Search - Junior Vasquez :: Live, Vol. 1

Don't sweep this one under the carpet!!

01/15/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This CD will "turn you out!" While not as realisticly "clubby" as Vol. 2, Vol. 1 has a an experience unto itself. What's that? --Well it's the adventure of going through shrieking and sexy jungles of drums and falling airliners. Each song spends a while in the trance room and at the end of the hall you find great celebs/artists like Cyndi Lauper, Annie Lennox, KD Lang, and Cher ready to pounce. Junior has the mindful ability to take the utterly "pop" sounds of a vocal artist and stir a macabre mixture that haunts the soul. The music he mixes becomes his own stringy, sultry, dark-eyed child, whether "pop" or otherwise. Cyndi Lauper's "Come on Home" is a painfully emmotional drum'n'bass concoction with horrific sounds that seem to hint to Brainbug's "Nightmare" one year later. Joi Cardwell's "Reap" is a good and yet chilling reminder of her live late-nite performances. Her relentless voice complements one of the strongest basslines I've ever heard --both of which makes this classic one of the best-- as the roots of "House" music are clearly heard. (You can lose yourself in this CD. It's great for the subway -people really wonder what's got into you)."

Classic Junior

J. Ken Stuckey | Boston, Massachusetts USA | 03/27/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This CD inaugurates a very useful formula that Junior replicates in later releases: the two-CD set that starts as primarily underground nonvocal tracks and ends with vocal anthems. Disk One does contain some vocals (such as "Wombo Lombo," a great song that very usefully builds on the energy left in the wake of the utter classic "Dream Drums"), and Disk Two does contain a fair amount of nonvocal gems (including the exquisite "Clear" by Sonny Campbell). But this set would be worth getting if for no more reason than to revisit the stylings of the late, great Vicki Sue Robinson on her anthem "House of Joy." The Annie Lennox track and Kama Sutra's "Storm in My Soul" are also excellent. Both CDs lose substance by the last track or two, but you will have gotten more than your nickel's worth by then."