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Brand New Heavies: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 23 June 1994

WHEN BRAND New Heavies lumbered on to the scene in 1988, few would have rated their chances of surviving into 1994, let alone of becoming the year's foremost chart-soul sensations. This is because, as far as dance music goes, 1988 was the year of Acid House, a largely atonal style that had little to do with the lithe, organic rhythms and urgent, jazz fusion-infused arrangements favoured by the Heavies. Nevertheless, so out of time and place were this west London trio (soon to become a quartet, with the arrival of American singer N'Dea Davenport) that they established a cult following on the club underground.

Total word count of piece: 313

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