VA – The M&M Mixes Vol 2 by John Morales (BBE)

There is no denying the skill and reputation of remixer and producer, John Morales. Listening to this second instalment of his work (we reviewed Volume 1 a long while back) it’s patently obvious his influence on the disco scene of the 80s is profound – we have remixes of Teddy Pendergrass’s ‘The More I Get’, Harold Melvin’s ‘Don’t Give Me Up’ and ‘Young Hearts Run Free’ from Candi Staton, all of which are exemplars of the music of that era. Our only worry, then, is that this LP is of a snapshot in time – a window into how the dance music of that decade was remixed and reworked to make it even more appealing to the dance floor. But you only have to look at what others are managing to do to similar tunes (cf. Dimitri From Paris, Tom Moulton), infusing them with a contemporary spin, to realise how far things have moved in such a short period of time. As a record of its time, though, this is a fine collection of top tunes – CD1 includes classic boogie, cult favourites featuring John’s first credited mix of Inner Life’s ‘Caught Up In A One Night Love Affair’, with CD2 showcasing unreleased remixes from the Salsoul catalogue. The influence of John Morales has been immense – from the Rolling Stones to Gloria Estefan, The Temptations to Hall and Oates, Aretha Franklin to BBE Records themselves (it was John’s remix of Universal Robot Bands boogie anthem, ‘Barely Breaking Evevn’, that inspired the name), and even today his remixing continues with the expanded versions of the Jackson 5 and Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson albums. For anyone that wants the definitive versions of the top disco tunes of the 80s, then this series is the one for you.’The M&M Mixes Vol. 2′ is released on BBE Records on 29th March 2011.

Listen / Buy Here:

> Soul Seduction

> Soundcloud (snippets)

> BBE Records

Listen to ‘The More I Get (M+M Remix)’ by Tenddy Pendergrass

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 12th, 2011 at 9:01 am. It is filed under Reviews and tagged with BBE, Candi Staton, Dimitri From Paris, Harold Melvin, Inner Life, John Morales, Teddy Pendergrass, Tom Moulton. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.