‘Magnum Opus’
Released on Universal/Debutante - catalogue number 5609692
Double CD - Released on 5th February 2001
 

Now here’s something tasty from Universal Music, a double CD full of 12 inch dance classics recorded between 1973 - 1985 in their entire glory. The tunes themself probably need no introduction and some even appear on CD for the very first time. Disc one opens up with Creative Source’s excellent 1973 Sussex recording of ‘Who Is He and What Is He To You’ which I have to say the instrumental ‘b’ side of the 45 is one of the most wicked funk grooves of al time. Shame it’s not represented here.

Ten years ago saw immense interest amongst the London soul collectors of ‘Cross the Tracks’ by James Brown side kicks Maceo & The Macks. Another rare funk groove in it’s 6 minute glory. Ex Motown diva Diana Ross has her 1978 song ‘Love Hangover’ featured as a seven minute workout of course previously issued right in the middle of THAT era. Still sounds great.

The longest track on this two CD set is the Patrick Cowley 15:45 megamix of Donna Summers ‘77’ classic ‘I Feel Love’ which never fails to get any dancefloor moving after the first few beats. Same applies to ‘Let’s Start the Dance’ by Hamilton Bohannon who’s unusual dance rhythms of the early seventies made him a cult artist (especially after the excellent ‘Stop & Go’) in 1973. Disc two opens with one of my all-time favourites from the much underrated female artists ‘Cheryl Lynn’ and her excellent 12 inch version of ‘Got To Be Real’ is the jewel in the crown on this set for me.

During the early 80’s I had the pleasure of working many personal appearances with London soul group Central Line and their reworking of Nat King Cole’s classic ‘Nature Boy’ remains a firm favourite even today and occasional plays at my classic ‘Gold’ nights is firm testament that almost twenty years on this group can still command respect. (Well done Camille)

Gary Byrd’s outing ‘The Crown’ for Motown during the eighties is possibly one of the most requested oldie tracks on the collectors scene at the moment and a song that didn’t sell that well at the time and interest was built around the many DJ’s around the UK who were lucky enough to get hold of the white labels that Motown issued. Easy to programme and even easier to dance to and this time you get the 10:35 version.

The much sampled ‘Last Night a DJ Saved My Life’ by Indeep gets a look in, as does Cameo’s ‘Single Life’ a track that I personally never liked yet collectors will give their right arm for original copies. Rene & Angela were a much liked duo whose EMI releases found popularity on the dancefloors of the eighties and the superb ‘I’ll Be Good’ gets a 7:25 working in its full 12 inch glory. Other goodies include the electro influenced ‘Let The Music Play’ by Shannon, and the UK based group Freeez with their uptempo favourite ‘Southern Freeez’

Finally two tracks that were of a slower tempo have found their way onto this set namely ‘Don’t Stop the Music’ by Yarborough & Peoples which was an enormous soul and pop hit of the late seventies in the UK, and Gwen McCrae’s  ‘All This Love That I’m Giving’ all of which even today remain popular amongst that breed of soul fans in their collections.

This set will no doubt sell well amongst those DJ’s wishing to replace worn out copies of vinyl and seeking the ultimate sound quality. ‘Magnus Opus’ is a quality collection of soul grooves that you will not want to miss. Hit the repeat button and enjoy.

Personal rating 8/10
Released 5th February 2001
Priced around £9.99 in the UK

Various Artists - Magnum Opus 2
Debutante 586 098-2
Released August 2001

Part two of Debutante’s excellent Magnum Opus series sees another double CD of dance floor dynamite with a mixture of funk and straight dance items with enough power amongst them to make today’s artists and producers to sit up and take notice. This is certainly eighties club music par excellence.

I remember only too well working with some of these artists at the time, and the inclusion of David Joseph’s  superb ‘You Can’t Hide Your Love’ is a personal favourite as I actually made my own video of the ex Hi - Tension frontman performing this very song at my venue. On this CD we are treated to the Larry Levan remix. Booker Newberry was another artist who graced our stage with his hit of 1984 with ‘Love Town’ and won the hearts of thousands of clubbers nation-wide who made this a number one song on the Record Mirror dance chart. Booker himself was ‘Mr Nice Guy’ despite his larger than life build.

I was first introduced to Jane Eugene from Croydon who fronted the group Loose Ends early in 1983, and I quickly formed a strong bond with the band whose visits to our venue along with fellow London soul outfit ‘The Cool Notes’ are well remembered in North Wales. Their huge club tune ‘Magic Touch’ gets inclusion here and is as good a tune as you will hear anywhere. This is regularly featured on Tony Blackburn’s Jazz FM show.

Motown had a number of club tunes throughout the eighties and three such tunes are included here. Jermaine Jackson’s ‘Let’s Get Serious’ made a major impact amongst the funk fraternity, whereas Teena Marie (one of the great white singers on the label) delivers a pure dance groove with the 12” version of her dance classic ‘Behind The Groove’, and Tata Vega whose ‘Get It Up For Love’ dancer seems to be gaining popularity once again.

Disco diva Donna Summer whose records always guarantee to pack any floor feature here with the full 12” mix of her anthem ‘Last Dance’ taken from the movie ‘Thank God it’s Friday’ and for me is my favourite on this set. Hip Hop fans of the early days will revel at the inclusion of Man Parrishs’ anthem ‘Hip Hop Be Bop’ originally issued on Polydor in ‘83’ it has been sampled to death over the years and remains one of the all-time hip hop greats.

One of the first house music classics first surfaced on MCA in 1987 with Colonel Abraham’s with ‘Trapped’ and further goodies emerged the Colonel although this remains his finest moment. More DJ’s learned to mix with this track than any other I know.

An unknown name at the time in Terri Wells but her version of the Detroit Spinners 1973 classic ‘I’ll be Around’ was a pleasure to dance too and even to this day gets occasional club and radio plays. Issued at the time on London records. Sheila B Devotion had the benefit of the production skills of Nile Rogers/Bernard Edward’s who had wrote and produced so well for Sister Sledge/Chic in the late seventies, lent their hand on ‘Spacer’ originally released on the Carerre label and featuring that unmistakable ‘Chic’ sound. The full 12” version is included here for your dancing pleasure.

Other goodies included on volume 2 includes the long workout of ‘Walking On Sunshine’ from Rockers Revenge, and ‘Burn Rubber On Me’ from the talented Gap Band (although from a personal view a poor performance on this tune) and Karen Young’s excellent ‘Hot Shot’

All in all another great compilation of 12” mixes that will do justice to any decent dancefloor and serves as a timely reminder to today’s dance nation of just how it should be done.

Along with volume 1 - Essential!!!

Rating 9/10