The Estimations - Heart of Stone / Don't Go Kissin' My Baby

It’s been a long time coming, but finally The Estimations are back with a second record!
The A side, Heart Of Stone brings fuzz guitar, 4/4 drums, and a Levi Stubbs lead with haunting backing vocals to set a Norman-Whitfield-psychedelia-inspired soundscape for repressed lovers. If you’ve spent your life getting hurt, it’s near impossible to trust and give yourself to someone completely. This song is a hymn for the inhibited, rejected and pained out there who aren’t ready to get back in “the ring”.

Turn over the disc and Don’t Go Kissin’ My Baby maintains the Motown theme with a bouncy bubblegum-soul arrangement, this time more typical of mid-60s Frank Wilson or Smokey Robinson productions. Not only are we still in Mr. Gordy’s sphere of influence, but we’re also keeping the continuity here with the subject of trouble in relationships.

Between being withholding and being jealous, this release shows that Jory and Co. might not be scoring high on the next Facebook relationship quiz, but musicians aren’t supposed to be good role models anyway, so who’s really surprised?

So where’s Kimberlite been for the last two years? Let’s please just accept that it’s been a hard time for everyone, and understand that real life has gotten in the way of a lot of passion projects. We’ve got a lot in the works and are trying to get ourselves back together.