Document II

DJ Andy Smith, James Brown | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 14, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Classic / Illicit
• ASIN: B0000AINRK
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #319,717 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Way back in the nineties, Andy Smith was best friends with Geoff Barrow. The pair shared in interest in the same music, collected records, set up their own nights locally and when Geoff started Portishead, Andy supplied the samples for the hip hop and film-esque rhythms which became their massive seminal trip-hop classic, Dummy.

When the band went on the road, Andy was invited to join them as the Portishead DJ, playing sets before and after the band went on stage playing diverse sets of tunes old and new, obscure and popular, Hip Hop, Funk and Northern Soul.

Inspired by his sets on tour and an oft-bootlegged radio show for Boston’s WFNX-FM, Smith compiled his own version of a classic ‘mixtape mash-up’. Entitled The Document and released on London Records in 1998, this album cut up ribbons of hip hop, funk, northern soul, 60¹s beats and some real wild-cards, causing dropping jaws and universal acclaim from hip-hop heads, funkateers, and electronic music fans across the board and Soundscanning over 17,000 copies in the US.

Now after five long years, Andy Smith returns with what will prove to be yet another seminal chapter of The Document. Document 2 pairs up such unlikely musical bedfellows as Kate Bush, James Brown, Serge Gainsbourg, and Three Dog Night with Cut Chemist, Ultramagnetic MC’s, Eric B. & Rakim, and Smith’s own side project Dynamo Productions and the result is another classic mixtape for the ages!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great mix of funk, old school hip-hop and soul, October 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Document II (Audio CD)

I recently got the first document from a friend and soon after it was the only cd in my player. When I found out document 2 was coming out I had to get it. Just like the original document album, this mixes well known (black sheep -the choice is yours) and totally unheard of tracks (serge bainsbourgh?? with french vocals) seamlessly. The tempo stays pretty consistent throughout so if you can handle the changes in music from song to song, for example Jack Jones (a vocalist from the 60's kinda like Tom Jones) singing about how he'll never fall in love again with a great beat behind it to Eric B & Rakim and the beat stays pretty much the same. I'm not a big fan of current day hip hop (Jay Z, 50 cent, etc.) but can get into the old stuff if presented correctly....this is the way for me. He used more hip hop in this album than in the original but it's all good. If you want to try something different and cool, try it!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Andy Smith shows there's life after mixing for Portishead.., August 19, 2004

By 

fetish_2000 (U.K.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Document II (Audio CD)

There are a million different 'Eclectic' Dj Mix albums out there, with some truly exceptional efforts that stand head and shoulders above the rest. Grandmaster Flash's "The Official Adventures of...", 2 Many Dj's "As heard on radio soulwax", Peanut Butter Wolf's "Jukebox 45", Coldcuts seminal "70 Minutes of madness". So listeners are spoilt for choice, so for another Eclectic Dj Mix album to deserve recognition, it's going to truly have its work cut out for it. Does this album deserve your time or hard earned??...

Dj Andy Smith is the official warm-up Dj for the band "Portishead's" Live shows, but seeing as Portishead haven't made a new album since 1997/98, he sure as hell won't be able to use the portishead name to sell his album, so he going to have to sell it on his own merits. And thankfully this is a truly distinguished effort on his part.

"Kate Bush's - The Man with the Child in His Eyes", opens the album beautifully, to open with an Kate's Bush's blend of Exuberant Alternative Pop/rock is a risky choice of sure, but Kate's soaring vocals negate any worries about her inclusion here. Before leading superbly into "Craig G's" beat Heavy Hip-Hop of "Welcome to the game", which (apart from the excellent genre transition), is a head Noddingly agreeable track, and demonstrates Andy Smith keen ear for a Groove, and ability to surprise with his track selection.

"Three Dog Night's - I Can Hear you Calling" is a one of those tremendous Soul-Shouter Funk orientated 45', that immediately catch the ear, even if you've never heard the track before. And it's here, that you realise that Andy Smith has a sincere love for old Soul / Funk grooves, which feature heavily throughout the album. "DJ Bomb Jack's" hard stepping Hip-Hop instrumental "Big Beat No.3" reminds us that Funk/Soul aren't the only hip swinging grooves here. But the real surprise is that he chooses to follow this excellent track with 'Serge Gainsbourg's" sleazy lounge-Jazz "Requiem Pour un C", unexpected...yes, but it's so confidently dropped in the mix, that you don't even realise until a minute or two into the track, thats it's been mixed in.

This isn't the first time I've encountered the "Quantic Soul Orchestra" in a Dj mix album, and the reason why, is probably because of the fact they sure know how to put together a stylishly Upbeat Soul-referencing track, which would a highlight in any mix, but even that pales in comparison with the golden Age rap brilliance of "Ultramagnetic MC's - Give The Drummer Some" a track or two later, and let there be no doubt, that this is one of the most astonishing tracks of freewheeling and Witty East coast Rap ever made, stands out like a diamond in the rough, on a album littered with musical highlights.....Andy Smith drops this track safe in the knowledge, that nobody is going to hear this track without making a appreciative comment.

"Barbara Acklin's " 60's Northern Soul track "Am I The same Girl?" reintroduces Andy Smiths love of Soulful Groove, and she wears her Smooth & Sensual singer/songwriter credentials very well, and this is the track that Andy Smith (masterfully) chooses to finish the mix out with, but thats not before Andy Drops "Eric B & Rakim's" streetsmart raps' in "No Omega", confident, self-aggrandising, & a sense of bravado....not since 'Al Capone' had a strugglehold on the underworld, these two (Eric & Rakim) mix complex wordplay with peerless technique on the turntables (in their day), they were the blueprint for "Jay-Z's" extravagant vocal boasts, and with good reason to....but this tracks a killer.

If you've had your fill of Dj eclectic mix albums of the last year or so, or you've never been sold on the idea of Funk / Soul / Old-skool Hip-Hop mixed with obscure musical nuggets, then (as much as it pains me to say it) this probably won't convince you. And no amount of Varied tracklistings, Crowd Favourties and exceptional mixing is going to change your preception. but if your still in the market for such an album, and your looking at possibly purchasing this, then I implore you to do so, I have no reservation in saying that this is an exceptional effort, and easily rubs shoulders with the similar Dj albums that i mention at the beginning of the review. If fact if you do enjoy this a much as I did. Then you should probably try sourcing the (considerably) more expensive & harder to find first volume in this tremendous series of albums.

4.0 out of 5 stars Music Truffles, November 19, 2005

By 

R. Lister "burblet" (Palo Alto, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Document II (Audio CD)

So Document (I) is great. Really fabulous, a single-disk education in funk, hip-hop and why a DJ matters. Andy Smith clearly has great taste in music, an ear for the strange and wonderful and does a great job of putting together a musical journey,with creative layering of tracks and an overall sense that he *loves* this music.

So here we go again: part II. I've been waiting for this disk for about five years. Could it be as good?

Well: nothing's changed really - all the above compliments apply. I mean, it's not like Andy has lost his abilities: the opening mix of Kate Bush into a sparse hip-hop loop, staight into James Brown, keeping the same vocal all the way is priceless. Cool. Smart.

The overall tone is a little more heavy with rap and novelty records and the tracks just don't quite have the same impeccable quality control as last time - it's as if he used all his favorite records of all time in the first mix, and this is a collection of his second favorite tracks of all time. Kind of like "More Abba Gold" to the originals "Abba Gold".

Not that there aren't great tracks here: Quantic Soul Orchestra and Sugarman 3 bring some energetic funk noise with style, as do Boca 45. If these aren't names you're familiar with (I'm not) this is as good a place as any to pick up some new stuff. Maybe my luke-warmness is just a side-effect of hearing the same trick again - the freshness, the surprise and some of the magic isn't here in quite the bucketloads it was first time around.

Still - it's a decent disk. You don't have many choices when it comes to well-mixed, diverse and imaginative DJ sets will to take risks, and if you like any two of Funk, Soul or Hip-hop, you'll get a persuasive introduction to the other.

One quibble: 'pologies if this sounds snobby, but I don't need another DJ disk with "Give the Drummer Some" on it. It's not exactly an imaginative selection. For example - putting "No Omega" (Eric B & Rakim) is a much more refreshing choice...

Anyway, all in all, start with Document I. If you love it, this is a great second purchase. Otherwise, just keep darn well listening to it until you do.