Split Pea Soup

Description

Split Pea Soup is the debut album by the American DJ, songwriter, and producer Dr. Onionskin (Shane Ries), released on N-Soul Records in 1996, distributed in the US by Diamante Music Group. All songs written, produced, arranged, and recorded by Dr. Onionskin. Featuring mostly instrumental acid jazz.

Weird story. Guy goes out for a late-night mocha. Standing on a street corner, he hears a jazz trio in one ear and a car stereo pumping rap music in his other ear. Sounds so good, the guy (who also happens to be a DJ) runs home and tries mixing the sounds on his own sound system.

Next thing you know, Dr. Onionskin has packaged his fusion of hip-hop ‘n’ jazz, and released one of the most creative Christian music projects of recent memory, ‘Split Pea Soup’.

Primarily instrumental, ‘Split Pea Soup’ offers 17 energetic songs that meld keyboard wizardry, horns, lively bass lines, jazzy guitars and (of course) an ever-present hip-hop beat. Perhaps the best way to describe this album, though, is in the visual images it evokes.

The Spyro Gyra-style opening cut, «Paris in the Spring», is a happy tune that brings to mind a friendly game of pick-up basketball. «Shady Day», with its George Benson-esque guitar lead and keyboard overlays, makes you dream of those lost lemonade-in-the-shade summer days. The flirtatious «Jazz in a Higher Dimension» uses a mellow beat, sax serenades and random voice-overs that create an image of secrets shared during a slow dance.

Perhaps the strangest song on the album is the throwback, «Last of the Boheatnicks». Let’s see… imagine Dr. Onionskin tag-teaming with Charlie Brown’s teacher to spout beatnik poetry at a coffeehouse, and you’ve just about got it. Still, it’s that risky strangeness that also makes this one of the most interesting cuts included.

And, judging from this album, interesting seems to be what Dr. Onionskin is all about. So, kudos to the good Doctor for being willing to break the mold and serve up ‘Split Pea Soup’. [Mike Nappa, CCM, March 1997]

> iTunes (https://music.apple.com/us/album/split-pea-soup/219015388)

CD tracklist:

01. Paris In the Spring – 4:35
02. Shady Day – 4:53
03. 4 a.m. – 4:29
04. Impressions 4 U – 4:35
05. Why Has It Got to Be… – 4:25
06. On and Over – 3:51
07. Jazz In a Higher Dimension – 4:23
08. Get Into It – 3:46
09. Hard & Funky – 4:05
10. We Got the Groove – 4:11
11. Down and Then Down Again – 3:44
12. Last of the Boheatnicks – 2:23
13. Odyssey 5 – 3:54
14. Life In the Mind of Jazz – 4:05
15. Cafe 52 – 3:32
16. If It Ain’t Got… – 4:16
17. Take Me – I’m Yours – 4:57

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by N-Soul Records.

A full-page advertisement for various new releases on the N*Soul label, including Dr. Onionskin’s Split Pea Soup, was featured in the November 1996 issue of CCM Magazine.