DiscoMusic.com » Disco Music CDs » CDs Various » Mixed With Love - The Walter Gibbons Salsoul Anthology
Mixed With Love - The Walter Gibbons Salsoul Anthology
Various Artists (3 CD box set)
Salsoul - Suss'd (UK) / 2004 / SALSA CD 015
Box Set - 3 CDs in slim-line cases with separate 40 pg. booklet all inside a slipcase
All selections mixed by Walter Gibbons
Compiled by Jeremy Newall and Ian Dewhirst
CD One - The Madness Begins...
- Ten Percent (12" Mix) (9.56) / Double Exposure
- Block Party (12" Mix) (5.47) / Anthony White
- Catch Me On The Rebound (12" Mix) (10.47) / Loleatta Holloway
- Just As Long As I Got You (12" Mix) (8.41) / Love Committee
- It's Good For The Soul ("Disco Madness" Album Remix) (7.07) / The Salsoul Orchestra
- Let No Man Put Asunder ("Disco Madness" Album Remix) (4.43) / First Choice
- Love Is Finally Coming My Way (12" Mix) (6.20) / True Example
- We're Getting Stronger (The Longer We Stay Together) (7.23) / Loleatta Holloway
- Cheaters Never Win (12" Mix) (7.55) / Love Committee
- I Wish That I Could Make Love To You (Album Mix) (6.08) / Double Exposure
CD Two - The Madness Continues...
- Nice N' Naasty (12" Mix) (5.25) / The Salsoul Orchestra
- Hit And Run (12" Mix) (11.10) / Loleatta Holloway
- My Love Is Free ("Disco Madness" Album Remix) (4.54) / Double Exposure
- As Long As You Love Me (12" Mix) (5.35) / True Example
- Catch Me On The Rebound - Instrumental (12" Mix) (7.22) / The Salsoul Orchestra
- Can't Turn You Loose (12" Mix) (5.39) / Anthony White
- Ten Percent ("Disco Madness" Album Remix) (7.07) / Double Exposure
- Law And Order (12" Mix) (9.35) / Love Committee
- Ice Cold Love (Album Mix) (6.12) / Double Exposure
- Where Will It End (12" Mix) (7.41) / Love Committee
CD Three - Total Insanity...
- Salsoul 3001 (12" Mix) (6.46) / The Salsoul Orchestra
- Moon Maiden (12" Mix) (8.51) / Luv You Madly Orchestra
- (Dance With Me) Let's Believe (12" Mix) (8.45) / Cellophane
- Catch Me On The Rebound ("Disco Madness" Album Remix) (7.20) / Loleatta Holloway
- Rocket Rock (12" Mix) (4.23) / Luv You Madly Orchestra
- Magic Bird Of Fire ("Disco Madness" Album Remix) (8.04) / The Salsoul Orchestra
- (Super Queen (12" Mix) (9.30) / Cellophane
- Stand By Your Man (12" Mix) (7.47) / Robin Hooker Band
- Your Cheatin' Heart (12" Mix) (9.28) / Robin Hooker Band
Mixed With Love - The Walter Gibbons Salsoul Anthology is an excellent compilation of Walter Gibbons' mixes for the Salsoul label. Possibly one of the more prolific mixers of the disco era, known for his at the time eccentric, out-the-box mixing style. Considering that it's common for labels today to commission remixes that radically alter the original, Walter Gibbons was really a pioneer in remixing. Overall this set has an eclectic selection featuring some Salsoul staples such as Double Exposure, Loleatta Holloway, Love Committee and all the way to the more obscure like Cellophane, Luv You Madly Orchestra and country-disco from the Robin Hooker Band..
The artwork and layout is impressive as is the 40 page booklet, with very extensive liner notes by Tim Lawrence (author of "Love Saves The Day") featuring quotes from Tom Moulton, Ken Cayre and Jellybean Benitez among others. Lawrence writes a very interesting account of Gibbons' life and his influence on disco and beyond. Quite possibly the closest thing to a Walter Gibbons biography out there. The sound quality is generally consistent throughout, even if there are some tracks mastered from vinyl, but only a few of those are noticeably so.
There really aren't any bad tracks on here - although I'm not crazy about Anthony White's "Can't Turn You Loose" or the country covers, Gibbons at times off-the-wall (see his mix of The Salsoul Orchestra's "It's Good For The Soul"), rhythmic style has it's own brilliance. Even if it only covers his Salsoul work, this set does a great job of highlighting Walter Gibbons' contributions and place in disco history. Mixed With Love - The Walter Gibbons Salsoul Anthology is highly recommended.
Buy from:
Amazon.com (US)
Amazon.co.uk (UK)
Submitted by neonlights (25)
This 3-disc anthology of Walter Gibbons' mixing work on the Salsoul label has its highs and lows. The highs were his mixes on soul-oriented cuts such as the stellar "Ten Percent" by Double Exposure and "Catch Me On The Rebound" by Loleatta Holloway. Gibbons' love for soul are best found here, along with cuts such as "Cheaters Never Win" by Love Committee and "Ice Cold Love" (also by Double Exposure). It's when he starts to experiment in the studio and deviate from soul that the lows set in. His re-working of "Magic Bird Of Fire" with the screeching male voice singing the title and telling the girls to "Sing it" is annoying and inferior to the orginal big-band, full-orchestral version. "Salsoul 3001" was probably the most ambitious project the Salsoul Orchestra ever attempted, and two additional inclusions of Holloway's "Catch Me On The Rebound" (an full-orchestral version without any hints that it was a disco record and a split-in-two version of his 10:48 masterpiece in which it begins in the middle of the record) could've been avoided. The third disc in this set shows Gibbons towards the end of his days at Salsoul, and not surprisingly, his production value was heading towards pure novelty. What could be more throwaway than discofied versions of "Stand By Your Man" and "Your Cheatin' Heart"? Amazingly, the former is quite catchy and addicitive, with its pulsating beat and pleasant arrangement makes you forget it's a Tammy Wynette song that's on, and the latter being an overblown piece of late 70's novelty disco that sadly was the harbinger of disco's fall from dominance. The two Cellophane songs are no better. "(Dance With Me) Let's Believe" has all the trappings of an Academy Awards song-and-dance skit (think "Dance Fever") and "Super Queen" has a vocalist that could give Denise LaPage (Lime) a run for her money. "Moon Maiden" by Luv You Madly Orchestra is decent enough, but it can't save the third and final disc in this series from being wretched.
This compilation could've been abridged heavily, leaving out the aforementioned filler and concentrating on the soul-oriented cuts that are the hallmarks of the Salsoul sound.