Customer Reviews

Worldwide V.1: Compiled By Gilles Peterson

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

 

 

An amazing double cd filled with different styles of similar music (jazz, soul, funk, hip-hop) by the dj with much better taste in music than you or I. My recommendation is to buy the disc and pretend you've heard of these artists before (some, like Jill Scott, you probably will recognize.) You're friends will think you're so cool. Easily worth the dough.

It took me awhile for this album to grow on me, but now it's in the top 10. A mixture of Acid Jazz, Drum N Bass and Hip Hop at much lower bmp's than I'm used to. This album is excellent for driving late at night or a candlelit reflective evening. Very ecletic and very insipirational. Some big names and yet many I have never ever heard of that I am now interested in. A great addition to most anyone's collection.

Excellent double disc. I'm big into the dj, electronic, and world music scenes (drum&bass is my primary love though) and among all my favorite djs, Gilles Peterson is the one I respect and admire most. This guy has flawless taste in music, and isn't afraid to record a set that is as eclectic as it is exciting. Listening to these discs is like stumbling upon the coolest radio show ever. Wait, Worldwide IS the coolest radio show ever. Nice to see it represented on these discs. Unfortunately I'm only going to give Worldwide 4 stars instead of 5 because the second disc, compared to the very eclectic first disc, is far too homogeneous, static, and sedate. Only a minor flaw however. To me Worldwide is a great follow up to INCredible Sounds of Gilles Peterson (double disc import version), which was absolutely flawless. The latter collection is more eclectic and exciting in my opinion. I highly recommend getting both collections. Now if only they'd release Gilles Peterson's "Trust the DJ" disc in the US! ...

Gilles Peterson, is something of a musical ambassador, taking a multitude of genres (especially: Jazz, R&B, Nu-Soul, Acid-Jazz, House, Northern Soul and Trip -Hop, and creating compilation albums that are clearly labours of love, and highlight his genuine interest in the music. One of the most instantly recognisable compilation albums, he has put his name to, is undoubtedly the "Worldwide" series. A collection of albums that gather tracks that skip through a multitude of styles and genres and such is the precision of Peterson's compiling, that most tracks seem to either compliment each other, or seamlessly flow into the next. This is a album that is spread over 2 Discs, with the first disk geared more towards: Nu-Soul, Trip-Hop, R&B, Leftfield House. And the second disk being more restrained in approach, with Jazz, Folk, Nu-Jazz & downtempo electronica make up the running order.

Disk 1

"Raw Deal" cut up an inspired start to the proceedings with a montage of the various musicians/artists that have been on Peterson's show, each giving their names, which are all taken, and spliced together, which make for an impressive cast-list, after which "The Gotan Project" deliver their sublime slice of Electronica-meets-tango sound of 'Capitalismo Foraneo'. "Roy Ayers" tunes have featured on several of Peterson Club/Dj nights....as Ayers blend of relaxed and stylish soul-Jazz track 'We Live in Brooklyn, Baby', working perfectly here next to the confident and soothing Neo-Soul of "Jill Scott's - Slowly Surely", and confirms her place as a major talent in the R&B/Soul genres. Moving mood and tone is the spoken word dynamics of "Ursula Rucker", A woman that takes downtempo electronica/Nu-Jazz and articulately conveys conveys her frustrations at the ways that women are treated and viewed in the style of a classically cool spoken-word poet, and her track "Lonely can be Sweet" (taken from her "Silver or Lead" album), beautifully illustrates that point. Next up it the Trip-Hop/Jazz-House of "Vikter Duplaix" who's music, has (for me) always worked well in compilations due to the elegant and intimately sexy productions he comes up with. On both of these 2 disks, there is at least one track that is a epic (largely instrumental) track, and for this disk it's "Pepe Bradrock" is one of the few artists on this compilation, that I'd never heard of before, and his track "Deep Burnt" is truly staggering 10 minute track, which is although relatively simple in its construction (An easygoing house beat and mute-to-crisp synths), that somehow manages to remain completely captivating, in a minimally intriguing way, so much so, that I now intend to track down an album (or two) of his. And "Herbert" can always be counted upon to deliver the goods, and his fractured, clicky Tech-House, and hypnotic Left-field house, has few equals, and as such his "The Last Beat" track proves to be deliciously irreverent fun.

Disk 2

The approach here is far more steeped in Jazz, than the first disk, and because of that, it a noticeably slower paced disk. The first track, which starts with the passionate mannered vocal of "Sarah Vaughan" on the track "Mystery of Man" is certainly more contemporary sounding than most listeners of Sarah's work maybe expecting, but such is the sheer power of his vocals, that it seems like mere nit-picking. The downtempo electronica of "Zero7's" tremendous first album, is represented by "This World", and is a perfect example of the lush and sensual textured aural atmospheres & warm electronica, that the album was noted for. "Rotary Connection" seems to be another act that Mr Peterson occasionally drops tracks into his compilations and the delicate & occasionally freewheeling psychedelic soul arguably deserves a wider audience, and their contribution "Respect" merely emphasises this point. Gilles slows the tempo right down with the gorgeous ambient-folk of "John Martyn's - Solid Air" a beautifully (and slightly spooky) sounding eulogy to his friend, the late "Nick Drake". Moody and deeply introspective, most compilers would usually steer clear of a track that is a decidedly gentle and wistfully brittle sound, such as this, but it is a testament to the arrangement skills of Gilles that this is just another inspired and original choice. The Second of the long epic tracks (that I mentioned earlier in the review) is "Bugge Wesseltoft's" 9 minute "(All I Wanted was to Make you) Feel Good", which has the stylish and jazz organ referencing arrangements, with an infectious, almost house derived groove. If you haven't heard of "Koop" yet (where have you been??), then you really must hear their blend of modern Acid Jazz / Downtempo electronica, their tracks have been known to include summery upbeat retro-referencing swinging jazz, and the more melancholic and intimate smoky smoldering Jazz. Here its the more upbeat sound of "Waltz for Koop", with it's lush orchestration and subtly modern melodies that earmark this track, and will certainly pick them up some new fans, once they hear this. "Herbert" as with the first disk, rounds out this disk, with a superb remixed version (or re-dubbed) version of his sublime "The Last Beat" track.

It you are a Gilles Peterson fan (New or otherwise) and you don't have this compilation, than I'm afraid this is going to have to an essential purchase for you. Mr Peterson has put out a fair share of essential compilations over the years, and this is because the man has a sharp eye for not only, tracks that sound fantastic, or acts that are pushing the genre into new/interesting areas, but also putting together a range of tracks that touch upon a multitude genres, and making the whole thing seem like a relatively coherent tracklisting. Interestingly, some tracks on this compilation are mixed into other tracks ("Sarah Vaughan" into "Zero7" for instance), and some are left in their entirety. the transitions are absolutely spot-on, but it just had to be mentioned to anyone reading this review, of what to expect. This really will suit anyone with an eclectic or broad musical range, as you don't even have to be a fan of Mr Peterson to truly enjoy this. This compilation and his "Journeys By DJ" album are probably just about my favourite two release of his, and I really can't strongly recommend this purchase enough to anyone considering buy this. Essential!!!

Gilles keeps it honest with an amazing mix of music (a couple dogs but whatever). This is one of those cds that I keep in the car and when I play it around people they ask me what every track is. If you only like one genre of music, Gilles is not your dj. I feel that Gilles is really the only true dj out there because he crosses genres seamlessly where other dj's play it safe in one format. Ten stars for Gilles.