Downtown 81 [ENHANCED] [SOUNDTRACK]

Various Artists (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 6, 2007)
• Original Release Date: November 6, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Soundtrack
• Label: Recall
• ASIN: B000W8FY4C
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #215,776 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
What a fantastic trip down memory lane this is! As its title suggests, Downtown 81 is mostly set in New York's East Village and Lower East Side in the early '80s; the movie follows Jean (played by then-unknown painter Jean-Michel Basquiat) through blasted streets looking like war zones and in clubs pulsing with ear-melting music. The CD careers from post-punk abrasion (DNA's "Blonde Redhead" and "Detached"), to proto-electronics (Suicide's "Cheree," Plastics' "Copy"), to Latin- and disco-tinged danceathons that make contemporary would-be funksters sound downright pallid (Kid Creole & the Coconuts with Coati Mundi's "K Pasa-Pop I"). And then there's James Chance's "Sax Maniac," which bring both approaches together in a skronky, funky explosion. The most famous melody here may well be the bass line from Liquid Liquid's "Cavern," which was famously sampled on Grandmaster Flash's "White Lines." The intensity is often furthered by the fact that some of these are live versions, and the quality level is really high throughout. A great collection for fans of inventive, hard-to-classify music, and a worthy complement to Soul Jazz's New York Noisecompilations. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible, essential, July 28, 2008

By	diggy (NYC) - See all my reviews

You'd be hard pressed to find latin funk mingling with art rock, electro, hip hop and ambient in today's East Village. This album is a brilliant collection of a unique, pre-Juliani/Disney New York City moment where art, music, fashion, and the scene came together in a vibrant pastiche of sounds, attitudes and colors.

All the tracks are worth listening to and are completely varied but still cohesive. Standouts are the Kid Creole and Coati Mundi tracks, which put early Talking Heads into perspective, Suicide's "Cheri" (sexy Jesus & Mary style dirge), and DNA's post punk freakout song Blond Redhead.

Check out the movie too. It's a brilliant, slightly cheesey and strange time capsule, more about mood and vibe than plot. The filmmakers were unwitting witnesses to the last great art movement in NYC.