Best $9 I ever spent
Matthew J. Lilienfeld | Baltimore, MD USA | 05/09/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This compilation is a deal. The first disc contains Cloud One's two lp's and the second disc contains most of their associated singles. While not a complete discography, it's nearly everything recorded by Cloud One and is worth way more than the $9 it goes for at record stores. That is, of course, assuming you love Patrick Adams, Peter Brown, and/or soulful, synthy disco (which you should).
Cloud One were, as you may have guessed, more or less a facet of the Adams/Brown production machine and consisted of Patrick Adams and his backing band sans any string section, horn section or lead vocalists. On this album you will hear nothing but drums, bass, piano, vibes, guitar, synthesizers and the occasional backing vocals. The sound is uncluttered, but not nearly as cold and dry as say an Arthur Russell production. It's just a bit more low key and mellow than other, more famous Patrick Adams bands such as Musique or Phreek.
The melodies are extremely sweet and mostly in the major key and are enveloped by warm, Philly soulful harmonies. Even played at a disco pace, the overall feel is quite mellow, in part thanks to the understated drumming. These tracks are better suited to relaxing or reading than dancing in a club, but that's no detriment.
The two albums are mostly instrumental with a few "oohs" and "ahhs" here and there.
The 12" single versions of most of the songs are vocal versions and were therefore released under the names of the vocalists, but they are the same songs, more or less. The exception is "Patty Duke," which was released as both an instrumental track (included here) and as a rap track (which is fantastic and can be found on P&P's phenomenal "Super Rap" compilation).
The only drawback I can think of would be the fact that most of these songs are somewhat similar in craft and composition. If you like this style of music, you will love every song on here. If you don't like this style of music, you will find it repetitive. The inclusion of both instrumental and vocal versions may be a turn off so those who would prefer just one copy of the track, but since the set is so cheap, who cares? I personally like the vocal versions, but but the instrumentals are nice listening as well and make excellent sampling fodder/backing tracks for rap battles.
Long story short, if you like organic, mellow disco/soul with a touch of synthesizers, this double disc set will be the best $9 you ever spent."
