There are DJs and there are DJs… then there is DJ Spinna. The man born Vincent Williams was a celebrity DJ before the term was even coined and he achieved the status not with gimmickry and flash tricks but with his versatility, knowledge and sheer love and enthusiasm for music. This new double album which he’s picked and mixed is the first in a series that bbe records are devoting to Spinna and on it he goes back to his Brooklyn boogie roots. Boogie – street slang for soulful dance – is the music that Williams grew up with and here he selects a set of jams that boomed out of Brooklyn and into the world’s most discerning soulful dance arenas. The collection is built around 12 energy-fuelled foot tappers including South Bronx’s ‘The Bottom Line’, Chemise’s ‘She Can’t Love You’ and Ronnie Dyson’s ‘All Over Your Face’. Personal faves – as ever – will depend on the memories that hang with the music. I’ve always had a soft spot for Mtume and their ‘So You Wanna Be A Star’ is still a delight. Ditto, War’s ‘The World Is A Ghetto’ – here presented in a special ‘”US Disco Mix”. The set’s oddity is ‘Salsa Rhapsody’ from Modern Romance. In the context of this collection it doesn’t sound as twee and contrived as it did in 1981 and it makes Leyton sound almost as energized as Brooklyn (I did say “almost”!). Still, that’s the skill of Spinna. He can make the unexpected acceptable. The album comes with the twelve main cuts on an unmixed CD while for those who like their music seamless, the pack also includes a mixed disc.
(BB) 4/5
