'CHOICE' CDs

[QUINNY]

I can't tell you how disappointed I've been with the two 'Choice' CDs I've obtained by Danny Krivit and Frankie Knuckles.

There was nothing from the suppliers to say that these CDs were mixed and therein lies my biggest bone of contention.

The choice of material on both CDs is reasonably good, though it would have been soooo much better without the mixing. Is it just me, or does anyone else around here finf the mixing skills of both Krivit and Knuckles leave a lot to be desired? I'd have thought that they did these in a controlled envoironment and would have put quite a bit of time into them, but some of the mixes are truly awful. Only the odd one has made me say to myself "hmmm, that was well done."

Any comments about these two CDs or any of the others in the series?

[discolady75]

the Francois Kervokian's choice cd is unmixed and pretty good.

i found the mixed selection of Frankie Knukkles quite nice. it is so rare to hear stomping underground disco mixed on a cd. neverthless, I agree u, they could put a mixed and unmixed part like in Disco Forever 's Dimitri from paris.

the trouble is that we have great collections, but no $$$€€€ to pay rights to sell officially a compilation... so the same ones come back. And real good cds remain very close to awfully famous djs personnal tastes.

got any tips to create a compilation without paying to much ??

[conor l]

I thought the mixing on the first knuckles cd was excellent for the most part. The only drawback being he probably cant do it that good live in a club.

I have to say though quinny, you must be mixing better than bobby viteritti and jim burgess combined to be thinking that knuckles mixing is shite on that cd

Danny Krivit never did a choice cd btw

[QUINNY]

I thought the mixing on the first knuckles cd was excellent for the most part. The only drawback being he probably cant do it that good live in a club.

I have to say though quinny, you must be mixing better than bobby viteritti and jim burgess combined to be thinking that knuckles mixing is shite on that cd

Danny Krivit never did a choice cd btw

My mistake :oops: Grass Roots, Choice the basic premise of both is the same.

There is one good mix on the Knuckles first (Old, Old School) CD, IMO. The rest are very average and even poor for something that was produced under 'perfect' conditions, presumably using Pro Tools or similar. Gawd, one or two of 'em clash sonically and the actual programming is rather suspect at times, don't you think, going from a strong 8/4 boogie feel to a more funky 2/4 feel and then back to an 8/4 track? I didn't appreciate Billy Who @ +5 neither. No, he commits the cardinal sin of leaving the mix going after it's happened (messy) and not mixing to natural crescendos within the records concerned (the most obvious ones being vocal entries). That's realtively poor mixing by anybody's standards.

Also, I don't call mixing out on the beginning of the 9th bar in a 16 bar sequence particularly clever, especially when the match would have been better 8 bars before. In a totally live situation that could be forgiven, but.....perhaps I ought to teach some of you guys mixing appreciation? :lol: :lol: :lol:

[RetroRuss]

but.....perhaps I ought to teach some of you guys mixing appreciation? :lol: :lol: :lol:

And your daily rate is........??????

Seriously, though I haven't heaard the Choice CD's but have heard other commercial mixes & I'm usually not impressed. Yesterday I was mucking about with some House tunes for the first time & mixing these tunes is easy - I was also overlaying some disco, so now understand why so many house producers love the music.

What is important, which I think a lot of these DJ's fail to grasp is that with Disco, some tracks go well together & others don't. With variable speed decks it's relatively straightforward to get the 'beat' in sync but if the tunes don't go then your dancefloor/vibe dies.

[billywho]

I have the Choice CDs by Frankie Knuckles, Francois K, Danny Tenaglia and Tony Humphries. I can't comment on the mixing because I'm no expert, but overall I'm very pleased with the choice of music, and they've introduced me to songs I perhaps otherwise wouldn't have encountered.

The first time I heard Convertion's "Let's Do It" and BumbleBee Unlimited's "Love Bug" was on a friend's Knuckles Choice CD during a car journey. I was bowled over after hearing these two tracks for the first time, and bought the CD for myself the next day.

Tenaglia's second CD has an incredible edit of Hugh Masekela's "Don't Go Lose It Baby", another track I hadn't heard until I bought this CD. In fact the "On The Floor", "Don't Go Lose It Baby", "Give Me Your Love" sequence is wonderful.

On the Danny Krivit theme, I recently bought "Edits By Mr K (the original Rare Disco Edits)", though I noticed it first came out over a year ago. Anyone think this is any good? Being a big Midney fan I like the version of Caress's "Catch The Rhythm", repetitive though it is...

[Davicillo]

I have seen some excellent track listing's for compilation CD's out recently and when you read the finer notes you find out thet the bloody thing is mixed! Now, i'm not moaning about the mixing but do some record companys think that everybody wants them mixed. One comes to mind and that's the Dimitri in Paris 'Playboy' CD's. Granted well mixed but it would be nice to have them as stand out tracks alone.

[billywho]

Yep you're right - you have to be careful. I'd prefer non-mixed to mixed any time. I tried for ages (with eventual success) to find an unmixed version of La Pregunta's "Shangri-La" after hearing it mixed on the first Playboy Mansion CD. I was very pleased when Grandmaster Flash used the "paradise is very nice" bit in an old-school mix he did at the Brunel Rooms in Swindon a couple of years ago.

[thommy2458]

It seems that if you are
looking for something
unmixed,it's because you
want to mix them up
yourself,no? At least,thats the only reason why I would buy
the Cd and the vinyl.
Personally,I like to hear
a DJ that knows his way
around a classic to mix-
because I know how hard it is for me!My mixing
of classics is usually
for my ears only-and even the I wince visably.
But,I love the Choice CD's(I stopped after Tony Humphries though)
and Danny Krivit can do
no wrong in my eyes.The
Grassroots cd is a huge
favorite and the edits lp
is perfect for mixing
vinyl classics(especially my less than graceful attempts)
Thom

[Davicillo]

No, not really. Some people just want to replace there old 12" version with a CD quality version. Finding mint (original!!!) 12" nowadays is like gold dust.

[SandraDee]

Anyone think this is any good? Being a big Midney fan I like the version of Caress's "Catch The Rhythm", repetitive though it is...

To be blunt I think it sucks big time. I'd never heard of Danny Krivit before but lots of people here seem to think he's wonderful so I bought this CD & I just think it was a total waste of money. Why do these DJ/mixer types think they can just mess around with classic tracks all the time? I've said it before & I'll say it again - there should be a preservation order placed on records where they can't be touched by DJ/mixers! :evil: As a famous Mancunian pop star once sang - Hang The DJ! :lol:

[SandraDee]

Oh & while I'm ranting about these over-rated, over-paid 'top' DJ/mixer chappies, that f---ing Shep Pettibone twonk really gets on my tits! :evil: Every remix of his that I've ever heard really stinks; he just seems to mess about with good music unnecessarily IMO. I'm now going to go & play lots of fabulous untouched classic disco with no famous remixers in sight!

[billywho]

Oh & while I'm ranting about these over-rated, over-paid 'top' DJ/mixer chappies, that f---ing Shep Pettibone twonk really gets on my tits! :evil: Every remix of his that I've ever heard really stinks; he just seems to mess about with good music unnecessarily IMO. I'm now going to go & play lots of fabulous untouched classic disco with no famous remixers in sight!

Didn't Shep Pettibone do a half decent mix of BB&Q's Dreamer?

After reading this thread I had a nagging feeling that one of the Choice CDs wasn't particularly good, and, after some selective listening, Tony Humphries won the prize. Hardly anything on his CD gives me a good feeling. Too much of it is very average stuff from the "deep house/garage" era (I seem to remember this is strangely common to the other Choice CDs as well).

I think I must have got the wrong impression about Humphries. I'd assumed he was associated with the early 80s era (Prelude and suchlike), but from a quick biography on the net it seems that his "golden age" was the mid to late 80s, and he appears to be much more associated with house and garage music than I'd imagined. So maybe I can forgive him his choice of songs, but, in retrospect, for me that era wasn't very interesting. I find a lot of the soulful deep house/garage stuff from those times pretty boring, though I admit I liked them (a lot!) at the time.

A lot of house music has aged badly, but, in contrast, early 80s disco funk sounds as fresh as ever.

[SandraDee]

A lot of house music has aged badly, but, in contrast, early 80s disco funk sounds as fresh as ever.

You are so right billywho. I listened recently to Sharon Browne's 'I Specialise In Love' from '81(US)/'82(UK) & it still sounds fabulous but something like Chanelle's 'One Man' from '89 sounds quite dated & limp.

[billywho]

A lot of house music has aged badly, but, in contrast, early 80s disco funk sounds as fresh as ever.

You are so right billywho. I listened recently to Sharon Browne's 'I Specialise In Love' from '81(US)/'82(UK) & it still sounds fabulous but something like Chanelle's 'One Man' from '89 sounds quite dated & limp.

Exactly. Two excellent examples.