Track Listing

1. Roy Ayers & Fela Kuti - Africa Centre Of The World (excerpt)
2. The Naturals - Funky Rasta
3. Lee Dorsey - Night People
4. James Brown - Don�t Tell It
5. James Mason - Sweet Power
6. Fun Boy Three - Faith Hope & Charity
7. Tears For Fears - Shout (U.S. mix)
8. Soul II Soul Special: Horace Andy
9. Maceo & The Macks - Cross The Tracks
10. Ripple - Sure Is Funky
11. Johnny Hammond - Tell Me What To Do
12. Roy Ayers - Life Is Just A Moment (part 2)
13. Steve Parks - Movin� In The Right Direction
14. Gary Bartz - Music Is My Sanctuary
15. Soul II Soul Special: Junior Reed, Caron Wheeler & Shabba Ranks
16. Don Blackman - Heart�s Desire
17. Ramp - Everybody Loves The Sunshine

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #112278 in Music
• Released on: 2004-12-06
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Back To The Music
This CD captures the essence of something very specailly, and if for no other reason than as a slice of history it is an essential addition to any collection.
The mixing is not flawless and the mix is eclectic, a genre buster, a redifiner a true reflection of back in the day. A great collection of the tunes that were the floor fillers. This collection even includes a couple of soul II soul specials, the precursors of that monumental, landmark, all time top ten anthem album "Club Classics Volume 1".
Back in the early 80's there was the start of what was to become a global phenomenom. Since the 60's when Brit bands like the stones and the cream had taken underground USA r 'n' b and shipped back in a package that was more commercial to middle america. british artists have been adept at hearing, nurturing and creating from the underground of the USA.
The early 80's where were the soundsytems, family function, shankenfingerpop, nicky holloway and ofcourse Soul II Soul to name a select few, operated at grass roots level and began what would become known as "dance" or "rave" culture.
This was when Pete Tong, Coldcut and Gilles Peterson were just starting. This was when Kiss FM was a pirate station from fridays - sundays (and had more listeners than Capital). Those days were special days - the summer seemed to last the whole year.
You would be at the Notting Hill Carnival (yep Good Times is a must too), At Warehouses on Lots Rd. in Chelsea, the Electric Ballroom in Campden and, ofcourse, the Africa Centre, unfortunately too many years of abuse means that at this time i can only remember these, but, if you were there you'll know what i mean and if you weren't by this CD and go chat to some 30 something.
This was just before Acid House, this was when the clubs would play an eclectic mix of Hip Hop (Double D & Steinski - The Lessons 1,2 & 3), soul, disco, funk, reggae, even pop... I remember one night where the DJ mixed Stevie Wonder's I Wish with Janet Jackson's Nasty Boys... Bliss, pure bliss. Boundaries where being broken, new alliegances where being formed. The music was slamming... When back to life was the anthem of the summer, when you didnt need to "drop" to be able to endure 8 hours of the same 160bpm (not that thats such a bad thing).

This was the beginning of the revival of that reknowned vibe in 1967 that through music, tolerance and love we could change the world. hahahaha, how naive we sound! and then the government put in place that law about gatherings and repetitive beats that outlawed raves!!!
one million homeless in London and they outlaw raves!!! go figure!!!

This was a time of discovery and a coming of age, this was the time that laid the routes for everything to follow - all those other summers of love. This is where cafe del mar started, this is where global underground started. This is the fusion. So go grab your old skool sneakers, pull back the rug, and go back, back to life, back to reality.......

back, i wanna go back....
Being a middle class kid who grew up in a fairly liberal bohemian circle in S.W. London the struggle and disease that is racism was alien to me untill i reached the age of about 15 (some 20 odd years ago). Ofcourse, intellectually, i knew what it was but i had no idea what it was, and really today i still dont... i will never understand why one man will judge another man by the colour of his skin, really a judgement being based on less than 1% of DNA. Yes, all you N.F. members you are less than 1% different than the people you supposedly hate!! But back, i wanna go back to the music....

Why is this an issue, 'coz in many/some ways that was the fuel that created the soundsytems, family function, shankenfingerpop, nicky holloway and ofcourse Soul II Soul. this was when Pete Tong, Coldcut and Gilles Peterson were just starting. This was when Kiss FM was a pirate station from fridays - sundays (and had more listeners than Capital). Those days were special days - the summer seemed to last the whole year.

You would be at the Notting Hill Carnival (yep Good Times is a must too), At Warehouses on Lots Rd. in Chelsea, the Electric Ballroom in Campden and, ofcourse, the Africa Centre to name just a few.

This was just before Acid House, this was when the clubs would play an eclectic mix of Hip Hop (Double D & Steinski - The Lessons 1,2 & 3), soul, disco, funk, reggae, even pop... I remember one night where the DJ mixed Stevie Wonder's I Wish with Janet Jackson's Nasty Boys... Bliss, pure bliss. Boundaries where being broken, new alliegances where being formed. The music was slamming... When back to life was the anthem of the summer, when you didnt need to "drop" to be able to endure 8 hours of the same 160bpm (not that thats such a bad thing).

This was the beginning of the revival of that reknowned vibe in 1967 that through music, tolerance and love we could change the world. hahahaha, how naive we sound! and then the government put in place that law about gatherings and repetitive beats that outlawed raves!!!
one million homeless and they outlaw raves!!! go figure!!!

This was a time of discovery and a coming of age, this was the time that laid the routes for everything to follow - all those other summers of love. This is where cafe del mar started, this is where global underground started. This is the fusion. So go grab your old skool sneakers, pull back the rug, and go back, back to life, back to reality.......