Some records tell you what to do right there in the title.
Keep on movin’, don’t stop like the hands of time
Soul II Soul featuring Caron Wheeler, Keep On Movin’ (1989)
That’s what this song’s about, and it’s a simple message. Just keep moving forward.
Keep On Movin’ came out as a single on 10 Records, part of Virgin, in March 1989, with Caron Wheeler on lead vocals. It went to number five in the UK. A month later it opened Soul II Soul’s first album, Club Classics Vol. One. Jazzie B wrote it and produced it with Nellee Hooper.
That’s the full six minute album version, so there’s no rush.
A sound system on record
Before Soul II Soul were a band, they were a sound system. Jazzie B ran it, and their Sunday nights at the Africa Centre in Covent Garden got so busy that people gathered outside a venue that held around 300. The night later moved to The Fridge in Brixton.
You can hear all of that in Keep On Movin’. It’s a beautiful fusion of so many things that were in sound system culture in the UK at the time. There’s a laid back hip hop beat and heavy reggae bass, with soul vocals and strings from the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra on top. Their motto was “A happy face, a thumpin’ bass, for a lovin’ race.” The record sounds exactly like that.
A groove for the long list
The beat never speeds up and never stops. It just rolls on at the same easy pace for six minutes, and by the end you’ve covered a lot of ground without noticing.
That’s how a long list gets done. One thing, then the next, at a pace you can keep. It works for an afternoon of admin, a long walk or the last week of a project.
On our podcast I told Nigel Risner that if you celebrate the small wins along the way, it gives you more momentum and more energy to do the bigger things. That’s what this record does for me.
