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Album Details |
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| Mojo Club: Dancefloor Jazz Volume 7 (Compilation) - 1965-1978 |
Label: Motor 565 195-2 (Germany)
Format: CD
My rating: 7/10
Entered: 11/04/2002
Last updated: 11/04/2002
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Search on GEMM |  | I discovered the 'Mojo club' series of compilations, named after a club in Hamburg, via online music sharing services. Searching for various Brasilian and soul songs, I noticed many of the filenames were prefaced by 'Mojo club'. So I splashed out and bought this volume from Dusty Groove.
Unfortunately for me, by coincidence, this volume has three (admittedly great) tracks that I already had. There's a whole Brasilian progression, featuring Elis Regina's 'Mundo deserto', Walter Wanderley's 'sambao', and Astrud Gilberto's 'nao bate o coracao'.
Still, there are some nuggets on the rest of the compilation. The general theme is danceable, soulful pop. As you might have figured, this isn't in the mainstream of my taste, so needless to say, there are some tracks that I like a lot more than others. Perhaps the real revelation for me on this compilation is just how good the Love Unlimited Orchestra are. The track included here, 'strange games & things,' may be familiar to many, but it was new to me, and I couldn't believe how great those thick strings sound with a disco beat behind them! Fantastic stuff.
There's quite a bit of 'beaty' material on here. 'El soul condor' by Certain Lions and Tigers is great, as is Manu Dibango's 'wouri'.
I can live without Marvin Gaye's 'calypso blues', but Mary Lou Williams's 'Praise the lord' is a lot of fun, with a jerky, jivey beat and a superb gospel voiceover, with the refrain' come on and clap your hands now.'
The compilation closes with Michel Legrand's 'Maracaibo,' a superb and upbeat 60s big band soul number, very much in the vein of Quincy Jones's 'Soul bossa nova'.
This is a fun compilation; slightly too soul-oriented for my taste, but very enjoyable all the same. There are 10+ volumes in the series, and I suspect all are well worth picking up. |
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