Sources - P&P Records Soul-Disco Anthology:
Various Artists:
Harmless/Demon:
2xCD:
Out Now:
★★★★★★★★½☆☆
Issued in tandem with a Funk-Rap Anthology (★★★★★★★☆☆☆) dedicated to all matters P&P, this double CD is way superior on so many levels. For a start, Patrick Adams' New York dance-orientated empire might have had more noms-de-guerre than the French resistance but the over-riding theme here is of quality - very little of this fine anthology is below par.
Take the opening track, for example. Attempting a cover of a song made famous by Stevie Wonder is brave enough but to wield it with as much funk as its hit-making peer is remarkable. And so the first disc continues. There isn't a dud among the pack. Louise Murray's incredible (Let's Just) Stay Away is as mucky as Love Hangover in the funk stakes, while the carnal intonations of Bobby Mann's Spank Me insistent groove should raise more than a cursory giggle from the back of the class.
Gary Davis strikes gold with Gotta Get Your Love (reworked by Kenny Dope), while Oral Caress (ooer missus) knock out a decent enough string-driven cover of the Charlie's Angels theme.
But this show is all about Adams', in particular his Cloud One project that filtered out several memorable bumpin' disco anthems including the rough instrumental Charleston Hopscotch, the hip-swivelling Atmosphere Strutt (it sort of set a precedent for the P&P label) and the low-bass strut of the slinky, sleazy and mysterious Patti Duke.
Aside from Adams own dabblings, there is much to enjoy across the three discs. A rare early vocal from Somebody Else's Guy songstress Jocelyn Brown appears on Karisma's Got You Dancing, one of the era's sharpest dance anthems Got To Have Your Love by Sanction with Clyde Alexander and Johnson Pumpin' from Slave's guitarist Kevin Johnson giving it some and more.
The third disc wanders off towards filler territory on occasion but there is too much occasional high-quality to quibble about one or two duds. Cloud One's Disco Juice is exemplary disco instrumentalism beyond all realms - what does it matter if the next thirteen songs fail to deliver? The thing is, most do - Daybreak's Everything Man is as great and good as it gets, while Chain Reaction's Dance Freak could have given Hamilton Bohannon a run for his fonky-ass money.
Top comp all round.
Various Artists:
Harmless/Demon:
2xCD:
Out Now:
★★★★★★★★½☆☆
Take the opening track, for example. Attempting a cover of a song made famous by Stevie Wonder is brave enough but to wield it with as much funk as its hit-making peer is remarkable. And so the first disc continues. There isn't a dud among the pack. Louise Murray's incredible (Let's Just) Stay Away is as mucky as Love Hangover in the funk stakes, while the carnal intonations of Bobby Mann's Spank Me insistent groove should raise more than a cursory giggle from the back of the class.
Gary Davis strikes gold with Gotta Get Your Love (reworked by Kenny Dope), while Oral Caress (ooer missus) knock out a decent enough string-driven cover of the Charlie's Angels theme.
But this show is all about Adams', in particular his Cloud One project that filtered out several memorable bumpin' disco anthems including the rough instrumental Charleston Hopscotch, the hip-swivelling Atmosphere Strutt (it sort of set a precedent for the P&P label) and the low-bass strut of the slinky, sleazy and mysterious Patti Duke.
Aside from Adams own dabblings, there is much to enjoy across the three discs. A rare early vocal from Somebody Else's Guy songstress Jocelyn Brown appears on Karisma's Got You Dancing, one of the era's sharpest dance anthems Got To Have Your Love by Sanction with Clyde Alexander and Johnson Pumpin' from Slave's guitarist Kevin Johnson giving it some and more.
The third disc wanders off towards filler territory on occasion but there is too much occasional high-quality to quibble about one or two duds. Cloud One's Disco Juice is exemplary disco instrumentalism beyond all realms - what does it matter if the next thirteen songs fail to deliver? The thing is, most do - Daybreak's Everything Man is as great and good as it gets, while Chain Reaction's Dance Freak could have given Hamilton Bohannon a run for his fonky-ass money.
Top comp all round.