|
UK
Release Date: |
18
September 2006 |
Track
Listing: |
Disc: 1
1. Metropolis IX - Westbrook, Mike
2. N Nafanta - Ousmane Kouyate Band
3. Celestial Blues - Bartz, Gary NTU Troop
4. All In Your Mind - Yost, Dennis & The Classics
IV
5. Can't we Smile - Hammond, Johnny
6. Peaceful Morning - Hunter, Paul
7. Serene - Takemura, Nobukazu
8. Illicity Part 1 - Extended Spirit
9. Music's Made Of Memories - Treva Whateva
10. Back A Yard - In Crowd
11. Wicked Can't Run This Dub - Brown, Glen
12. Proverbs - Daweh Congo
13. My Lady Frustration - Kuti, Fela Ransome
14. Moondance - Tate, Grady
Disc:
2
1. Everybody Loves The Sunshine - D'Angelo
2. Getting It On - James, Rick
3. Summer Brass - Winton, Sarah
4. Hei Voce - Dom Salvador E Aboliciao
5. Kofi - Byrd, Donald
6. Off And On - Santos, Moacir
7. Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love - Odyssey
8. Don't Fret It - Landers, Vin & Fudge Fingas
9. You Fly Me - Fingathing
10. Blues Music - G Love & Special Sauce
11. Devil's Gotta Run - Ernesto
12. Held Him First - Deyampert
13. Strangers - Home Life
14. Vision - Das Goldene Zeitalter |
|
Various
- Mr Scruff's Big Chill Classics... Big Up Your Tent (Big
Chill)
Published:
musicOMH,
September 2006
Original
article:
http://www.musicomh.com/albums/big-chill_0906.htm
Mr
Scruff and the Big Chill have been virtually inseparable
since the club-turned-festival's early days. They both share
a musical vision that is wide open to all genres, styles,
tempos and tastes with little regard for fashion. As long
as the music is creative, inspiring or moving (either physically
or emotionally) it is worthy of inclusion. Having been the
perfect bed fellows, it is little surprise Stockport's finest
has been chosen to put together this double disc of horizontal
soulfulness.
Mr
Scruff (real name Andy Carthy) has built his reputation
on epic, evolving DJ sets that swallow the world yet somehow
retain cohesion throughout. On first listen it becomes apparent
that the gradual tempo-rising to the usual rabble-rousing
party crescendo is lacking: this is Mr Scruff at his most
sedate. Beginning with the simple lazy jazz of Mike
Westbrook's Metropolis IX then progressing to the
melodic backing and impassioned vocals of The Ousmane
Kouyate Band's N'Nafanta, the tempo stays down
and the soul deep as Celestial Blues by Gary Bartz
Ntu Troop moseys into earshot. Whether it's swooning
funk (Paul Hunter), jazz-touched lullabies
(Takemura Nobukazu), rousing, Latin-influenced
Balearica (Treva Whateva) or deep dub workouts
(Glen Brown) the onus is on blissful relaxation.
Mr
Scruff's trademark pick and mix of styles continues with
funk from Fela Kuti, a loungey cover of
Van Morrison's Moondance from Grady
Tate before D'Angelo helps kick
off disc two with a mix of Roy Ayers' Everybody
Loves The Sunshine, which almost proves even more soulful
than the original. There are also many relatively unknown
beauties that have been dug up by a DJ obviously devoted
to his cause. These include the beautiful lilt of Donald
Byrd's Kofi and the Motown soul of Odyssey's
Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love.
At
no time does Scruff veer into obvious or clichéd
chill out territory. The simplistic downtempo bass of Fingathing's
You Fly Me sits next to the fuzzy hip hop of G Love
& Special Sauce's Blues Music and the gorgeously
rich orchestral breaks of Held Him First by Deyampert.
There are many moments worth losing yourself in: even the
offbeat Strangers by Homelife with its
Mick Hucknall-esque vocals proves a woozy
pleasure. It’s left to the distinctive tones of Bajka
on Das Goldene Zeitalter's A Vision (the
track that led Bonobo to feature the vocalist
heavily on his forthcoming long-player) to round things
off nicely.
Anyone who has
heard Mr Scruff's epic DJ sets or bought one of his previous
mix albums will know that he epitomises eclecticism and
may be a little disappointed on hearing this compilation.
While it is full of blissed-out tunes perfect for reclining
to, it only gives you a slight hint of Mr Scruff's, and
indeed the Big Chill's, usual wide-open perspective of taking
in a broad spectrum of different styles and genres from
ambient to house to ska, drum and bass, reggae, folk and
electronica.
Mr Scruff's Big
Chill Classics is focussed purely on creating a soundtrack
perfect for soaking up a sunny afternoon and ignores the
flipside of a night out in the Big Chill's club tent but
the soulfulness it oozes render those shortcomings virtually
meaningless by the end of the second disc. While this unmixed
compilation of downtempo classics is a missed opportunity
for both Mr Scruff and the Big Chill to show newcomers what
they are truly all about, you will still be hard pushed
to find another downtempo compilation that is this well-rounded.
-
Ian Roullier |