I spent the day wandering around the Soho district of London and found my way into a couple of record stores including the Soul Jazz Records hub, Sounds of The Universe. They had a deep collection of classic and new vinyl, but alas for obvious reasons I am going wax free on this particular journey overseas. I later walked into another shop and heard a solid classic house compilation from the early 90's playing on the PA and snatched it up. The House Nation comp is probably my first cd purchase in over ten years and in the spirit of my moment of devolution I am posting a few highlights from the disc.

Also check the sidebar for my Paris DJ sets next week. Je veux voir tous vos beaux visages.

Phase II - Reachin'
Rhythim is Rhythim - Strings of Life
The Todd Terry Project - Weekend

This is an interesting self produced house record from 1989 on Diamond records. It was cut in the times of acid and jack house but sounds more like gentleman's techno. Three of the four tracks on this EP have a similar sound with one acid track to close. Lil Louis owned a club in Chicago club in the late 70's and was famous for his tape edits. He collaborated with Marshall Jefferson through the 80's. He even cut two records for Epic.

Lil Louis - French Kiss

Larry Heard AKA Mr. Fingers produced this record in 1986. This record was a follow-up to his 1985 release Mystery Of Love. Early in his music career he was in a jazz fusion group with Adonis (whose music also has a similar sound). He later fronted the group Fingers Inc. and started producing tracks under several monikers. His tracks ushered in the deep house sound with an ethereal, serotonin laced groove that can give you a sense of the elation that those dancers felt on the dancefloor of The Warehouse in the mid-80's. This is the instrumental version, the more common version features a Dr. King like sermon about Jack and the origins of house music.

Mr. Fingers - Can You Feel It (Instrumental)

Do you like classic eighties house? I do. Here is most of it:

http://www.discogs.com/release/43501

http://www.discogs.com/Various-The-History-Of-The-House-Sound-Of-Chicago/release/57624


Total bummer but we were asked to take this post down by the copyright holders.

Cameron Paul was a freestyle/ electro producer in the SF Bay Area in the 80's to the early 90's. He used to have a radio dance mix show on KSOL (which is now a miserable reggaeton station) and KMEL. He also DJed at City Nights and Studio West. He put out a few records under his own name and he remixed a lot of tracks, including Push It by Salt 'n Peppa for his own Mixx It service. He now lives in Tulsa of all places.

This track from 1989 on Tandem Records is very difficult to classify. Is it electro, is it booty bass, is it hip hop, is it house? Awesome is what it is. With the slam of an 808, the crusty synths, and the vocoded vocals it is a perfect CBS track. Sorry my copy is so jacked.

Cameron Paul - Sexy Dancer (Bass Mix)