LOUIE VEGA 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: ***B-STOCK: Dent on the side, product in perfect working order***


It may come with an eyebrow-raising price tag, but what's on offer here is undeniably alluring: a box set of 10 seven-inch singles containing all of the songs from Louie Vega's brilliant Expansions In The NYC album - an all-star affair in which the Masters at Work man celebrated his love of New York disco, boogie and house. The album itself is incredible, with fantastic musicianship, arrangements and vocals, while the cast list - which includes original electrofunk outfit Unlimited Touch, Peech Boys main man Bernard Fowler, Honey Dijon, Cindy Mazelle, Moodymann, Kerri Chandler and his son Nico - is similarly impressive. It's a great product, packed with brilliant music: a fitting finale to this portion of the ongping 'Expansions NYC' project.

Review: It would be fair to say that post-disco outfit Unlimited Touch's 1980 single "I Hear Music In the Streets" is one of the greatest boogie/electrofunk records of all time. Louie Vega clearly agrees, because late last year he decided to gather together the remaining members of Unlimited Touch and record a fresh 2020 version. The A-side "Touch Mix" is the bomb. It features a more organic-sounding disco-boogie groove than the 1980 original, with delicious guitars, bass and electric piano/organ underpinning seriously good group vocals from the sometime Prelude-signed outfit. Over on the flip, Vega serves up an electric piano solo-laden dub mix, as well as a "Classic Boogie" take that naturally sounds very similar to the band's much-loved original version.

Review: Louie Vega's Expansions In The NYC album remains a classic of the house master's vast ouvre. It was an all-star affair from the Masters at Work icon which same him pay homage to New York disco, boogie and house with fantastic musicianship, arrangements and vocals from a superb cast which includes Peech Boys main man Bernard Fowler, Honey Dijon, Cindy Mazelle, Moodymann, Kerri Chandler and his son Nico. Two of the cuts from it now make their way onto this 12" on Nervous in the form of the soulful delights of the sooth a-side 'Another Day In My Life' and the jazzy, piano laced dancer that is 'Deep Burnt' (feat Axel Tosca) on the B-side. Life affirming stuff.

Review: Louie Vega remains a towering presence in house music 30+ years after making his early mark. As a solo artist, he deals in soulful, Latin-tinged and musical house sounds that are lavish in arrangement and often made with real instrumentals. The Vega boss now serves up a bumper collection of previously unreleased tunes across no fewer than ten sides of vinyl. There are collaborations, remixes, demos, dubs and reworks along the way and the range in impressive - from deep and triable joints to shuffling samba sounds and back again, this is a vital collection from a real house master.