Back in the '70s, many white rock critics tried to convince their readers that the decade's soul, funk, and disco simply couldn't hold a candle to '60s R&B. But most connoisseurs of '70s R&B weren't buying it, which is why they turned to the late, great Soul magazine (the Vibe of its era) for information and relied on more insightful writers like Leonard Pitts Jr. and Steven Ivory (two regular Soul contributors). And these days, the theory that '70s R&B is horribly inferior to '60s R&B is seldom tossed around -- in the '90s and 2000s, countless artists (everyone from
Lisa Stansfield to
Jamiroquai) have been totally obsessed with the African-American music of the '70s. That is certainly the case with Arne Drescher, also known as
Monsieur Leroc.
Oh La La!, the German producer's second album, is yet another example of unapologetic '70s worship in the 2000s. This 2003 release is hardly an exact replica of '70s recordings; rather,
Leroc's quirky, eccentric work fuses his '70s fixation with hip-hop, jazz, and club music.
Oh La La! is an example of what journalist Nelson George calls retro-nuevo -- that is, R&B that worships the past without being oblivious to more contemporary sounds. Nonetheless,
Leroc's passion for '70s soul and funk is impossible to miss, and this generally likable, if uneven, CD draws on influences that range from
Curtis Mayfield,
Stevie Wonder, and Sly Stone to
De La Soul and
the Jungle Brothers. At times,
Leroc allows his eccentricity to get the best of him; parts of
Oh La La! are too self-indulgent for their own good, and
Leroc sometimes meanders when he should get to the point. But when
Leroc successfully hits the right groove,
Oh La La! becomes an enjoyably funky demonstration of the seemingly unending influence of '70s R&B. ~ Alex Henderson