Tuesday 21 October 2003

Disco, alive and dancing

Punk rock has died a thousand deaths, but its much-maligned cousin disco just keeps going. As long as there are dance clubs, people will need something to dance to; a quarter century after its commercial peak, the legacy of disco seems richer than ever. Two new releases carry on the disco tradition.

Mariah Carey is a traditional disco diva, and a great one. And she has never been easier to enjoy than on "The Remixes" (Columbia), a double-disc set that compiles a decade's worth of house and hip-hop remixes. The hip-hop disc isn't perfect; it proves, among other things, that Jermaine Dupri is a hit-and-miss producer. But it includes some of Ms. Carey's most appealing collaborations.

"Breakdown", with Krayze Bone and Wish Bone (from Bone Thugs-n-Harmony), is a marvelous demonstration of sing-rapping, with the three vocalists taking turns skipping over the syllables. And on "Miss You", with Jadakiss, the rapper has fun addressing the pop star as if she were merely a drug dealer's moll: "When I thought you was late with the coke/ That's when things fell apart Ma, and it stagnated us both."

The other disc is even better: Ms. Carey's brassy, breathy vocals sound best when accompanied by a thumping house beat, and David Morales, in particular, knows how to turn a histrionic ballad into a club classic. His 11-minute "Def Mix" version of "Dreamlover" is a revelation: after a long percussion break, he isolates a few of Ms. Carey's ad-libs; her ultrafalsetto vocals sound spookier than all of Basement Jaxx's sound effects combined.

(New York Times)



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