Gilles Peterson Digs America

Gilles Peterson

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 8, 2005)
• Original Release Date: November 8, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Luv N Haight
• ASIN: B000BFHVWO
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #83,645 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Gilles Peterson is of course one of very few dance, soul and funk-based musician/ DJs to have brought "world music" to a larger, dance-oriented audience without being cheesey about it. This is a pretty big deal, and has garnered Peterson comparisons to John Peel. His fan base is large, worldwide, and rabid. As you might guess by the title, the jazz, funk and soul tunes on this album were all compiled for the crate-digging Ubiquity label's Luv N' Haight series. These sixteen tunes are some of the rarest and heaviest Gilles was able to dig out of his Brownswood estate, a mini-mansion that holds nothing save Peterson's massive record collection. For funk fanatics and beat-seekers who don't have thousands of dollars laying around, this is pretty necessary. --Mike McGonigal

Product Description

This is the first in a series of "Digs" compilations raiding the record racks of some of the most outrageous music collections. Over the years, Peterson has delighted dance floors and listeners of his radio show (his weekly BBC Radio 1 show is syndicated worldwide) by joining the dots between musical styles and eras. His record collection is so serious he keeps it in a separate house known as Brownswood and his regular listeners are occasionally treated to a Brownswood Basement selection (where all the records are oldies, all are on vinyl, and none have been re-issued). This comp features some of the Brownswood Basement rarities from the US. Peterson selects and blends choice tracks from around the world, from swinging vocal jazz selections to ultra rare funk nuggets to sweet soul to super rare manic breakbeat funk. He's the listeners' listener and the collectors' collector. Comp includes liner notes, artist images, and quotes from Gilles. For fans of "Under The! Influence" and "Back To Mine" comps, Jazzman, and world psychedelic classics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars welcome to Brownswood..., November 19, 2005

By	svf - See all my reviews

... as in "digs" through record crates (for those in the over 30 set like myself). Legendary British DJ Gilles Peterson's compilations and mixes are almost always dependable sources of not only "rare" but interesting "groove" music from across the stylistic spectrum. For the most part, this CD is no exception with 16 tracks culled from a record collection so large that Mr. Peterson has a seperate house for it (known as "Brownswood" according to the liner notes... which is not located in the U.S.A... but the albums/artists presented here are apparently all American... thus the title...I guess.)

These tracks are not "mixed" in any way, just compiled... several fade out but I imagine that's because the source tracks do also. All are of 1960s-70s vintage and the sequencing is good, moving from soul/R&B-ish tunes through vocal-jazz-grooviness into psych-jazzy-pop toward disco-soul ending up with pseudo-african-mystical-jazz/pop with a bit of freak-funk-fusion along the way. Some common threads include a thing for piano-driven rhythms, jazz touches even on "pop" tracks, light orchestral instrumentation, flute solos, wordless vocals/chants/choruses, and (unfortunately) electric violin solos (on two back to back tracks... each of which I had to skip past at about the mid-point...)

Do any of these tracks qualify as "forgotten classics?" Not really. Some you'll love, some you'll like, and some are completely disposable. Will young club-goers enjoy this one? Probably not... Is this on the level of Peterson's INCredible or Desert Island Mix? Not even close -- this is more comparable to his Impressed series of rare UK jazz tracks. So... if you have an unquenchable thirst for (very) obscure vintage jazz/soul/funk/etc. tracks, be happy that Gilles shares his finds with us on CD compilations like this and enjoy the ride... short of spending a few months digging through the crates at Brownswood yourself, this is the next best thing.

(Extra credit points: there is interesting commentary for each track in the liner notes and many even include the album cover art. Nice work, Ubiquity!)