Various Artists - Backstreet Brit Funk Vol.2 Compiled by Joey Negro (2018)ZR - Rare Soul/Funk/Jazz/Latin/Disco

Volume 2 had been eight years in the making and continues to showcase the best of the genres from the late 70s to early 80s, compiled once again by Joey Negro. The fact that it took eight years for Volume 2 to see the light of day is a testament to both the obscurity of the records included, and the logistical challenges involved in digitising what started life as vinyl-only releases, with only a handful of 12”s remaining in some cases. “I hadn’t planned a Volume 2 of BSBF when putting together the first, but after a while, I started to wonder if there was potential for a follow-up. Over the past 8 years I’ve kept my ears peeled for interesting UK productions that for some reason hadn’t come to my attention before.” said Joey Negro.  It’s incredible how Rare some of the records included on Vol.2 are and how diverse the sounds become. Though well over half the album’s material comes from the likes of Touchdown, Rick Clarke and Savanna which have the classic slapped bass-driven Brit-Funk sound that many will be familiar with, acts like Mercy Mercy, AD 2000 and Veira Crew were releasing a little later in the scene’s evolution, employing drum machines and resulting in more synth-based records. Paul Bailey Sound and Eastbound Expressway were earlier acts, experimenting with the disco sound, whilst ICQ is a classic early 80s UK jazz dance cut that’s never been released beyond the original white/green label. So, by mid-2016, Joey finally felt there were enough tracks worthy of a second volume and the long slow, process of tracking down the acts and label owners began. This album contains some of the stuff that came out and some that slipped between the cracks for whatever reason, so if you dig the Brit-Funk sound and want to hear a few more tracks you’ve maybe not come across before, you’ve come to the right place. As always with ZR compilations a lot of time and effort has been spent on creating these masters from the original vinyl resulting in the cleanest sounding copy possible. As with Volume 1 these CD,s are getting harder to track down.

AMM

                                                                         The Taster!

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