Choice: A Collection of Classics (2 CDs + DVD) [Import, Enhanced]

Danny Howells | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 7, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Import, Enhanced
• Label: Azuli
• ASIN: B000BW5SCC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #695,509 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From the Artist

Choice is a snapshot of the tracks that have really influenced me; stuff that makes me feel nostalgic or takes me back to those years... --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Product Description

Azuli Records’ Choice series is fast becoming a who’s who of influential figures in dance music, with previous releases by legendary artists such as Jeff Mills, Louie Vega, Derrick Carter, Danny Tenaglia, X-Press 2, Frankie Knuckles, and most recently, John Digweed – where each artist communicates their own musical influences, history and experience with their fans.

A good DJ’s job is archaeologist, evangelist and salesman. Speak to Danny Howells for more than ten minutes and you’ll know he fits the exact criteria. The tracks Danny has selected for Choice are not some rich tapestry of the history of dance music. This is his personal history – featuring tracks and remixes by Coldcut, Orbital, The Temptations, Urban Soul, PM Dawn, Todd Terry, Ce Ce Peniston, Japan, Sub Sub, Iron Butterfly, Fire Island and many more!

[This edition is unmixed.] --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Japan, Iron Butterfly and the Temptatons!, March 14, 2006

By 

redbank2 (Red Bank, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Choice: Collection of Classics (Unmixed) (Audio CD)

All in a row and it works really well... Very interesting combinations but moves and grooves... Super Choice!!! The GU Miami was great and this may actually be better...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An Important FYI..., July 9, 2007

By 

a Danny Howells fan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Choice: Collection of Classics (Unmixed) (Audio CD)

Just in case you missed the fine print (as I did) this is the UNMIXED version. That is, the tracks are not blended together as in usual DJ mixes. They are standalone, and separate.

The page notes this at the very bottom of the text description. It's very easy to miss if you're not paying attention.

1-star just to make sure that it's clear. Otherwise Danny Howells is an incredible dj. One of the best in the world. And this is a great CD. The mixed version is also available elsewhere on the site, with an interview DVD.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Choice Cuts, January 12, 2007

By 

Mark Eremite "This Is A Display Model Only" (Seoul, South Korea) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Choice: Collection of Classics (Unmixed) (Audio CD)

International DJ, Danny Howells, fresh off of one of the best years of his career, is the latest artist to showcase his diverse range of tastes via Azuli Records' Choice Classics series, an ongoing project that finds influential musicians and asks them to compile all of the songs and tracks that have inspired them most over the years.

Disc 1 provides the most uniformity in this package, with its progressively smoother melding of genres. The record starts with some classic house samples, redolent with crooning R&B ("Alright" by Urban Soul) and alive with salsa back beats ("Carino 90" by T-Coy). The disc drives this energy forward, growing heavier and heavier, hitting near-techno levels of metallic fervency ("12 Min To Do It" by Pleasure Dome). Howells steadily reduces the amp on the final five tracks, keying down through the stomp-heavy "Hocus Pocus" (by the band of the same name) and into the gorgeous gull-call scenery of Ready For Dead's fluidly flavorful song of the same name.

The second disc is fun, as well, but also much more uneven, probably owing to its heavy helping of old school funk and rock. Howells attempts the same sort of seamless arrangement that he pulls off perfectly in Disc 1, but that's hard to do when you're trying to blend The Temptations' "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone" into a three minute drum solo by Iron Butterfly (don't be fooled, "In A Gadda Da Vida" is on the track list, but all you'll hear is beats). This is passable, though, given the invigorating energy of the rest of the record. Sub Sub's high-pulse "Space Face" segues dreamily into Coldcut and Hexstatic's "Timer," one of the best deep house tracks I've heard in a long time. With the exception of "Why" by Carly Simon (a great tune that plays awkwardly as the closing track on this disc), the rest of the album is a rhythm-tribute to deep, funky house that will almost make you forget the earlier weak spots (which include the fourth track, Japan's "Ghosts," a synthetic pop number ruined by too much mood).