Joey Negro | In the House
Defected | 3CD
Dave Lee's disco-soaked excursions under the moniker Joey Negro will be instantly familiar to anyone who's sweated the night away in a club over the last decade. As Jakatta his 'American Dream' reprised the theme from Sam Mendes' 'American Beauty', re-inventing it as an energetic house classic. His other aliases are too extensive to list, but read like a 'Who's Who' of house music's evolution.
'In the House' features two filled-to-capacity CDs (plus a bonus CD+) positively dripping with Lee's Joey Negroâ„¢ disco-house.
A careful blend of the old and the new, Lee rubs up classics (Steve 'Silk' Hurley's timeless Club Mix of Shay Jones' 'Are You Gonna Be There') with contemporary gems (Rebirth's 'Evil Vibrations' which cleverly repurposes the lyrics of De La Soul's 'Saturday'). En route, Lee weaves together an eclectic mix of classics from a startlingly diverse range of sources, not least incorporating a Joey Negro Edit of Roxy Music's 'Angel Eyes', shrouded in echo and let loose over a pulsating beat.
The synthesiser flourishes of Jon Cutler's 'It's Yours' are Lee in pure Joey Negro territory, remixing the track with the addition of rippling cascades that shimmer like glistening beads of sweat on top of a smouldering rhythm section.
The bonus CD+ rounds out the package in generous fashion with six, unmixed 'Joey Negro Edits' and extensive sleeve notes that underline Lee's encyclopedic knowledge of house music and its seemingly endless derivatives.
Essential.
[CM]
