The man certainly Knows his music....I Give him that much!!!
fetish_2000 | U.K. | 04/15/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Although largely recognised for his work in the U.K. Norman Jay has been a regular and respected figure on the London DJ Scene since 1980, having been one of the founding fathers of U.K. rare groove, house, and acid jazz, in the early days of the U.K. finding its own identity and largely responsible for creating an underground groove based music scene that mirrored elements of what was happening with the U.S. underground music scene around the same period. Normans growing music influences would later expand to include: Funk, Reggae, R&B & northern Soul. Norman himself has since assumed the role of a elder statesman, for his considerable knowledge of music, and remains frequently involved in U.K. based festivals & Carnivals....a frequent player in the yearly Notting hill Carnival. (It's even extended to him collecting an MBE a few years ago, for his services towards music, I believe). So you'd be hard pressed to find someone more suited to compiling a disk, that side-steps obvious track choices that have featured on a millions compilation disks before it, but yet remains accessible (& Funky) enough to appeal to a wide enough of an audience, without resorting to incredibly rare or obscure tracks that are purely the domain of the only people likely to have heard the tracks, being those sorts of people that pay a $100+ for music. What Norman does so well is blending Disco with Funk.....House Music with Soul, and Rare Groove with R&B, in a tracklisting that spans some 20 twenty years or so, yet is so sublimely incorporated, it almost begins to feel like a coherent mix album.
Norman's disk is unsurprisingly more informed by Rare Groove, Chicago House, Northern Soul, and a dash of Funk & Dub. Kicking things off brilliantly is the rare-groove sound of "Carl Davis & Chi-Sound Orchestra's - Windy City Theme", before moving into the sensual gospel-tinged Detroit Soul of the "Voices Of East Harlem's - Wanted, Dead, Or Alive", and it becomes quickly apparent that this man (Norman Jay) knows a thing or two about track selection. Norman drops the best track on the disk, with the utterly sublime/infectious retro-house of "Most Wanteds - Calm Down"....(several rewinds of this is required), after which the sentmental Blue-eyed soul of "Hall & Oates - Maneater" comes to the fore. What follows all this is a perfected realised mix of Funky Disco ("B.T. Express' - If It Don't Turn you on"), R&B-tinged Synth-pop (Alexander Robotnick's - Love Supreme"), Jazz-House ("Ballistic Brothers - Blacker Revisited"), and terminating beautifully with the smoked out Dub of "The Truth All Stars - The Truth".
This is arguably one of Norman Jays best compilation albums, and If you've liked his previous work, this truly is required purchasing. Which finds Norman digging deep with his selections and proving not only through inspired explorations in music, but tremendous mixing, and a (very) broad variety of genres, with no noticeable filler to pad out the album, that even when you think you've heard it in the field of mix/Compilation albums, that perfect excecution can throw up new ideas/takes on existing themes. I'd even go say far as to say that is easily amongst the greatest releases in the "Journeys by DJ's" series, ranking up their with Coldcut & Gilles Peterson entries into the series. And for that reason alone, this is very,very highly recommended."
Grrrrrrrrrrrooovy baby!
fetish_2000 | 06/18/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This collection will transport you through time and space, from the moon to the stars. An essential part of any dance/soul/disco/funk collection."
Track Listings (17) - Disc #1