Perhaps you might not make an immediate connection between House Music in 2014 and the early eighties Synth-Pop produced in Europe, aside of course the usual contenders. But that would be to do this particular duo aka Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe a disservice while missing out a couple of connecting dots. Their ‘Happy Families’ album from 1982 now gets a fresh update and comes complete with additional remixes for the new generation. Try ‘Feel Me’ with its nervous electronic funkiness for starters, the sassy syncopation of ‘Running Thin’, or the pop tones of the cool Arabic influenced ‘Living On The Ceiling’. The album has been replayed in its entirety to update it but whether you feel that improves upon the urgency of the originals is totally up to you. Remixes come from Greg Wilson and Derek Kaye’s smart reworking of ‘Feel Me’ which retains its smouldering grooves, Vince Clarke’s Techno imagining of ‘Living on…’, plus Komputer’s simmering versions of ‘Cruel’ and ‘God’s Kitchen’. It’s also well worth checking their live performances of some of these songs from 1982 on-line to join even more of those dots for yourself…
3 out of 5
Reviewed by Greg Fenton
