TEAM RNS PRESENTS

ARTIST: Cooly's Hot Box

TITLE: Don't Be Afraid, Get On

RIPPER: Team RNS

201kbps avg - R&B
0hr 49min total- 74.3mb

RELEASE DATE: 2004-10-02
RIP DATE: 2004-10-23

01 Don't Be Afraid                4:09

04 Touch My Body                  5:28
05 Are We Lovers                  4:40

07 Time 2 Be In Love              4:40

09 Give Me Your Money             4:40

11 Lose Your Friends              4:34

John-Christian Ulrich (of Tortured
Soul) and Angela Johnson came together
in early 2004 and began working on the
second Cooly's Hot Box album entitled,
"Dont Be Afraid, Get On".

It picks up where Cooly's Hot Box's
excellent debut, "Take It", left off.
If anything,  "Don't Be Afraid" is even
more aimed at the dance floor than its
predecessor, with 9 of the 11 cuts
being upbeat numbers that are tighter,
hipper, and more stripped down than
before. Like Take It, the new album at
times falls prey to 70s-style lyrical
excesses ("Touch My Body"), but the
folks at the club probably won't be too
lyrically discriminating when they're
dancing to these absolutely infectious
cuts.  The tunes are uniformly strong
and the arrangements hot throughout,
providing elements reminiscent of
Shalamar ("Motions"), Patrice Rushen
("After Life") and the group's most
obvious influence, Heatwave ("Time 2B
In Love").  And Angela Johnson's voice
is such a treat, taking more of a front
seat here than on the first album and
again helping to take already strong
material to another level.  "Don't Be
Afraid" and "Motions" are as good as
any dance cuts as you'll hear this year
and "Are We Lovers Anymore" is a mid-tempo

If it is true that great music will
ultimately find an audience, then Don't
Be Afraid, Get On should be the breakout
album for Cooly's Hot Box. They pull
together elements of club, soul, and
house into a sound that's wide, warm,
and wonderful -- overflowing with good
spirit and sensual soul, and served up
with a simple elegance and sense of
grace that's enough to make other
modern work sound clunky and forced.