Various Artists
'Journey Into Paradise'
The Larry Levan Story
Rhino Records
UK Release date April 2006

During the mid 1970's when 12" vinyl singles were introduced to the worlds record buying public they were initially a marketing tool for the record companies and a gimmick for the nation's club DJ's who were amused with these new fan dangled pieces of vinyl with wider grooves which were meant to sound better as we were told at the time. As the decade progressed and 'disco' music became the norm in all the hippest clubs all eyes turned to the US where clubs like Paradise Garage and Studio 54 were setting musical trends most notably due to their resident DJ's utilising these new 12" singles by mixing them together to what became 'running mixes' where a DJ's set became seamless as the beats matched perfectly and most importantly kept the audience on their feet all night.

A slight variation on this was where the jocks started to cut and paste segments from different records into others and hey presto hip hop was born just a few years later. New York's Studio 54 club picked up and played mainly commercial dance tunes many of which saw UK releases and US & UK chart action whereas Paradise Garage tended to feature a more specialised blend of dance and it is this club where we find our man the late Larry Levan. Many of today's dance music mixers look upon the work produced by Levan at that time as the benchmark that all others since followed. Levan was a master at work who took the recording world by storm and it was not long before he was being hired by major record labels to remix their new dance tracks for commercial release during the 70/80's.

I particularly remember that period well as WEA Records here in the UK had a black music promoter by the name of Fred Dove who used to send out these Atlantic, Warner, Cotillion 12" promo's to us aspiring club DJ's and what fun we had plugging them. This new double CD set pays tribute to the work of Levan by presenting here twenty two classic tunes mixed by the great man and includes the full 12" mixes done to perfection. Opening with a mix of 'Paradise' by Change as well as a mix of their late 70's 'B' side 'A Lovers Holiday' and they still sound as fresh today as they did back then.

Chaka Khan was huge at the time having embarked on a solo career after a stint as lead vocalist with Rufus and a mix of her single 'Clouds' will rekindle some great memories from that period and has recently been added back to my playlist again. Listen to his remix on David Joseph's (ex Hi-Tension) 1982 hit for Island records, 'You Can't Hide Your Love' From Me' particularly of interest to me personally having worked with Island Records and David himself at that time of the promotion of this very tune. Other great mixes here include Inner Life's great version of Marvin & Tammi's 1967 Motown hit 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' and two great pop records from the 80's with Yazoo's 'Situation' and 'Once In A Lifetime' by Talking Heads.

It's no wonder he was held in such high esteem amongst fellow DJ's and producers and this excellent 2 CD set is only a small representation of his work and if you are an ardent collector of dance music from this very era then this is a 'must have' CD, and to those mixing DJ's out there remember this - here is a master at work and this is how it should be done!. Enjoy.

Rating 9/10