkers' union of northern soul survivors, Boston's World's Greatest Sinners are six working stiffs out to keep the faith. Resurrecting the raw and honest rhythms of classic 60's soul and R&B, the 'Sinners remind you that there really was a time when songs were alive, beats blew your mind and a horn line could make all hell break loose.

Driven by a powerful rhythm section that makes sitting still a physical impossibility, the band is pushed into overdrive by infectious guitar, and sent into the ether by the delicious perfection of their (occasionally notorious) brass section, The Saints. These dark-end-of-the-streeters are headed up by Ms. Jordan Valentine on lead vocals, who wails, screams, coos, cajoles, stalks and otherwise dominates her way through everything from Motown hits to obscure southern soul with no mind for consequence.

The 'Sinners cut deep into the heart of soul to find their material, moving easily from Motown and Wall of Sound standbys, to regional gems (Philly grooves, Detroit stompers, Muscle Shoals groans and LA dancers), to downright lost classics you never knew existed. Their playbook reads like the catalog at Heaven's record store, and they mine this soulful bounty with class and fire, two-and-a-half minutes at a time.

Cited by critics (including the Boston Globe and the Boston Phoenix) as one of the driving forces in the growing soul revival, the 'Sinners have packed houses wherever they go and brought the dancers back to the floor just when it seemed they were gone for good. In a world full of blaring nothingness and shoe-staring misery, the time has come for good times, fast hustles, stolen kisses and nights to remember; for sweltering dancehalls and loves of lifetimes that don't last the weekend. In a world like this, it takes the World's Greatest Sinners to save your soul.