Monday, September 06, 2004
Various - Blow Up A Go-Go!
Is there anything in the rules that says I can't do various artist compilations? I suppose it might move the focus away from albums, in the purist sense, but hey, what's wrong with a little pick 'n' mix? Without compilations, we wouldn't get the opportunity to sample so many different artists (or for that matter, own 42 copies of A Whiter Shade Of Pale).
This CD comes to you courtesy of the Blow Up club night, which currently hangs around The Metro on Oxford St. Not that I've ever been there - my interest in their range of CDs stems from student radio days, when I was eager to get my hands on any slightly esoteric-sounding instrumental tracks for the purposes of jingles, beds and the like. This took me through a phase of dodgy easy-listening compilations, some of which may well yet crop up on this page, but after I while I discovered the joys of library music, and I found it with Blow Up's Exclusive Blend series.
However, this particular compilation is slightly different, featuring commercially-released recordings: the sort of music played on their club nights. Hence there's a whole range of things, from 60s soul, 70s funk, some 90s sampled beats, jazzy pieces - you name it. I have several collections of similar styles and I like them to varying degrees. This one was easily one of the better ones.
Particular stand-outs include "Watts Breakaway", a superb funk workout by the Johnny Otis Show (who? exactly!), and the French-language soul of Jacques Dutronc's "Le Responsable" (apparently his name crops up in the lyrics to 'Brimful of Asha'...). The compilers suceed with their inclusion of unusual songs by mainstream acts; something that so often can mar a selection. So we get The Kinks, Georgie Fame and the Spencer Davis Group - oh, and even Andy Williams. Nothing you'd really know, but nothing that's obscure for the sake of it. That would get tedious very quickly.
An enjoyable and exciting compilation, all in all. Trouble is, it'll now go and join the ranks of similar CDs, and I'll quickly forget which good tracks were on which discs. Perhaps I need to make myself a compilation of the compilations?
This CD comes to you courtesy of the Blow Up club night, which currently hangs around The Metro on Oxford St. Not that I've ever been there - my interest in their range of CDs stems from student radio days, when I was eager to get my hands on any slightly esoteric-sounding instrumental tracks for the purposes of jingles, beds and the like. This took me through a phase of dodgy easy-listening compilations, some of which may well yet crop up on this page, but after I while I discovered the joys of library music, and I found it with Blow Up's Exclusive Blend series.
However, this particular compilation is slightly different, featuring commercially-released recordings: the sort of music played on their club nights. Hence there's a whole range of things, from 60s soul, 70s funk, some 90s sampled beats, jazzy pieces - you name it. I have several collections of similar styles and I like them to varying degrees. This one was easily one of the better ones.
Particular stand-outs include "Watts Breakaway", a superb funk workout by the Johnny Otis Show (who? exactly!), and the French-language soul of Jacques Dutronc's "Le Responsable" (apparently his name crops up in the lyrics to 'Brimful of Asha'...). The compilers suceed with their inclusion of unusual songs by mainstream acts; something that so often can mar a selection. So we get The Kinks, Georgie Fame and the Spencer Davis Group - oh, and even Andy Williams. Nothing you'd really know, but nothing that's obscure for the sake of it. That would get tedious very quickly.
An enjoyable and exciting compilation, all in all. Trouble is, it'll now go and join the ranks of similar CDs, and I'll quickly forget which good tracks were on which discs. Perhaps I need to make myself a compilation of the compilations?
# posted by Sam : 23:10
