The Soul Train – Keep On Movin’

March 1989.

Rain Man wins at the Oscars. With a hole in the Ozone layer, the EU bans CFCs use by the year 2000. The Exxon Valdez disaster spills 10.8m gallons of oil onto the Alaskan coast.

And British Soul Music reaches a new plateau.

Soul II Soul released their 2nd single from their (now) legendary debut album Club Classics Volume One.

Keep On Movin’

If you weren’t from Camden, hadn’t been to the Africa Centre in Covent Garden, or listened to the (then) pirate Kiss FM, you might not have known about Soul II Soul.

So before we look at THAT song, that defining moment when British Soul Music – or indeed any form of music of an African-Caribbean origin – found its niche, let’s look at Soul II Soul.

Because this was no ordinary group, just as Keep On Movin’ was no ordinary song.

(Trevor) Beresford Romeo was born in Hornsey, London in 1963. And in the hotbed of British Music 14 years later, began his DJing and Sound System career. It took a few years but in the early 1980s, it was the post-Punk era of New Romantics and Synth Pop but ALSO, Hip Hop, Funk, Ska and Reggae were also hot. By this time, Mr Romeo was known as Jazzie B.

And then into the mid-1980s, and House Music had taken the world by storm, until 1989.

And Soul Music came back with a bang. A Soul II Soul-like bang which Jazzie B described as a happy face, a thumpin’ bass, for a lovin’ race.

What made Soul II Soul unique was a number of things:

1. They weren’t a group – they were a Sound System. Musicians: sure. DJ’s mixers and producers? Also. Vocalists, rappers, percussionists and dancers. All of that. Never the same. Apart from Jazzie himself with Aitch B, Daddae Harvey and Jazzie’s producing partner Nellee Hooper.
2. They were kinda Brit-Funk. Kinda Neo-Soul. Kinda Hip Hop. Kinda Lovers Rock Reggae. Kinda Jazz-Funk. Kinda Afrobeats. Kinda House/Garage. Even in some later recordings Kinda Drum N Bass/Jungle. Actually, they were all and none of these as they were ALL KINDS OF Soul II Soul.
3. They were distinct but relatable. So that B-Boys and Girls; Rare Groove heads, Soul Boys and Girls, even pop radio stations -all found them acceptable and a bit edgy.

So the song then.

Keep On Movin’  is a synthesised, flowing beat with plush, sharp strings, and melodic piano and yet it’s probably most known for the vocals.

One Caron Wheeler.

As was Soul II Soul’s way, vocalists were rarely permanent. Caron was perhaps the most definitive of all who took the mic for Jazzie B and the Funki Dreds.

Haunting, sweet, impassioned vocals became Caron Wheeler’s trademark and Keep On Movin’ oozed them.

Hints of 70s giants Chic and Rose Royce, this song begins with a percussive sharpness and immediately Wheeler’s sweet vocals layered with backing/multi-tracked richness, gets you into it and then the piano and the gentle strings.

It’s our time, time today
The right time is here to stay
Stay in my life, my life always
Yellow is the colour of sun rays

I hide myself from no-one
I know the time will surely come, when
You’ll be in my life, my life always
Yellow is the colour of sun rays

Keep On Movin’
Don’t Stop
Like the hands of time.
Click clock
Find your own way
To stay
The time will come one day.

Keep on movin’, don’t stop no.

Whether it’s that persistent percussion, the Reggae Harmonic Orchestra Strings, Wheeler’s vocals or the cheeky earworms like “Yellow is the colour of sun rays”, it went BIG.

Number 5 in the UK charts. 11 in the USA Billboard Hot 100 and Number 1 on the R&B Chart.

1989 really did belong to Soul II Soul in the Music Of Black Origin. Because after Keep On Movin’ came Back To Life which REALLY smashed the charts.

But let’s just say, Keep On Movin’ was the booster for Back to Life and a LOT more.

Not only was I personally enraptured by EVERYTHING Keep On Movin’ was as one song, but I also became hooked on everything Soul II Soul did. All of Jazzie B & Nellee Hooper’s remixes, all of Soul II Soul’s albums even if they didn’t appear to achieve that peak in 1989. Their work remains iconic, listenable, relevant, and artistic.

Soul II Soul and Keep On Movin’ were undoubtedly inspired by the 70’s Soul and 80’s Rare Groove scenes whilst still creating THEIR sound.

There are some songs and you will hear yourself saying “Yes, it’s got the beats and the strings and the sweet vocals, you know like Soul II Soul”.

Creating your own genre is no mean feat. But Jazzie B and the Soul II Soul/Funki Dreds did it.

And Keep On Movin’ was the platform it was all built on.

You’ll be in my life, my life always.
Yellow is the colour of sun rays….

Perry Timms
13 April 2022.

Perry is the Founder and Chief Energy Officer of People and Transformational HR Ltd (PTHR) and is a Chartered Member of the CIPD, a fellow of the RSA and Visiting Professor at 4x Business Schools in the UK. Perry is a 3x published author; a 2x TEDx Speaker and 3x Member of HR’s Most Influential Thinkers List.

Perry’s musical heritage is in music of black origin and particularly 1960s American R&B and British Soul & Funk from the 1980s-date.