A few deserve a skip,
many deserve a repeat
Review by Shawn "Speedy" Lopes
slopes@starbulletin.comAs one of the world's most popular electronica imprints, Ministry of Sound has taken the inimitable experience of its 2,500-capacity, 24-hour London mega-nightclub into bedrooms and automobiles across the map with its impressive catalog of futuristic dance music.
"Club Nation America Volume Two"
Mixed by Al B. Rich
Ministry of Sound/MCA
This two-CD set is Ministry of Sound's latest effort to expand its global empire to the shores of the United States. New York deejay Al B. Rich is tabbed as compiler for this collection of house, trance and garage tracks, and he wastes no time in getting the party started with Englishman Daniel Bedingfield's "Gotta Get Thru This," an inventive rump-shaking number that straddles American R&B and Eurodisco by sprinkling melodic electronic blips over an infectious booty rhythm.
After a string of uninspired mainstream throwaways, the R&B theme is revisited several tracks later with Mary J. Blige's "No More Drama." While the song could easily be butchered by a bad remix, it's actually given a new glossy house sheen by Thunderpuss, and even with the sappy theme from "Love Story" as its hook, the mix is not without its moments.
Meanwhile, Mad'House, whose entire "career" is based on an album of Madonna remakes, exhibits about as much ambition as your average slipper-sporting, ukulele-strumming Jawaiian cover band. Their flimsy contribution, "Like a Prayer," (yes, that "Like a Prayer") is a sad retread that sounds even more plastic the second time around. What's more, disc two of "Club Nation America Volume Two" begins with DJ Sammy & Yano's trancey reworking of Bryan Adams' "Heaven." It's a gaudy track which should rank slightly higher on the embarrassment scale than a Madonna cover for any self-respecting artist, yet it has the creepy ability to grow on you with each spin. Go figure.
It's not as if the album is all bad, however. In fact, there are a number of gems in this compilation which make its purchase worth some consideration. Funky Green Dogs manage to rig the mood switch on "You Got Me (Burnin' Up)" to flit easily between the song's dark, rhythmic undercurrents and uplifting spiritual highs, and their on-point remix gives the album some genuine head-nodding power. Likewise for contributions by Alive, Frou Frou and "Can You Feel (What I'm Going Thru)" by Matt Schwartz and featured singer Sholan, whose breathy vocals recall a young Donna Summer in her "Love to Love You Baby" days.
Aside from the "buzzworthy" tag placed on Res' "They Say Vision" by MTV2 last year, the forward-thinking Philly songstress never got the airplay she deserved for one of the most daring, genre-bending singles of 2001. Every clueless radio program director in America slept on the track, but its re-emergence on this collection is evidence of its value to the international club scene, and with any luck, Robbie Rivera's vocal mix could give the song new life.
With 24 tracks to choose from, chances are anyone with at least a passing interest in electronica will find something worth getting into here. For those with more discerning ears, remember, technology can be a wonderful thing. It gave us the skip button on our CD players, after all.
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