Norman Jay’s latest Good Times compilation, simply titled London in reference to the sound of the music, is a curious blend. I’m generally a fan of the mashed potatoes aesthetic when it comes to the more eclectic mixes out there, and while I am in no way an expert on the life and times of one Norman Jay (M.B.E., apparently), as a fellow mixer I can certainly appreciate the two basic tenets which keep a mix interesting and fresh: making sure the track selections are a mixed bag, and attempting to adhere to an overall theme. You would think that the presence of a theme would slim-line the scope of the music, but in this case the theme is just plainly London. There is no musical boundary holding anything back over these two CDs.

What starts off with a nod to the pop music of the past (from Ella Fitzgerald), and what is rapidly becoming the pop music of the present day (see: every artist who is now jumping onto the classic ‘Motown sound’ formula bandwagon), quickly segues into drum n’ bass, hip hop and dub. Steve Parks’ Moving In The Right Direction, apart from being a classic, is a personal favourite of mine as the late great Aaliyah sampled it on her own Are You Ready track almost a decade ago. But as big a fan I am of this selection, the highlights on disc one are featured on the tail-end of the tracklist, those songs which I would deem to be “obscure 70s/80s funk n’ r&b”, with the 80s funk n’ r&b in particular being among one of the greatest genres of music never heard or given its due. The type of music I am describing is most commonly known as ‘Boogie’, the term coined by the French who did their fair share of producing some classic 80s cuts (More well-kown? Cerrone. Less well-known? Style).

Disc two kicks off with a Ray Charles ballad, followed by a sharp turn towards modern break-beat nu-soul (honestly, can I make these genre descriptions more contrived… Yes, yes I can). With a 1-2 punch start of old and new, the third track is aptly a combination of both, featuring Eamon singing over The Flamingoes’ haunting classic rendition of I Only Have Eyes For You. The Breakthrough track, featuring underground soul staple Bembe Segue on vocals, provides a nice trip into outer-space and a celestial break for your ears as you get swept up in some future-soul. Again, the mandate on disc two is to keep it moving (“yeah yeah, to tha K.I.M.”, Q-Tip), as the future once again dips into the past with a Lou Rawls, Chaka Khan & The Dramatics combo.

Most curious (and exciting) of all is the inclusion of a deep-house track sung by the inimitable Lisa Shaw: All Night High, which seems to be the finished product of a dub-only track of hers from the 2002 Naked Music mix Nude Tempo vol. 1 (mixed by Miguel Migs). Only back then the song was called ULTIMATE High, but it has apparently been decided that an ‘All Night’ high trumps an ‘Ultimate’ one (though this is debatable). Two quick house tracks are included in succession, with Bobby D’Ambrosia providing a decent cover of the Eddie Kendricks classic Girl You Need A Change Of Mind. It was good, but D’Angelo did it better (sans the house beat of course). Some more 70s/80s funk from Brainstorm finishes off the disc, and the mix.

This was indeed, a ‘mix’ in the truest sense of the word. While I do admire the important ability to make every individual selection somehow gel together and ‘fit’, sometimes it’s fine to just select dope tracks on their own, and just simply sequence them in a way that will hold someone’s attention. If you can’t admire Jay’s ability as a DJ to mix songs together onto a CD, then you can easily admire the track selection and the subsequent musical diversity that comes with it.