ALBUM REVIEW ::: XL RECORDINGS - THE SECOND CHAPTER (HARDCORE EUROPEAN DANCE MUSIC)
Current mood: WOO WOO!!! Category: WOO WOO!!! Music
SHEESH!!!!
I’m right tired out of original blog ideas tonight...
Yes boss, it’s been another typical hard working Giovanna day...
I’ve spent the vast majority of it in deep and intense discussions with my lawyer. We engaged with everything from litigation, my PG£ reason to be and the nature of success, to the moment of satisfaction in marital infiedelity. From the dancing and impeccable purple hat of Johnny Walker, to putting on the best club night since the Paradise Garage closed it’s doors...
We examined at the people crowding out all the shitty East End Club Bars: The Big Chill, The Vibe Bar, the recently busted 1001...
’It’s simple a question of moving these people from here - to over there’ My lawyer informed me...
’We should think of it as being a magical trick. If David Copperfield can do them, The Futureproof Music Corporation can do them - so long as you do all the talking...’ I replied...
’We need a concept...’
’Yes - what is it??’
So as I roll my subconscious into deep consideration as to what concept’s are required to reinvent nightclubs, I’M GONNA GO RIGHT BACK TO THE OLD SKOOL!!! for clues....
Yes boss, to any young pups that might have chanced upon this old mans blog, the label XL hasn’t always turned out old shite like Jack Penate and whiney old Thom...
Non boss, this label founded itself on the original more commercial end of the rave revolution and this compilation LP released in 1991 covers The Second Chapter ...
So here we go: Track by track...
T99 - ANASTHASIA (The Scientist Remix)
Ticks all the boxes: Ecstatic vocals, NA NA NA, WOOH WOOH WOOH
By no means a classic...
CHANNEL X - RAVE THE RHYTHM
Much the same
HOLY NOISE - THE NOISE
You probably had to be there (off your tits on 8 good pills)
JOHN + JULIE - CIRCLES (G.T.O’s Europa Remix)
How quaint: John and Julie - sounds like bingo..
The BPM was jolly slow back then wasn’t it?? Things have never quite been the same since Drum ’N Bass upped the anti and the DARK...
SET UP SYSTEM - FAIRY DUST
I can get into this one a little more, but I still ain’t quite jumpin’ jumpin’. Taken in close to 20 years later, this sound and BPM is almostsweet. The early rave was very much more simple: A sampler, a synth or 2 and maybe an Atari or Amiga to sequence it. The days before huge computers with endless possibilities fitted on your lap..
EXTERNAL GROUP - GRAVITY
God it’s all so slowand naive sounding. So many similar sounds between all of these tracks. So little sophistication or proper imagination...
CUBIC 22 - NIGHT IN MOTION
PARTY TIME!! DIGITAL BOY - GIMME A FAT BEAT (Frank De Wulf Remix)
UMMM...
FREQUENCY - WHERE IS YOUR EVIDENCE?
GOOD QUESTION!!!
THE PRODIGY - CHARLY
This isn’t the best mix, but this is definately the best track - a pop lord no less!! And here it is in quadracolour video..
INCUBUS - THE SPIRIT
LIKE A MIGHTY WIND LIKE A MIGHTY WIND SPIRIT COME DOWN COME RUSHING IN!!
PRAGA KHAN - RAVE ALARM
YEAH!! ALRIGHT!!
As this ends, I’m feeling disillusioned - maybe ’New Rave’ is better???
But I guess the trouble here is that I’m listening to cutting edge dance music designed and built purely for dancefloors in 1991, on headphones on a Sunday evening 17 years after it’s made by date...
It doesn’t work...
But it makes you appreciate The KLF a whole lot more: Same BPM, same time period, but so much more soul, imagination, depth and far, far better longevity...
on the topic of jonny L, Hurt U So is a right classic! I've always loved his programming/style. Even the drum'n'bass stuff is proper. Piper = another classic. Tychonic Cycle = one of the most beautiful dnb tunes ever made [mp3 clip here]. Absolute gem. Any of the Piranha releases sound abs. ill on 33rpm too - almost like grimy house tunes. And lets not forget his brief Acid phase. Jonny Acid = smasher! Jonny Acid clip here.
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