There are so many reasons to acquire Joey Negro’s latest foray into the backstreets. His quality threshold is incredibly high, and here he assembles 25 of the very best rarities and classics in the genre from the 1980s, the culmination of eight years’ research and licensing! The press release points out that well over half of the album is driven by the ‘classic slapped bass-driven Brit Funk sound’ enjoyed by Touchdown, Rick Clarke and Savana, but that’s all fine when the examples are as good as the ones picked out here – you’d go a long way to beat Touchdown’s ‘Ease Your Mind’. Janet Kay’s ‘Eternally Grateful’ and Veira Krew’s ‘Sexy Lady’ also cast their spell, as does the utterly brilliant ‘Got To Have You’ from The Antilles. To finish, the jazz-infused ‘Final Approach’ from I.C.Q. is one of many exclusives found here, part of a compilation that shows how synths kept Britain’s funk quotient at a hugely appealing level. It’s another Joey Negro smasher.
Ben Hogwood
5 out of 5
https://www.zrecords.ltd.uk/product-detail///Z+Records/Various+Artists/Backstreet+Brit+Funk+Vol.2+compiled+by+Joey+Negro/cd/416
VARIOUS ARTISTS – BACKSTREET BRIT FUNK VOL.2 COMPILED BY JOEY NEGRO – Z RECORDS
