Poppin’ Out For Ice…

Well, here in London, we finally got ourselves some killer weather. The last couple of weeks have been glorious, and couldn’t have come at a better time for me personally, coinciding with a lull in my work schedule. Without wanting to rub it in, that means I’ve been chilling way out, firing up the bbq, lounging in the garden, etc. When I did venture inside, I started messing around with a few records that seemed to fit my mood and that turned into this mix – feelgood vibes are the order of the day here. Kicking off with Carly Simon’s ‘Why’; if only all pop music could be this good, although obviously it helps when you have Bernard and Nile on board! (Otherwise known as the musical geniuses behind Chic.) There’s some funk workouts here, from the likes of Olympic Runners and Bootsy Collins, with a short but inspired Quincy Jones number too. Ned Doheny’s jazz-funk classic “To Prove My Love” sits alongside cuts from disco-diva Patrice Rushen and and an appropriately titled afro-funk epic from Manu Dibango. Elsewehere, Lowrell’s mighty “Mellow Mellow, Right On” makes an appearance. If you don’t know this one, you might gasp the next time you hear Massive Attack’s “Lately” as it looped up a huge chunk of it. Although I love the MA effort too, it’s almost an homage. Also included is one of the Boo Williams tracks I mentioned in my post on him a short while back. The mix rounds off with Giorgio Moroder’s “The Chase”, surely one of the most sampled/plagiarised/imitated tracks of all time, but sometimes I just wanna hear the original. And finally, Larry Levan’s stunning mix of Gwen Guthrie, surely a worthy mix-closer if ever there was one. Hope you dig.

Jitterbug-Poppin’ Out For Ice

tracklist

Carly Simon – Why – WEA 7″
Nas – Heaven (Instrumental) – Columbia
Olympic Runners – On Ya – Polydor 7″
War – Me and Baby Brother – Compilation
Gil Scott-Heron – Waiting For the Axe to Fall – Arista
Patrice Rushen – Number One – Elektra
Ned Doheny – To Prove My Love – CBS
Manu Dibango – Sun Explosion – Decca
Lowrell – Mellow Mellow, Right On – AVI
Quincy Jones – I Heard That! – A&M
Fre$hro – Spiritual Blues – Rong
Bootsy’s Rubber Band – Ahh the Name is Bootsy, Baby – Warner Bros
Cameo – On the One – Casablanca
Vicky “D” – This Beat is Mine (instrumental) – Sam
Hanna – Afternoon in Paris (n.y. mix) – Sound Signature
Boo Williams – Hiding Secrets – Three to Five
Giorgio Moroder – The Chase – Casablanca
Gwen Guthrie – Ain’t Nothing Going On but the Rent (Larry Levan club mix) – Polydor