Track Listing

1. Can You Feel It - Voices Of East Harlem
2. Baltimore Oriole - Alexandria, Lorez
3. You Caught Me Smiling - Stone, Sly
4. No Ifs Ands Or Buts - Taylor, Debbie
5. Evil Vibrations - Mighty Ryeders
6. Sunshine - Wilson, Nancy (1)
7. It's Your Love - Beatty, Ethel
8. I Love Every Little Thing About You - Wright, Syreeta
9. I Love You - Irvine, Weldon
10. With Pleasure - Pleasure Jammin'
11. Remember To Remember - Holmes, Rick

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #852959 in Music
• Released on: 2003-08-04
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.co.uk Review
Life:Styles offers an insight into what led to 4 Hero's groundbreaking move, when Dego and Mark Mac finally reached the peak of the drum & bass field by fusing jazz with the frenetic genre on their breakthrough album, 1998's Two Pages. This joyful compilation offers up a wealth of soul-fuelled jazz from the cult and the classic artists of the genre. Setting the soulful summery tone, the uplifting & B driven opening track "Can You Feel It" was originally released by The Voices of East Harlem (a 20-member ensemble including lead vocalists Gerri Griffin and Monica Burress alongside the production talent of one Curtis Mayfield) back in 1974.

Elsewhere a lengthy bout of indolence is encouraged by outstanding moments courtesy of the likes of Herbie Hancock, who alongside Kimiko Kasai provides a sensuous dose of languorous vocals and squelching keyboards, while Sly Stone lays a lazy groove on "Caught Me Smiling" and Ramsey Lewis delivers a masterful treatment of Minnie Riperton's rousing classic "Les Feur". Wantonly diverse and at times bordering on the obscure, this marvellous collection of mellifluous masterpieces is the perfect chilled accompaniment to a blazing summer. --Christopher Barrett

Album Description
Life : Styles is a new direction for the ever dynamic Harmless label and an original concept which will showcase the amazing tunes, experiences and soundscapes that have influenced and moulded impressionable young DJ/Producers/music lovers worldwide.

This, the 1st in the series, is compiled and mixed by the UK's most forward-thinking duo, 4 Hero. As producers, 4 Hero are unsurpassed and their remixes have given tracks a refreshing re-rub as well as introducing them to a totally new audience. Best-loved for their early Drum & Bass epics, early forays into the broken-beat arena then led them onto groundbreaking and philharmonic musical affairs in the shape of their incredible album 2 Pages and later the highly acclaimed Creating Patterns ( which featured the orchestral cover of Les Fleurs). Life:Styles gives these innovators a chance to hark back to days gone by and lay down on a compilation the records that shaped their collective mind set, moved their feet and stirred their soul.

Customer Reviews

Soulful Slice of Heaven
What an eye opener, a fantastic selection of the less mainstream soulful gems. For anyone seeking a compilation of timeless greats in a thoughtfull and well presented mix, this is it. 4 hero show excellent taste with this collection that beats the pants off the fast becoming average another late back to mine music 55 blah blah blah. Buy, invite your love one round, light the candles, and get ready....

Soulful vibes
I bought this album whilst waiting for the next compilation of the another late night/late night tales series and figured it would be along similar lines. This CD immediately struck me as being very similar to the Jamiorquai release of the aforementioned series. A delve into 4 Hero's crates have indeed provided us with a funky but chilled selection of jazz, blues, disco and funk which I challenge anybody to listen without tapping their foot or nodding their head. Whilst not groundbreaking by any means, this formula has been done many times before, the rarity of the tracks is very enjoyable and well worth the purchase, particularly if you get the double CD which contains all the tracks bar two as an unmixed version.

So onto the CD itself. It starts off with a handful of lounge/jazz/blues numbers which slowly and softly squeeze up the tempo till before you know it your head is bobbing along with your tapping foot to the slightly disco-funk of Cesar Mariano & CIA. From this point the album takes on a quick twist with the funky 'Evil Vibrations' from the Mighty Ryeders and then back to the laidback vibes of Patrice Rushen and the Herbie Hancock inspired grooves of Butterfly. The album never really gets to high tempo which makes a perfect album for chilling out with a loved one or in the garden on a hot sunny day.