Livin' The Nightlife - New York 80'S Garage [Single]

This is Volume 1 in an (initially) projected 10 Volume series "conceived and compiled with love by Ian Dewhirst". The stated aim of the collection being to "offer some of the best music in the world from some of the greatest independent labels over the past 50 years..(using)...only the full 12" or album versions". This is a sentiment previously expressed by Dewhirst in his previous role as conceiver and compiler of the 'Original Mastercuts' collection - a series that provided a musical education in quality black music. Since the demise of the 'Original Series' Dewhirst has continued his engaging in the issuing of quality driven music compilations, always displaying the light touch expertise and willingness to guide, in a manner that is never patronising.

For Volume 1 Dewhirst highlights a number of records that each point, in a number of different ways, to the direction that black club music would take during the course of the 1980s. Beginning with 'I Like (What You're Doing To Me)' (1980) by Young & Co, it is possible to still 'hear' the DNA of Disco, particularly in the chorus, whilst the slower tempo and sliding bass hints at Boogie and the early 1980s sound of New York. Turning to Sleeping Bag Records, Dewhirst picks up the absolute monster 'Weekend (1983) by Class Action. This track has featured on a number of compilations in recent years, and it is easy to hear why. Co-written by Leeroy Burgess this offers a glimpse at the House music that would emerge later from Chicago (initially) and New York through the work of Todd Terry (who would remix 'Weekend' a few years later), and a stabbing rhythm that looks back to south American and African influences. Paul Simpson's 'You Don't Know' (1984) would also surface again, but here the dub soundscape hints at House, whilst being itself influenced by the contemporary sound of Electro Funk. Cultural Vibe's 'Ma Foom Bay' (1986) continues the theme with a propulsive electronic sound palette that would work well in any contemporary club set. 'Treat Her Sweeter' (1985) by The Paul Simpson Connection opens with echoing claps, and through the (slightly) dated vocal one can hear the reverberating bassline and production touches that became ever more mainstream.

Simpson worked with Adeva on the commercially successful re-work of Aretha Franklin's 'Respect' and here she features with 'In And Out Of My Life' (1988), a shuffling House tune very much of the time, followed by the earlier (and more punchy) 'One For The Money' (1986) by Sleeque. Catchy, commercial and fun filled, this track is screaming for a remix or re-edit for 2010 and beyond. Colonel Abrams would hit commercial heights with 1985's 'Trapped' but here he features with a sparse House like progenitor from 1984 - 'Music Is The Answer'. The vocal line may be simplistic, and occasionally sound at odds with the backing track, but Dewhirst again provides evidence of House music's antecedents. 'Dinosaur L's 'Go Bang' (1981) (again from New York's Sleeping Bag Records catalogue) is another record that would feature on a Todd Terry recording, this time 'Bango (To The Batmobile)', featuring a piano stab that might have been lifted from Musique's 'Keep On Jumpin'' (1978).

So. Do you buy?

Perhaps the intention of this collection is to provide evidence of the continuing cross evolution of music, and most of the material featured is drawn from independent labels in New York, itself a fecund cross-cultural delight. Disco, House, Electro Funk, Boogie, elements from each can be heard threading through each and every track, often in surprising and genre defying ways. Beyond the music one can also hear the emerging taste for DJ and club friendly formatting, with extended percussive breakdowns abounding. This reflects the rising power of the DJ as a creative artist (Larry Levan, Shep Pettibone et al) and the appetite for the club experience that would expand rapidly throughout the 1980s.

The mastering is uniformly good, and the majority of tracks are featured in original mixes. As a genre defying cross cultural and musical experience this is hard to fault, and it is to be hoped that Dewhirst and the Demon Music team maintain the quality in future releases.

A solid 8/10 release.

I don't know if the other reviewer has a pre release version of this disk, but my copy does not sound horrible. Besides, there is nothing wrong with taking tracks from vinyl - in some cases this is the only way of course. I think that the sound quality of these albums is excellent.

I think that these complitations do exactly what they set out to do - introduce the listener to other forms of music and less well known tracks. Indeed, I am aiming to purchase the entire series, along with the double CD sets, "Disco Discharge".

This CD (compiled by Ian Dewhirst) contains 11 extended mixes including some nice gems which should make it worth buying, especially for this price ....... But it's very disappointing cause most tracks are taken directly from vinyl and sound almost horrible !
A real shame for Harmless/Demon Music Group, a CD should be very good or perfect otherwise keep your hands off it.
Happily other releases (for example John Morales - The M&M Mixes (BBE), Grand 12-Inches compilations (Sony/BMG)) bring us excellent tracks in master quality !