The Music Is So Beautiful
Various Artists
D1
The Music Is So Beautiful is a sampler of the D1 music label, and man, I wish I agreed with its title. Unfortunately, too much of the label’s debut release strikes me as standard dance fare, with a couple of good tracks surrounded by entertaining fluff.
Though the first track is called “Unity,” and most are either written, produced or both by one man – D1 founder Peter McLean – the only really unifying factor is Our Good Friend the Incessant Beat.
Now I like O.G.F.T.I.B; welcomed from New York to London and beyond, but I don’t let it move in with me unless I know it has more to offer. I’m afraid O.G.F.T.I.B. is a bit of a doormat, willing to lie with anyone who beckons it hither from Seal to Smash Mouth, but like most of us, it performs better when it feels loved and looked after.
A.J. Boland does a good job of that on his Love Buzz Dub of Lisa Hunt’s “Love Is The Drug.” The silky smooth “Erotic Moans (lead to) Erotic Zones” by D1 MC also puts an original spin on things. Although, I think there should be a moratorium on phone songs – unless, of course, they’re as smashing as “Name & Number” by Curiosity Killed the Cat. But I digress.
Willie Colon’s “Feel The Vibe” unites bubbly disco with a smooth surface sheen in a sound that reminds me of some of Naked Music’s more essential records. It even accessorizes well.
Some of this material has already been a hit in McLean’s native Australia, including the Grace Jones/Roxy Music cover and a surprisingly un-ambitious take on Fats Waller’s “The Joint Is Jumpin’.” Like more than some of the music on the collection, this song suffers from what I think of as the “suddenly the mixer goes for the Grammy!” syndrome, where they make the record stutter with increasing frequency until – they hope – it builds into kind of a white noise crescendo. This is the sort of thing you should only do maybe once every six tracks – and even that might be pushing it – but McLean and his collaborators are inordinately fond of the effect.
D1 Music: http://www.d1music.biz/
