Author Archive: dereksmusicblog
DENIECE WILLIAMS-THIS IS NIECY.
DENIECE WILLIAMS-THIS IS NIECY. Deniece Williams, whose legendary debut album This Is Niecy has been remastered and will be rereleased by BBR Records on February 27, never had any intention of becoming a singer when she was growing up. Quite the opposite, with Deniece heading for a career in medicine. She was was born and …
STAX GOLD-HITS 1968-1974.
STAX GOLD-HITS 1968-1974. For some time, I’ve been meaning to do a feature on one of my favorite soul labels Stax. Previously, I’ve reviewed a number of albums that have been rereleased and remastered, with Johnny Taylor’s Taylored In Silk, Shirley Brown’s Woman To Woman, The Dramatics’ Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get and The Staple …
JOHN CAREY-SMOOTH, SOULFUL AND FUNKY.
JOHN CAREY-SMOOTH, SOULFUL AND FUNKY. It’s not often that a husband and wife both release new albums at the same time. This is what happened when John and Gina Carey both released new albums earlier in February 2012. While Gina released her beautiful, sixth album Love Letters, John Carey, The Urban Soul Guitarist released his …
GINA CAREY-LOVE LETTERS.
GINA CAREY-LOVE LETTERS. Sometimes, when you hear a song it just stops you in your tracks. You become caught up in the song’s beauty, swept away by its subtleties and charms. This happened to me last week, when I heard the most gorgeous track from Gina Carey, For Love. This is her new single, and …
MASTERS AT WORK PRESENTS WEST END RECORDS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY MASTERMIX.
MASTERS AT WORK PRESENTS WEST END RECORDS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY MASTERMIX. Along with Salsoul, Casablanca, SAM and Prelude Records, West End Records is seen as one of the most important labels in the history of disco. Founded by Ed Kushins and Mel Cherin in 1976, West End Records became one of the most important, influential …
OM CHILLED.
OM CHILLED. Previously, I’ve written features about both OM Records and chill-out music. In my feature on OM Records, looking at some of the label’s best releases. In that article, I mentioned how OM were famous for releasing chilled out, laid back and mellow music, with compilations like OM Lounge and Mushroom Jazz, which I’ve …
DISCO DISCHARGE-DIGGIN’ DEEPER.
DISCO DISCHARGE-DIGGIN’ DEEPER. Growing up, I was just the right age to hear the best music of the disco era. Since then, I’ve always loved disco music. Even when disco was meant to “suck,” I still loved the music, and over the last thirty odd years, have amassed quite a collection of classic disco. So, …
THE BIG APPLE BITES BACK-NEW YORK HOUSE AND REMIX CULTURE.
THE BIG APPLE BITES BACK-NEW YORK HOUSE AND REMIX CULTURE. Over the last few months, I’ve been reviewing just a few of the Backbeats series of compilations released by Harmless since 2009. This is a comprehensive overview of various genres of music that numbers everything from Deep Soul, Eighties Garage and Northern Soul to Philly …
DISCO GOLD: SCEPTER RECORDS AND THE BIRTH OF DISCO.
DISCO GOLD: SCEPTER RECORDS AND THE BIRTH OF DISCO. In previous articles I’ve written about disco music and remixes, one name that keeps cropping up in Tom Moulton. He is credited as the godfather of the remix, literally single handedly creating one of the most important tools in every DJ’s arsenal, the twelve inch single. …
GREG WILSON CREDIT TO THE EDIT VOLUME ONE.
GREG WILSON CREDIT TO THE EDIT VOLUME ONE. For someone that loves music as much as I do, one of the worst things that could happen is having your music collection stolen. After all, how can you replace albums that are either long out of print, were released on small labels or are imports that …
MELLOW MELLOW-15TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION.
MELLOW MELLOW-15TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION. One of my favorite independent record labels over the past seventeen years is Harmless Records, who were founded in 1995. Since then, they’ve been releasing quality music on a regular basis. They’ve released a number of hugely successful compilation series including Pulp Fusion, Disco Discharge and of course thirty editions of …
UNDER THE INFLUENCE VOLUME ONE COMPILED BY DJ RED GREG.
UNDER THE INFLUENCE VOLUME ONE COMPILED BY DJ RED GREG. With so much good music being released, sometimes I don’t get the opportunity to write about an album when it’s released. One such album is a compilation of rare soul and disco entitled Under the Influence Volume One Compiled By DJ Red Greg. Released in …
DEEP DISCO AND BOOGIE VOLUME 1.
DEEP DISCO AND BOOGIE VOLUME 1. For over thirty years I’ve been a fanatical collector of music in all forms. When I first started collecting, vinyl was still king, with tapes, mini discs and compact discs all still to come. Since then, I’ve been unable to resist crate digging, with anywhere where there might be …
CHIC-TAKE IT OFF.
CHIC-TAKE IT OFF. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly a group or artists’ star can wane. In some cases, this is because the quality of their music is no longer as good as it once was, or it can be because their music is no longer fashionable. With Chic, the demise in popularity …
THE DETROIT SPINNERS-PICK OF THE LITTER.
THE DETROIT SPINNERS-PICK OF THE LITTER. Previously, I’ve reviewed a trio of The Detroit Spinners albums, starting with the first album Thom Bell produced for the group, Spinners, released in April 1973 on Atlantic Records. This was the first album in a series of classic albums from The Detroit Spinners that started in 1973 and …
LOOSE CHANGE-LOOSE CHANGE.
LOOSE CHANGE-LOOSE CHANGE. Tom Moulton’s role in disco music can’t be understated. He’s credited with inventing the remix, and could take a three minute track, extend it, creating eight minutes of majestic disco music. Now, remember this was long before the technology that’s available now. Back then, there was no Logic Pro, Reason or Ableton …
BODDHI SATVA-INVOCATION.
BODDHI SATVA-INVOCATION. What I’ve always loved about music is the way it can change your emotions. Last week, I heard one of the most beautiful tracks that I’ve heard in a long time, one that left me feeling totally uplifted and at peace with myself. This gorgeous track just soothed my soul, washed away my …
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