Celebrating Johnny D’ Mario’s Henry Street Music comes this timely release some twenty years since the labels inception. And as if you needed reminding the imprint formed one of the key cornerstones of House Music in the 90’s with its importance still very much reverberating today. To put that in some context this compilation amounts to a total of five cd’s packed full of epic, hard-hitting grooves that have certainly secured the test of time. The who’s who of producers from the era all deliver with music from the likes of Jonick, DJ Sneak, DJ Duke, Ralphi Rosario, plus Norty Cotto and many more all remaining vital. The label was happily never about just the one rhythm either with hot disco cut-up’s sitting opposite soulful Garage styled vocals, amid Armand van Helden’s inescapable workouts like ‘The Funk Phenomena’ plus E-Smoove’s emotive party-time arrangements in the next corner. But of course the story wouldn’t be complete without Kenny Dope’s seminal The Bucketheads ‘The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)’ to set the scene, now would it.
5 out of 5
Reviewed by Greg Fenton
{http://soundcloud.com/bbemusic/sets/20-years-of-henry-street}
