Customer Reviews

Bargrooves Metropolitan

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the second "Bargrooves" compilation I bought--the first was "Cosmopolitan", which I like a lot because it's mellow while still having nice energy. Great ambient music. "Metropolitan" definitely has more energy, at least on Disc 2. No way you can just sit still with the R&B-flavored mix on Disc 2, which means it's not so good for background music but it's great for dancing or working out. Techno and other music like that seems kind of bombastic to me, so it's great to find some danceable music that has energy but is not overpowering.

Disc 1 has a couple of songs I really like--Physics' "Don't Deny Me Love" and Soldiers of Twilight's "City Life". I can play these two over and over and not get tired of them. They're songs 2 and 3. After that, Disc 1 seems to lose steam. It has some songs that I really dislike, the ones with whispery guys singing on them. I mean Baeka's "Soul Exp.", Karma Fever's "This Love", and the worst of the bunch, Danny Foster's "You're So Fine", which has bad poetry read in a very annoying way. Sorry, I don't mean to get so negative, I guess it's just a matter of taste. Anyway, I definitely have to skip past most of the second of half of disc 1. But on the whole, it's a decent compilation.

The Bargrooves collections have represented a very consistent offering of sexy, "daddy" house tracks. Never banging, always grooving and upbeat with a few gems that get your head nodding. This set, however, leaves me with mixed feelings. Ben Sowton's first disc presents few tracks exciting or representative of his earlier work. The only standout track is Astro's `You Spin Me Round'. In contrast, the Soul Avengers put together such a fantastic summer fun / dancey / all around good-time vocal house package, I heartily recommend the purchase, if only for just the second disc.

These days if it isn't on iTunes I'm highly unlikely to buy it...I always end up liking only a fraction of the songs on any given CD and I hate all the packaging crap. But I make an exception for the Bargrooves CD's. The first one I picked up was "Espace Prive" and it blew me away. I have played both discs dozens, if not hundreds, of times and rarely skip a song. While I wouldn't say Metropolitan is as perfectly concocted as Espace Prive, it's pretty darn close. I prefer the nu-jazz elements of Disc 1 to the vocal-laden house of Disc 2, but I enjoy both discs. Trust me, if you like your grooves tight and smooth with a euphoric twist, you'll be playing this one nonstop.

Though I prefer CD 2, the entire collection is quite enjoyable. CD 1 is a bit more laid-back and the rhythms are, what I like to call, New Wave revisted with a tinge of down-tempo House music mixed in.

CD 2 mixed by Soul Avengerz, however, is where things begin to pick up, starting off with the smooth Disco-House groove of "Butterflies" by Reel People featuring Dyanna Fearon, and ending with "After the Party" by Audiowhores featuring Blu.

This compilation, particularly Disc 2, is ideal for road trips, indoor/outdoor house parties, workouts, jogging, and urban-mass-transit commuting.

I highly recommend it. If you are a hard-core House nut, lol, Disc One might disappoint a little, but be patient and then savor the bopping Neo-House tunes of Disc Two, and the compilation quickly redeems itself.

Final Note: If you enjoy Afro-Latino-influenced percussion, CD 2 provides just that, particularly Tracks 3, 7, 8 and 10.

This is a solid Bargrooves collection. I actually like both disc's. The whole set has a nice vibe to it, sexy but yet there is still energy there. I don't favor Bargrooves anymore but this set is from when they were on fire.

It is a harsh title but fits my sentiment with this and a lot of other Bargrooves compilations. I got into this series in the early 00's when the seasons series came out. The first one I actually checked out was Espace Prive, and to this day it's one of my favorite deep-house compilations & it peaked my interest in the series. Especially disc two, which seemed to capture the spirit of nightlife, club culture and the overall fun that could be had on a great night on the town. But the search to capture the magic of that one has yielded disappointment after disappointment for me. With Metropolitan I made the desperate move of thinking that the color scheme was similar to the one I loved, so maybe that was a good omen? The format was the same, the paper digi-pack was similar, maybe this could do it again.

Maybe... CD 1 does start off promising with Little Big Bee's "Searchin'", remixed by Atjazz. I always loved that song. It has a sort of sofistication to it with the surrounding effects and warm guitar play. It's just a well put together mix and song that I fell in love with when the "Bossa-Tress... Jazz" series was fresh. That song's followed up very nicely with Physic's "Don't Deny Me Love", a sweet house track that seems as though it could've been crafted by Naked Music (and why not, since this was released in maybe 2004). Awesome song, the highlight of disc one to me as that song, along with the opening track brought me right back to the way I felt about "Espace Prive" by capturing the essence of the bar-life and club-life. "City Life" was solid enough, but East West Connection's "East West" added that touch of spice that can keep you into the album. Neat sax and flute over a consistent groove & beat; pure jazz-house. Then came a band that I've always liked, Reel People, with "The Light". Vanessa Freeman's powerful voice is on display but you're taken on another jazz-house trip here and by this track. By the time we got to this exact moment, I was feeling terrific about the direction of this set. Finally, my favorite of the series had a worthy companion piece...

Where does it go wrong? Immediately afterward. Baeka's "Soul Experience" added a strange element to the groove... as if you'd somehow taken the wrong turn on your way downtown and ended up in a creepy rural area full of ghosts and myths instead. A total buzz-kill. Then many of the other tracks that followed lacked the spark of the opening though with Crafty Pear's "Ritmo Sensual" I still had hope for the second disc. But instead, that one was almost totally forgetable. Had it not been for Restless Soul (Phil Asher)'s remix to Reel People's "Butterflies" and Rasmus Faber's "Divided" it would've been a disaster... and on the Faber track, even that didn't really fit into the mood of the album as it seemed more like a summer 'Beach House'/Irma Records song. In general there's too much discotheque to my liking - and in the clubs back around 2000-2002 in England or so, that was all the rage... and I didn't like it then either.

So much has changed in the music world since 2004 making it difficult for me to say 'don't check this out'. There were some quality songs featured here and it's a mixed set so you're really getting the experience, mix and to an extent a feel of 04. But there's far too much weak material here to give it the higher rankings and it fits the frustration I've had with bargrooves for several years and releases - inconsistency and a few more misses than hits.

This is one of my personal favorite mix CD for dance music, especially for more of the laid back house kind.

The 1st CD sort of sets up the mood for what you can expect for going to a disco/club that isn't so "hardcore", and gets you into the groove with your date/lover, especially at times, it can get just a little bit naughty. ;p


The 2nd CD gets one right into the moment of having fun at the disco/club and just keeps going.


Beginning to end, this is a CD set/series I'd highly reccommend to anyone who's into a good variety of music.

I simply ignore cd 2 ,too much of vocal , nothing really sophisticated and you wouldn't never remember songs on CD 2 ,HOWEVER CD1 will stay in your mind forever ! CD 1 brings me more joy ,beautiful melodies on each songs AND SOUND SO SOPHISTICATED ! TRACK "THIS LOVE "IS SIMPLY SUPERB ! I MEAN ALL 11 TRACKS ARE SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL !