Search - Various Artists :: Perfect Beats 2

Perfect Beats Rocked The House

VINCENT C STANZIONE | 05/05/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anyone who worked or danced in NY/TRI STATE Night Clubs in the early 80's will need to have Perfect Beats vol's 1 and 2. They are not your typical disco or freestlye songs that you hear on every multivolume cd set. Anyone who hears these cds that clubbed the NY scene asks me where I found them. You can't find some of these songs on multi artist cds. (Example Illusion by Immagination.) They are truely NY early 80's nightclub sounds that some of us were able to hear night in and night out. Volumes 3 and 4 also have sounds that will excite you but not with the regularity of vol. 1 and 2. 4D, PALADIUM, 21 NORTH/CRISTALS, METRO 700, OBI, MONTEGO BAY, EXPO, AFTER DARK, CHICAGO, MARTY AND LENNYS, PEACHTREES, THE MEADOWBROOK live again in this 4 volume set. Buy them!"

Electro-body-rockin-jamz from the masters of the oldskool

backklash | the Casbah, Beirut | 02/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"fans of the contemporary vanguard of diskopunk, electropop, and 808 jamz who are serious about uncovering the secrets of the original source must seek out this fine series. #2 opens with a lush 12" version of shannon's crossover hit 'let the music play' one of the few familiar traxx here (and probably tied with blue monday and planet rock as thee All-Time 80's Klub Klassiks)and sets off the party right. the diva-and-a-drum-machine phenomenon is explored at the start, with madames khan and holloway proving that 'cold' technopop had soul even from the start. freeze's i.o.u. is uk jazzfunk with the touch of genius keyboardist john robie (the legendary artbaker's collaborator, inc. 'planet rock'). john robie's mad skill for turning the studio into a band is on full display in the delirious compilation closer 'slack' (reminiscent of robie's production on cabaret voltaire's dontargue he did a few years later) the baker version of neworder's 'confusion' is about as close to street as pasty industrialite british postpunx can ever dream to aspire, and shows there is more than one amazing neworder 12" party starter. strafe's 'set it off' is an obscure DIY electro jam with a unique sing-song rap delivery whose simple lyrics would be repeated again and again for decades with an eerily hypnotic quality. even more obscure is the hi-drama electrofunk girl group b-beat girls', another lost gem whose simplicity is outdone by the thrilling rush of immediacy it posesses (just wait til that synth hook kicks in). 'infatuation' is another jazzfunk meets electrodisco experiment with lovely vocals, actually thoughtful lyrics and an acid-house quality that i can't perceive how it must have sounded to people in 84. and before you punx get pissed off by all the robo-breaks and diva casio duets, ESG's sparse Classic 'moody'--feel that bassline, rude boy. you can call it no wave, diskopunk, avant-funk--for these sisters from the bronx it was just about staying off the street and kicking out the jams. the era of the great soundclash of the downtown disco subcultures in nyc is as magical and inaccessible to someone my age as middle earth or narnia, but thanx to this classy series at least i know that it was not only real, but relevant. [backklash@graffiti.net]"

OOP but still worth every penny - Arthur Baker & John Robie

G. Mitchell | Los Angeles, CA United States | 01/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Damn, this is one jam-packed 80s electro-club CD, chock full of exactly the songs I used to listen to as a teen - from SLACK to DOMINATRIX to CHAKA to SHANNON to NEW ORDER to STRAFE to the many brilliant, ground-breaking productions/remixes by JOHN ROBIE and ARTHUR BAKER, there isn't one bad cut on this Volume 2 compilation. I especially appreciate how Timber/Tommy Boy sought out the more underground, obscure tracks that only us "in the know" cherished and played to death back in the day. Now I just wish Tommy Boy would release another CD compilation from the vaults, including their more obscure early 80s favorites, like MALCOLM X "NO SELL OUT" (Keith LeBlanc!) and GLOBE AND WHIZ KID's HE'S GOT THE BEAT to name but a few - RIP! They just don't make club music like this anymore, but at least I have the brilliant "PERFECT BEATS" CD series for posterity!! p.s. I never was able to club at the Funhouse and other places as I was much too young and grew up in Cali, but I wish I could go back in time & visit just once..."