Little Esther Phillips breathes new life into this series when she notes the time in Pete "Guitar" Lewis' "Ooh Midnight." Weary, deflated horns wheeze in the background of this raunchy teaser, recorded on a sly summer’s night in 1951. It's ultra-slow and unavoidable, starting this disc with a bang.
That track's followed by more strong material like Tina and Ike's feverish "Doin' It" and the heavy funk of Chakachas' "Jungle Fever." Things go a little awry when Grace Jones' angular "Feel Up" shifts the mood, and from here, things get more explicit. Hexstatic Rewind's "The Horn" hits a nice stride, but the disc peaks perhaps a bit prematurely with Kool Keith's brief sex session, "Lick My Ass." More hip hop follows, N.E.R.D.'s Prince-impersonating "Stay Together" and an uninspired cut from De La Soul and Shell Council that at least ends with a surprising radio collage. At the center of the disc is Lil' Kim's "Custom Made (Give It to You)." It's a great song by itself, but hijacks the mood as much of the Grace Jones track does a few songs earlier.
The album is immediately reclaimed afterwards by James Rivers' "Thrill Me," a slow cooker reminiscent of the opener with its sultry singer and bright saxophone. The Sisters Love dim the lights and get busy with their "Give Me Your Whisper" before the disc heads to the Caribbean for the next few tracks, which are all fine but not particularly outstanding. DJ Qbert's abstract "Aphrodisiskratch" is a strange counterpoint on which to end, which more or less sums up how I feel about this disc. The songs selected are a pretty strong group but so different from each other that they don't always work so well together.
Despite those flaws, however, there are several pockets of great music on here, and I have to say that the music on this volume is a big improvement over the first one. A lot of these songs rise above the obvious theme, and the compilation is all the better for it.
samples:
- Pete "Guitar" Lewis feat. Little Esther Phillips - Ooh Midnight
- Hexstatic Rewind - The Horn
- Lil’ Kim - Custom Made (Give It to You)
Read More
