Search - Mr Scruff :: Keep It Solid Steel

Scruff's Solid Steel Mix...

bordersj2 | Boston | 10/14/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"... is actually pretty good! I must admit I was a bit nervous about this one, having been a big fan of Mr. Scruff's work, particularly "Keep it Unreal" back in 99'. BUt let me start this off by saying... this is NOT a new Mr. Scruff album in the sense that it's all new Mr. Scruff tunes. In fact, there aren't any new Mr. Scruff tunes - unless he went under a pseudonym here that I'm not aware of. But his Solid Steel release, according to what he said in the linear notes, was to have loads of soul.



And that it does. He's got some head-boppin' hip-hop, smoothed out R&B and even some pitched and pinpointed electronic underground here. He definitely gives tribute to some of the inspiration of music today and yesterday. The cd starts out with a more Raggea vibe with Mingus hifi and Big Youth and goes into some sampled one lyric tracks, one verse tracks and even an extended play on Erykah Badu's "Back in the Day" - SWEET old school beat. Even Nightmares on Wax's old vocalist Sara Winton features with a familiar beat in "Tell me How". And by that track... you're just getting warmed up. There are solid tracks through-out that'll give you an urban vibe - diggin' it if you're either in New York or London. Yes, London. The CD even ends on a more jazzed up note with Pharao Sanders 'You've Got to have Freedom", preceeded by the funky Soul II Soul cut "Fairplay".



I definitely recommend this. Some may be disappointed that Scruff didn't put some of his own works (that I'm aware of... bloody pseudonym thing, again, could foil me) on here but there's enough strength in most of the other tracks to carry it through. Speaking of which, not all the cuts got me. While I can appreciate that the CD went in and out of all sorts of styles, including some 70 ish style funkm tracks like "Detchibe". But all-in-all, this is a solid release that'll fit in perfectly with Ninjatunes other Solid Steel releases."

Very thight

TalkMusic | Tallinn, Estonia | 12/19/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I don't know much about Mr. Scruff, but I do enjoy this mix-cd. "Keep It Solid Steel" is released by Ninja Tune and includes 31 tracks on one cd! This means tight business. The mix has everything that fits between hiphop, reggae, soul, funk and jazz. Artist include Erykah Badu, Pharaoh Sanders, Mark Rae and butch of others I have no idea of.



If you like thight mixes and underground quality tracks, this is for you."