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Ordered from the Catalogue

Ordered from the Catalogue

a review by tim fisher of
release format Ordered from the Catalogue by Various Artists (mixed by Mark Rae) (CD Album)

text

Despite the likes of Gescom, DJ Vadim and their ilk pushing hip hop past its recognised forms with often incredible results, few UK outfits have be able to do anything successful with its more accepted forms and much continues to be made of the impact UK hip hop has consistently failed to make. It seems there's just something about the bare bones of the genre that continues to elude the champions of the form in Britain. Which makes listening to this mix so great.

Manchester's Grand Central Records have never felt the need to trumpet their hip hop credentials, managing instead to build up a huge amount of respect and goodwill on both sides of the Atlantic as well as bigging up the Manchester massive without feeling the need to pop a cap in anyone's ass.

Mixed by Mark Rae (who, if the press release is to be believed, took two phone calls and made himself a sandwhich while laying down the final mix live) 'Ordered from the Catalogue' exemplifies the term 'all killer no filler'. Not only does it highlight the strength and consistency of Grand Central's output, it's also not a bad showcase for the boss's enthusiasm for turntablist trickery, with some fine cutting and scratching throughout.

'Ordered ...' moves from the northern soul-influenced end of the label through some fine party-rocking tracks and back again, taking in some exceedingly funky gems from Riton and Only Child en route. Rae looms large over the CD through both his own tracks with Steve Christian and Mr Scruff, and his dextrous mixes taking in the infectious genius of Finga Thing, the front of Aim and turns from J Walk and Tony D, while maintaing the flow essential to any half-decent mix-CD.

Finga Thing's 'You Fly Me' from their debut long-player 'The Main Event' has you wondering why they aren't superstars already and the album closer; Rae and Christian's remix of their own fine, fine collaboration with Bobby Womack is almost worth the price of the album alone.

If there is a gripe with this release it's that several of the featured tracks have appeared on other Grand Central compilations, but then you get that with retrospectives and besides, the whole thing oozes so much soul and class it's almost beside the point. Word. Posted by tim fisher at 00:00, 22 May 2001