For a variety of reasons I’ve been having a bit of a nostalgia trip recently: digging out old photos, dusting off old mix-tapes, that sort of thing. And one of the things that surfaced during this journey into the world of rose-tinted spectacles (God, we all looked so young) was Everyday, the amazing track by R&B super-group Lucy Pearl. As with so many cuts on the real soundtrack of my life I first discovered it courtesy of Gilles Peterson.

He first played the track (I think) back in 2000, just after I’d got back from my year in Australia (God, we all looked etc…) and it was on a show that I had recorded. That tape then became an almost permanent fixture on my stereo & Walkman. However, as the years went on & I moved from tapes to MiniDiscs to MP3s, I forgot about the tape & Everyday. However, following Lucas’ recommendation that I check out Q-Tip’s most recent album (which is amazing by the way) the track popped back into my head. Probably because Lucy Pearl was made up on Raphael Saadiq, who features on the Q-Tip LP, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, who used to be in A Tribe Called Quest with Q-Tip.

Anyway, whatever the reason, I’m very glad that I did remember the track: Everyday is a bit of glorious 21st Century soul with the vocals of Saadiq & Dawn Robinson (the ex En Vogue singer who completed the Lucy Pearl line-up) blending perfectly, whilst Mohammad wraps it all in a gentle beat and some truly liquid funk. Don’t Mess With My Man, from the same eponymous debut album, is probably Lucy Pearl’s best known track but Everyday is a true classic: a real lost gem.

And yes, one that I could easily listen to Everyday.