Review: Joey and his Sunburst pals get the treatment from two well respected men in the form of Ross Couch and DJ Spinna. Spinna takes "Trust Me" back to the mid '80s with lavish analogue synths, 808s and an overall snake-like proto-house sound. Couch, meanwhile, takes "Only Time Will Tell" into a more upbeat pasture with Blaze style piano majesty. Making great use of the strings, both his original remix and equally thumping dub pump with a timeless house soul that could enliven the sleepiest crowd. Perfect.
Review: Having first appeared on CD earlier in the year, Graeme Clark's first official album of Revenge reworks comes to digital download. If you missed out first time around, it's well worth a listen - not least because there are some killer re-edits and reconstructions present. Interestingly, Reekin'structions by The Revenge partly shies away from Clark's celebrated tracky and hypnotic house sound. While his deft house touch is still present - see the delightful slow-build version of Velvet Hammer's "Party Down", or the low-slung retro-house remix of "Smurf Trek" by original electro-funkers Chapter 3 - some of the best cuts here are little more than traditional re-edits, with Clark offering killer new arrangements of little-known disco, soul and boogie originals.
Review: After several successful releases together, UK soulful house stalwart Sean McCabe returns to ZR, this time for a remix/mix album. We handed over the keys to the vaults of Z Records parts and let him run wild in his underpants. The album features 6 new exclusive McCabe remixes - Monique Bingham, Blackbyrds, The Sunburst Band and Soul Dharma, plus Sean's interpretation of an unreleased Akabu song Time Line". That's all alongside many of Sean's classic remixes, plus his personal favourites from the extensive ZR catalog and a DJ mix.
Review: The series is the result of house legend Joey Negro's admiration for all the semi anonymous vinyl junkies that he has encountered on his own vinyl quests. Following the success of the Red Greg-compiled first instalment, we now have veteran radio broadcaster and soul aficionado Paul Phillips delivering his selection of long-lost classics. It's a veritable feast of rare disco releases (25 in all!), highlights of which include the glossy Philly sounds of State Department's "Slow Love", the Chic-isms of Pike's "Good Feelings", the digital electro-funk of Midnight Energy's "Saving Of My Love" and the sublime synth-soul of Ron Richardson's "Ooh Wee Babe".
Review: Joey Negro's Z Records have a remarkable knack for knocking out vintage compilation after vintage compilation. Here though, they've really discovered a rare niche of unmined gold courtesy of Nuphonic's David Hill who acts as selector. As Hill explains "gospel music has often followed trends in secular music" and this album captures 24 attempts of gospel getting on the disco and boogie trains. Highlights include the hiNRG longing of "I Need You", the electro-soul of "Love Is The Message" and the piano & strings frenzy of "Awake O Zion".
Review: The most noteworthy thing about this third sampler for Graeme Clark's first official album of Revenge reworks is the presence of a previously unreleased, frankly excellent dub. Alongside his ace, disco/house rub of Vance & Suzanne's "I Can't Get Along Without You" is a brand new Dub, which takes the cut further towards loopy, hypnotic house territory. Also worthy of note are the Johnny Adams and Electric Smoke edits. The latter offers a super-deep version of original boogie cut "Freak It Out" - tweaked, teased and EQ'd for contemporary dancefloors - whilst the former is a fairly faithful disco-funk rework that bristles with heavyweight horns and slick guitars.
Review: Here we have two vintage funk giants, Joey Negro and Sean P, join forces to present a collection of 'badass funk classics from the disco boogie era'. Individually these guys are authorities on the genre, but combined they're positively the definitive voice. We've a whopping 24 choice cuts to wade through, highlights including the breaks-packed percussive gem "Clap Song", the saucy cosmic funk of "Come On And Rock" and the suggestive aerobic bass workout "Gigolette". An essential vintage compilation if ever we saw one!
Review: In an industry where the term 'veteran' is bandied about far too freely, Colin Curtis is the real deal! His DJing career goes all the way back to legendary Northern Soul club The Golden Torch in the late 60s. In the 70s, he was a resident at Blackpool Mecca alongside Ian Levine, where he became one of the first DJs to introduce the more modern sound of jazz-funk to the scene. By the mid-80s he'd become an early UK champion of house, too, but these days it's on the jazz-dance scene that he's most revered - and here he serves up a 26-track connoisseur's collection that shows why. Ranging from straight-up jazz and soul to soulful house and leaning heavily towards the Afro- and Latin-flavoured, some of these cuts are recent offerings, some date back as far as the 70s, but on jazz-dance floors, all will go down a treat.
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