Gilles Peterson Digs America: Brownswood U.S.A.

Gilles Peterson Digs America: Brownswood U.S.A.

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Gilles Peterson is of course one of very few dance, soul and funk-based musician/ DJs to have brought "world music" to a larger, dance-oriented audience without being cheesey about it. This is a pretty big deal, and has garnered Peterson comparisons to John Peel. His fan base is large, worldwide, and rabid. As you might guess by the title, the jazz, funk and soul tunes on this album were all compiled for the crate-digging Ubiquity label's Luv N' Haight series. These sixteen tunes are some of the rarest and heaviest Gilles was able to dig out of his Brownswood estate, a mini-mansion that holds nothing save Peterson's massive record collection. For funk fanatics and beat-seekers who don't have thousands of dollars laying around, this is pretty necessary. --Mike McGonigal

Product Description
This is the first in a series of "Digs" compilations raiding the record racks of some of the most outrageous music collections. Over the years, Peterson has delighted dance floors and listeners of his radio show (his weekly BBC Radio 1 show is syndicated worldwide) by joining the dots between musical styles and eras. His record collection is so serious he keeps it in a separate house known as Brownswood and his regular listeners are occasionally treated to a Brownswood Basement selection (where all the records are oldies, all are on vinyl, and none have been re-issued). This comp features some of the Brownswood Basement rarities from the US. Peterson selects and blends choice tracks from around the world, from swinging vocal jazz selections to ultra rare funk nuggets to sweet soul to super rare manic breakbeat funk. He's the listeners' listener and the collectors' collector. Comp includes liner notes, artist images, and quotes from Gilles. For fans of "Under The! Influence" and "Back To Mine" comps, Jazzman, and world psychedelic classics.

Tracks:

Didn't I - Dorando
Tribute To Wes - Moses Dillard
He Does It Better - Marya Josie
Ya Ya Cha Cha - Lonnie Hewlett And The Little Sister & Co.
Search For Inner Self - Jon Lucien
A Perfect day - Bobby Cole
Get Off The Ground - Baaska & Scavelli
Higher Ground - Ellen McIlwaine
Just As We - Caroline Peyton
Lover's Theme - Bob Cunningham
The Kingdom With You - Ira Sullivan
Just Me' N' You - JR Bailey
The Prayer - The World Experience Orchestra
Ode To Africa - Harold McKinney
47 X It's Own Weight - March Of The Goober Woobers
Cirlces - The Ensamble Al Salaam

Amazon.com

Gilles Peterson is of course one of very few dance, soul and funk-based musician/ DJs to have brought "world music" to a larger, dance-oriented audience without being cheesey about it. This is a pretty big deal, and has garnered Peterson comparisons to John Peel. His fan base is large, worldwide, and rabid. As you might guess by the title, the jazz, funk and soul tunes on this album were all compiled for the crate-digging Ubiquity label's Luv N' Haight series. These sixteen tunes are some of the rarest and heaviest Gilles was able to dig out of his Brownswood estate, a mini-mansion that holds nothing save Peterson's massive record collection. For funk fanatics and beat-seekers who don't have thousands of dollars laying around, this is pretty necessary. --Mike McGonigal

Album Description

This is the first in a series of "Digs" compilations raiding the record racks of some of the most outrageous music collections. Over the years, Peterson has delighted dance floors and listeners of his radio show (his weekly BBC Radio 1 show is syndicated worldwide) by joining the dots between musical styles and eras. His record collection is so serious he keeps it in a separate house known as Brownswood and his regular listeners are occasionally treated to a Brownswood Basement selection (where all the records are oldies, all are on vinyl, and none have been re-issued). This comp features some of the Brownswood Basement rarities from the US. Peterson selects and blends choice tracks from around the world, from swinging vocal jazz selections to ultra rare funk nuggets to sweet soul to super rare manic breakbeat funk. He's the listeners' listener and the collectors' collector. Comp includes liner notes, artist images, and quotes from Gilles. For fans of "Under The! Influence" and "Back To Mine" comps, Jazzman, and world psychedelic classics.

Customer Reviews:

A review for other rabid Gilles Peterson fans..........2006-10-31

I am one of the rabid fans the Amazon reviewer describes. Hooked by the Double CD version of INCredible, I set out to buy almost everything he's put out... which is quite a lot these days. When something new comes out, I desparetly wait for a review with one finger on the buy now button. As I don't have unlimited funds to splash into buying music, I appreciate the reviews so that I can spend my money on the best music possible. This one became available at a discount price, so I decided to nabbed it.

This particular CD is of unmixed rarer older Jazz tracks, and as the other reviewer says, 'Some you'll love, some you'll like, and some are completely disposable' is I think by far the most appropriate description that could be given for this CD. The music is good for background music or would be suitable for a dinner party.

With many of his other releases, Gilles has set the bar very high for himself and, I might add, he rarely fails to deliver. While I consider this to be a good CD, and really there's nothing wrong with it, and any artist would be more than happy to put together a collection of tunes like this, however, there are still thousands of CDs out there like this (and many that are better, including from Gilles' own collection) so I doubt it will get a very high rotation from my collection. This disc is a solid 4 (definately not 5) rating. Personally, for something that's stylistically similar, I'd go for his Impressed Vol. 2 over this CD.

If you're new to Gilles Peterson and curious having heard good things about him - run, don't walk for the Double CD of INCredible, the Desert Island mix and his wonderful Brazilian (both) and African compilations. I have each of the Worldwide CDs which I very highly recommend as well (although, it's important to note that Vol. 4 is quite different to the first three). All of which will give you hours of listening pleasure... and begging for more!

If you're a rabid fan, you'll probably going to grab this anyway, and it wouldn't be a bad buy, it just doenst leave a lasting impression on me in the same way most of his other CDs do.

welcome to Brownswood..........2005-11-20

... as in "digs" through record crates (for those in the over 30 set like myself). Legendary British DJ Gilles Peterson's compilations and mixes are almost always dependable sources of not only "rare" but interesting "groove" music from across the stylistic spectrum. For the most part, this CD is no exception with 16 tracks culled from a record collection so large that Mr. Peterson has a seperate house for it (known as "Brownswood" according to the liner notes... which is not located in the U.S.A... but the albums/artists presented here are apparently all American... thus the title...I guess.)

These tracks are not "mixed" in any way, just compiled... several fade out but I imagine that's because the source tracks do also. All are of 1960s-70s vintage and the sequencing is good, moving from soul/R&B-ish tunes through vocal-jazz-grooviness into psych-jazzy-pop toward disco-soul ending up with pseudo-african-mystical-jazz/pop with a bit of freak-funk-fusion along the way. Some common threads include a thing for piano-driven rhythms, jazz touches even on "pop" tracks, light orchestral instrumentation, flute solos, wordless vocals/chants/choruses, and (unfortunately) electric violin solos (on two back to back tracks... each of which I had to skip past at about the mid-point...)

Do any of these tracks qualify as "forgotten classics?" Not really. Some you'll love, some you'll like, and some are completely disposable. Will young club-goers enjoy this one? Probably not... Is this on the level of Peterson's INCredible or Desert Island Mix? Not even close -- this is more comparable to his Impressed series of rare UK jazz tracks. So... if you have an unquenchable thirst for (very) obscure vintage jazz/soul/funk/etc. tracks, be happy that Gilles shares his finds with us on CD compilations like this and enjoy the ride... short of spending a few months digging through the crates at Brownswood yourself, this is the next best thing.

(Extra credit points: there is interesting commentary for each track in the liner notes and many even include the album cover art. Nice work, Ubiquity!)

Music Review:

Music Review

music review