zach's keep or sell

[zach]

over the years i've bought and sold a lot of library records, and kind of wish i had better documented what i once had. all the years of collecting and downsizing have left me with this little chunk of library music. as life goes, i just moved to a new place again and did a massive purge of my record collection, selling several hundred of them in the hopes of not being consumed by my collection. with all that being said, i've now come to the library records in this recent round of downsizing. some of these i do listen to regularly, and others i haven't picked up to play in over a decade, but for whatever reason felt inclined to hold on to for all these years. in this thread i'm going to go through them and finally narrow them down to just absolute favourites. i may even keep all of them i don't know haha.

anyway, i'm gonna go pull something to play and report back soon.

[Fuzi]

[zach]

Music for Dancefloors: The KPM Music Library (2013):



first one i pulled off the shelf is the biggest, and most recent. it's a 2-LP compilation of kpm, Themes and others. i got this for christmas at the time mostly for 'Funky Express' as i couldn't afford the original kpm record. i think it's a good collection of tracks but half of it isn't really my taste. starts off strong with three great tracks. 'That's What Friends Are For (vocal version)', then possibly my favourite in 'Unlimited Love', and then 'Funky Express'. i wish there there were a couple other disco tracks on here but it's really just the one. the real clunkers on here for me are the latin and reggae tracks. and outside of 'Crash Course' the whole d-side is a pass for me. i completely forgot that this thing comes with CDs too. the one disc is live versions from a jazz club. while it was fun to listen to once i doubt i'd ever listen to those again.

     

if i could afford some of the original records i'd probably sell this now. but considering this'll be the only physical way of playing my two favourite tracks on here i'll be putting it back on the shelf.

verdict: KEEP!

[Retronic]

This is a fun idea. 
The Strut KPM Dancefloors has tracks that were originally licensed on Studio One, Conroy LPs so when this came out I was a bit confused.  The KPM library is huge and you could pick 20-30 absolutely killer tracks but I guess it's about balance and personal taste.  Worth a keep though.
What's next off the shelf?

[nidostar]

Thanks for this critique @zach. I have the 2-CD version of this album which i bought a few years back in one of the few remaining record shops in Brighton (UK). I agree it's definitely a keeper. I found it interesting that it features a number of lesser know tracks from the KPM library as well as others as Retro has said. But they're all good.

For me the KPM All Stars live recordings from April 2000 took the music to a whole different level. I found it great to hear the "team" immersing themselves into what I would call KPM's Greatest Hits. I'm not usually a fan of live recordings but this whole side had me cheering along with the rest of the audience.

I'm looking forward to your next choice.

[zach]

thanks guys! yeah as you both mentioned the selection is indeed a bit odd. and i'm buying it for the 'kpm library' and i'm listening to the first track going wait a minute haha.

was looking at the discogs listing and it looks like the original vinyl release has different tracks towards the end. and that they put out some other ones, Chappell, Bosworth, etc.

[zach]

Bruton Music - Disco Happening (1978):



after shovelling snow all day in this terrible weather, it's time to relax with a record. looked at the shelf and thought oh yeah this is a great one, gotta play this. always liked stuff from the Bruton library, and this one was solid enough throughout for me to buy. a lot of library records feel disjointed with differing styles, but this one flows very nicely. a classic porno record, always hearing stuff from this. funky disco all over. it's hard to pick a favourite, 'Disco Partners', 'Disco Stepping', 'Itchy Funk' and 'Soul Stomp' are all so good! wasn't a hard choice for the verdict on this one.



verdict: KEEP!

[Retronic]

I discovered this one in a weird way. ‘Funky Feeling’ was used in Prisoner Cell Block H a lot.  I watched an old Girls On Top in the mid 1990’s and heard it on there so called the production company who were local and got the track name.  I happened to be in London later that week and spotted it in a Record & Tape Exchange and got it straight away.  This was in my early days of collecting before I understood cataloguing, how old vinyl records related to CDs with the same tracks on etc.   I also had this out at the weekend looking for old 60’s soul sounds.   The title ‘Northern Soul’ isn’t what you’d hope.   

[zach]

yeah this one seemed to be in heavy rotation all over. wow that's wild. haha oh yeah i hear ya, been burned many a time with 'disco' in titles.

[Lord Thames]

For many people, Northern Soul is indelibly associated with Barry Took:

I was looking for that track for ages for just that reason, and as soon as I heard it on the shop record player, that album was in my bag!

The Music For Dancefloors Bosworth selection is even more baffling, as literally half of it wasn't even Bosworth...

[KPMPK1001]

For many people, Northern Soul is indelibly associated with Barry Took:

I was looking for that track for ages for just that reason, and as soon as I heard it on the shop record player, that album was in my bag!

The Music For Dancefloors Bosworth selection is even more baffling, as literally half of it wasn't even Bosworth...

The Music For Dancefloors series often incorporates music that isn't even from the library that is on the packaging for some reason. The Chappell version for instance features tracks from Peer International and Bruton.

[zach]

ha, always like to see what people associate the tracks with. yeah i don't think i'd seek out any other "Dancefloors".

[tonyc1971]

Still one of my faves. Like Retro, I remember Funky Feeling playing a few times on PCBH and as LT mentioned Northern Soul on the earlier series of Points of View programmes. Also, the album featured in full as part of S4C’s test card music prior to launch (Welsh fourth channel for those outside of the UK). Then there was Tracey Ullman’s Girls on Too comedy programme.  I often revisit this album. Definitely a keeper !
 

[zach]

awesome! yeah this is definitely one of the ones i always come back to as well.

[zach]

Golden Ring Records - Keep Fit (1975):



put this one on not really remembering the tunes, just recall some very light and breezy disco. there's a couple tracks that i like, 'Never Mind' and 'Touch And Go'. not really to keen on the waltz or samba tunes. most the record for me is just too fluffy and doesn't really grip me. there's some other Werner Drexler releases put out later on with Happy Records that i much prefer, like stuff on Imaginations. i think this is just a little too early for my tastes with this style. i did find myself replaying those two tracks a couple times actually, but i think we've found the first one i'm going let go of.



verdict: SELL!