People Gonna Talk

1	People Gonna Talk 3:18
2	No Smoke Without Fire 3:05
3	You Can't Win 2:31
4	Riot in My Heart 4:16
5	'Til Your Fool Comes Home 2:30
6	Mollena 2:33
7	I'll Walk Away 4:07
8	Watch & Chain 3:19
9	Kick It Around 1:59
10	Don't Come Back 2:37
11	It's Easy to Say 3:48
12	Tell Her for Me 1:53
13	Talking 'Bout My Love 2:22
14	All Through Cryin' 2:35

Barnes & Noble

The British blue-eyed soul singer and guitarist James Hunter could turn out to be one of those performers who gets a Best New Artist Grammy nomination well into his career (see Lynne, Shelby). A decade prior to the impressive People Gonna Talk, Hunter released Believe What I Say and then followed it with 2001's Kick It Around. But while those albums never found their audience, People Gonna Talk no doubt will, thereby making the title a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hunter's effortlessly soulful tenor and tasty but not flashy guitar playing lead a stripped-down blues band of two saxophones, bass, and drums (Hunter recorded the album at Toe Rag Studios, the analogue oasis where the White Stripes recorded Elephant), and songs like the acoustic "Mollena" and the electric "It's Easy to Say" are both spacious and full-bodied. There's no hiding Hunter's antecedents -- Sam Cooke and Ray Charles, Boz Scaggs and Van Morrison, who's been Hunter's mentor (that's Hunter on backing vocals on Morrison's excellent 1994 live album, A Night in San Francisco) -- but they only place him in a noble tradition. And to easy-swinging Cooke-style (uh, "Cooke-ing"?) tracks such as "Tell Her for Me" and "I'll Walk Away" and rocking jump blues à la Charles such as " 'Til Your Fool Comes Home," Hunter adds his own twists, such as the reggae-infused title track or the rockabilly-inflected "Talking 'Bout My Love." Impressive stuff from a new veteran. Steve Klinge

All Music Guide

Truly a man, and an album, out of time, James Hunter travels back to the '60s for this slinky shot of retro soul-blues. The singer/guitarist/cartoonist's (he draws the comical caricatures of the band in the liner notes) third album for his third label, isn't a departure from previous releases, but it summarizes what he does best. Kicking off with the Caribbean breeze of the title track, things quickly shift to the funky Austin Powers soul of "No Smoke Without Fire." Hunter's combo of twin saxes, bass, drums, and his own tasty guitar makes for unique jazz/blues/pop that has its roots in Ray Charles' small combo, King Curtis, and Van Morrison's early-'70s work, in particular His Band and the Street Choir. Vocally, Hunter's croon falls on the smooth Sam Cooke side of Boz Scaggs. The album seems like it was made in the late '50s, and the clean sound along with Liam Watson's spacious production is the only giveaway that it was recorded in 2005. None of this would amount to much though if the songs didn't connect, and these do. Perfectly written and arranged, these are each polished gems with instantly memorable choruses and lyrics that although heavy on moon-June-spoon, never sound forced or uncomfortably contrived. Hunter is a punchy, pithy guitarist, cranking out taut solos with the economy of Steve Cropper. Some tunes such as "Talkin' Bout My Love" with its jaunty horns and twistable beat seem like they were grabbed from, or written for, a '60s beach flick. At 14 tracks running 40 minutes, it's over before you want it to be, always the sign of a quality album. An anomaly in 2006 with its mini sax section and sparse, danceable songs, the album nonetheless shimmers with hip-shaking grooves. Although the disc is decidedly retro, it exudes classy, cool fun that feels timeless. An instant party starter, it'll make you want to do the Twist, the Jerk, the Shimmy, and the Mashed Potato, or at least learn how. Hal Horowitz

Rolling Stone

1/2 Hunter's first album to see stateside release is a treat not to miss. Peter Relic