Grass Roots: Ashley Beedle [Import]

Ashley Beedle | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 29, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Strut
• ASIN: B000026IOL
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #603,887 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Introduction (Windy City Theme)

2. The Liberation Song (Red, Black and Green)

3. Sweet Thing

4. Let Me Down Easy [12" Disco Version]

5. My Baby's Got ESP [Special Disco Version]

6. Welcome to the Club

7. Stan's Theme

8. Gibraltar

9. Hihache

10. J Dub's Theme

11. Canned Interlude

12. Doin' It

13. Feel Up [Original U.S. 12" Version]

14. Adventures in Success [Dub Copy]

15. Stop Bajon... Primavera

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Back to the past (and forward to the future), March 13, 2008

By 

Kevin W. Celebi "Jazz Musician" (Greencastle, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grass Roots: Ashley Beedle (Audio CD)

I haven't delved much into acid jazz or any of its several similar fields (funk, house bands, DJ mixes of old stuff) - yet couldn't resist buying this to see what Beedle did with Freddie Hubbard's "Gibraltar." Before buying the album, I played some samples at AMG to see if the grooves were worth seeking out - and my then-girlfriend couldn't stop dancing and urging me to go for the grooves.

"Grass Roots - Musical Influences and Inspirations," besides having an extraordinarily long title, also has an extraordinary amount of music - full to the brim 80 minutes. There is plenty here to please for fans of urban music, pop, disco, funk, and acid jazz. Beedle really digs into some old chestnuts from the 70's and mixes them with jazz loops and samples some vocal clips with smooth ambiance beats. The album is full of groove and literally doesn't have a second without a breakbeat behind it.

If you grew up in the 70's and loved (good) disco and its irresistible ability to get people up and dancing, then you'll love the modern touch added here to the old genre. Along with the soulful singing, you'll hear wailing soul-jazz sax, busy electronic bass, and fervent drumbeats. There's really not much else to say - the album is perfect for developing a bumpin' milieu, gettin' your partygoers in the groove mood, or just having something to increase the hip factor of the room you're in.

That being said, there is much disco in these 15 tracks - almost every single track is comprised of disco music. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, if the DJ can keep the beat fresh enough to be danceable to, but those that tire of disco music easily will tire of this album very fast. If you love disco, however, you'll be dancing all night.

Now, this album is rare and DJ Ashley Beedle is someone you rarely hear of. Are there better funk and acid jazz records? Probably. But to capture jazz, the 70's, funk, disco, and modernism, I can't think of a more effective and grindin' album than Grassroots. Take the beats out for a test drive, and if you dig `em, get your house party into the red-hot tone of funky.