Various Artists - Livin' The Night Life (80s New York Garage Classics) (2009) Backbeats 001 - Rare Soul/Garage (mp3)

This was the debut album on the backbeat labels short history. For those who were not around back in the 1980,s ,or just asleep, Garage music was named after the Paradise Garage, where resident Soul DJ Larry Levan held court in New York. The garage sound was born in New York and across the river in New Jersey as disco morphed into house music. More spacious and synthetic than disco, yet more soulfully musical than later house, it's a best of both worlds sound. If you enjoyed the 20 volume streetsounds series i posted a while back then you,ll love this...or not. Here's an unexpected complement to the compilations that celebrate Paradise Garage DJ and remixer Larry Levan such as Journey into Paradise: The Larry Levan Story and Classic West End Records Remixes (1999) which were 3 x LP,s..and i do have them if anybody wants me to upload just ask, though it is very time consuming ripping Vinyl. This album does not contain any of the tracks from that set and boasts some of best post disco/pre house singles from the decade, including Young & Company's "I Like (What You're Doing to Me)," Cultural Vibe's "Ma Foom Bay (Love Chant Mix)," Sleeque's "One for the Money," and the Class Action version of "Weekend" (more electronic-oriented than the Phreek version heard on Journey into Paradise). Serious collectors likely have most of what's here, but newcomers will be knocked out by just about everything, especially if you like the streetsounds series.

AMM

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