AWB is regarded as one of the best soul, R & B, and funk bands ever. Though first known for the timeless instrumental mega-hit 'Pick Up the Pieces', the band's strength consistently lay in its songwriting, stretching across several gold & platinum albums and triple Grammy nominations with Atlantic Records. They were the first Brits to simultaneously top the USA Top 100 Singles, Albums, and R&B Singles charts, before taking similar international and UK honors.
Paradoxically, given their Scottish roots, the six-piece took the instrumental influences of Jazz greats Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Hancock, The Crusaders etc., and R&B heroes Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Al Green, Stevie Wonder - and molded their own authentic soulful blend, embraced ever since by both black and white audiences alike worldwide.
While a good number of tracks, such as ‘Cut The Cake’, ‘Queen Of My Soul’, 'Let's Go Round Again' attracted major chart action as further hit singles, many other album cuts, like 'Schoolboy Crush' became deep sampled and turntabled as 'rare' grooves. AWB's samples run into the hundreds, and so their contribution to Hip-Hop and modern R&B is unquestioned. Ballads, such as 'Cloudy', 'A Love Of Your Own' and 'If I Ever Lose This Heaven' stand as some of the finest soul-album tracks ever.
