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The last Good Times album was so good – and I mean SO good – that it barely left my CD player for months. We all know that the man is a god, with the uncanny ability to sew together a broad range of tunes from different eras into one seamless mix (and I believe he’s also the only DJ ever to have been awarded an OBE by the Queen for “services to dance music”?) so it is always worth seeing what he’s come up with.
This is the sixth in the enormously popular Good Times series and there are early indications that it’s just as bloody good as albums one to five. Like the others, it’s an eclectic blend – for example, disc one traverses the wildly different soundscapes of Cece Peniston (Keep On Walking), Boyz II Men (Thank You), Pressure Drop (Groove Me) and The Clash (Rock The Casbah).
Factor in the disco grooves of Jimmy Ruffin (Tell Me What You Want), the delicious reggae of Desmond Dekker & The Aces (Israelites), gentle house from Tortured Soul – (Don’t Hold Me Down) and the fabulous rolling drum and bass of High Contrast (Racing Green) and you’ve got just about every great genre represented.
Also much like the last albums, sassy women are well represented, with disc 2 kicking off with the soulful scree of Lena Horne (Maybe I’m Amazed) and quickly followed by what is quite honestly one of my favourite songs of all time, Omar’s Golden Brown and the extraordinarily cool warblings of Pentangle’s Light Flight. Be There in the Morning is all disco cool, Willie Colon’s “Set Fire to Me” is latino at it’s very finest and the “Point Of No Return” from Ronnie Dyson is one proud, kick-ass anthem. And I haven’t even mentioned Jazzanova, Chaka Khan, Barry White, DJ Spinna or House of Pain!
Jay really knows how to whack together a mix that evokes summer, pays homage to eras of great music past and showcases the best of modern tunes, all without missing a single beat. Essential soundtrack for those sunlit barbeques and days on the beach.
