Venus Tribe - Slow Down - (2002)

So Urban Records - 673192 2

Re-Upping this classic piece of UK R&B

Any track produced by Dodge will automatically carry the Soul Vendor seal of approval, as the man really can do no wrong, and Slow Down is a perfect example of this.

A really cool slice of UK R&B soul released in 2002, this should have made more of an impact than it did. I dig the cheeky lil' Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians sample, evoking brand Nubians' classic Slow Down (see Love Thang by Intro for a different sample from that track).

Vocals are on point and courtesy of Dianne Joseph ("Di"), formerly of the UK R&B group Truce, who also supplied the excellent vocals for Drum & Bass dance-floor destroyer Shake Ur Body (the single release of which also carried a Venus Tribe mix which turned it from D&B to R&B - and which I posed on here a few days ago).

The Original Mix is such a classic that it is hard to look beyond it, but Tash (from one of my favourite West Coast Hip-Hop groups Tha Alkaholiks) brings his trademark flow to the w/Rap version, for two verses, which is otherwise the same.

The script gets flipped on the Bigshot Radio Mix, which is a full vocal UK Garage track with a nice enough vibe and decent bassline, if that's your thang.

However, there will be no prizes for guessing where my preference lays. Original styley!

In Dodge we trust.

Peace and luvizm x

Tracklist

1. Slow Down (Original mix) 
2. Slow Down (Original w/Rap Feat. Tash from Tha Liks) 
3. Slow Down (Bigshot Radio Mix) 
4. Slow Down (Vox) - BONUS alternate cut taken from Street Beats Vol 12 Series 4

Download : VT-SD.7z Filesize: 41.060MB

Shy FX & T Power - Shake Ur Body - UK CDS - (2002)

Positiva ‎– CDTIV 171, Positiva ‎– 7243 5 50693 0 6

I love it when my underground music blows up into the mainstream and enjoys some well deserved success - and here is a great example of just that that.

Shy FX and T Power are both legendary in their own rights as producers on the Drum & Bass scene, but together they were spectacular! They dropped classics such as this track and later, Feelings, which is to follow. They put out two fantastic albums and served up a bunch of wicked cuts for the raving crew.

Featuring the fabulous vocals of the hugely talented Dianne Joseph (Truce, Venus Tribe), and a nice latin inspired groove, they knocked this one out of the park.

I always lean more into the full length versions rather than radio edits, so I'd say jump right into the Original Mix.

However, if you're not feeling Drum & Bass, there is a UK Garage mix courtesy of Sunship (AKA Ceri  Evans from The Brand New Heavies), and, even better, The DJ Dodge produced Venus Tribe Mix (Di also supplied the sublime vocals for the Venus Tribe project), bringing you some tasty R&B vibes.

Tracklist

1. Shake Ur Body (Radio Edit)
2. Shake Ur Body (Original Mix)
3. Shake Ur Body (Sunship Vocal Mix)
4. Shake Ur Body (Venus Tribe Mix)

Discogs page

Download: SFXTP-SUB.7z | Filesize: 38.2MB

Beverley Knight - Get Up! - CD1 & CD2 - (2001)

Parlophone ‎– CDRS 6564, Parlophone ‎– 7243 5 50038 2 9

Beverley Knight, MBE (born Beverley Anne Smith; 22 March 1973) is a UK soul singer and, latterly, musical theatre actress who released her debut album, The B-Funk, in 1995. Knight has released eight studio albums to date and is widely lauded as one of Britain's greatest soul singers. 

Get Up (along with Made It Back) is one of my fave tracks from our Bev and is presented here for your delectation in all its 2-disc glory.


The Original version is best, obvs, The Middle Row Mix is a nice garage re-lick, if that's your ting blud.

The So Solid Mix doesn't really do much for me, but your mileage may vary.

Tracklist CD1

1. Get Up! (Original Version)
2. Get Up! (Middle Row Mix)
3. Get Up! (So Solid Crew Mix)

============

On Disc 2, the Original version gets another airing, along with tracks Never Too late and What If? Both of which are very nice and well worth a spin. Better than your everage filler tracks.

Tracklist CD2

1. Get Up!
2. Never Too Late
3. What If?

Download: BK-GU.7z Filesize: 54.4MB

Lynden David Hall - Forgive Me (UK CD1 & CD2) - (2000)

EMI Records/Cooltempo, 12COOL346 

"This one's fresh, this one's a brand new (brand new) check the mic a one-two..."

Following on from our boy José Manuel aka Alifunk, sharing the Promo CD for "Forgive Me" with us and my subsequent rip of the 12", I present to you here the official two CD release.

CD 1 is acceptable enough and a contains a radio edit of the D-influence Mix as well as the album version, alongside a non album track Love U I Do. Not bad at all but it gets better.

Where this really comes to life is CD 2. We kick off with the un-edited full majesty of the D-Influence remix and it is SMOKIN'! Check out that gorgeous intro. Mmmm!

Next up, we have the excellent Ignorants Club Mix, which is a full length version of their mix on the promo CD supplied by Alifunk - I really dig this mix, the original is straight up soul but this one is for the Hiphop/R&B heads, and really hits the spot. Truly a headnodder.

Lastly, the piece de resistance here are the two mixes by Artful Dodger. They supply both a full Vocal remix and a Dark Dub, the latter of which was MASSIVE back in the day, and still sounds great. I know it's blasphemy, but I think prefer this to the full vocal mix. I remember shaking my booty in the clubs to this when it came out, and it would absolutely destroy dance-floors. An true killer UK garage track.

I know garage won't be everyone's tastes, so if they ain't your particular cup of tea, between the original soul flava, and the other three there will be something here for us all. There's not a bad version of this track.

This post is dedicated to the memory of our very own Lynden David Hall, who we all miss terribly, and with utmost respect to his family. Lynden had all the talent in the world and should have blown up huge. He was taken from us us far too soon yet leaves a legacy of some amazing music. I wonder what great songs we would have had if he was still with us. We will never know now.

Peace and Love.

CD1 Tracklist

1. Forgive Me (D-Influence Radio Mix) 
2. Forgive Me (Album version) 
3. Love U I Do

CD2 Tracklist

1. Forgive Me (D-Influence 12" Mix) 
2. Forgive Me (Ignorants Club) 
3. Forgive Me (Artful Dodger Vocal) 
4. Forgive Me (Artful Dodger Dark Dub) 

Download : LDH-FM.7z | Filesize: 68.3MB