Social Classics Volume 3: Dread Meets B-Boys Downtown - The Hip Hop Sound Of New York 81-82

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Social Classics series, selected by music supreme Don Letts is shaping up to be one of Heavenly Record's most inspired ideas. As with the excellent Volume 2 IDread Meets Punk Rockers Uptown/I, which covered the dub-laden sounds that would have been spilling out of the speakers at London's Roxy and influencing punks, Volume 3 concentrates not on the seminal New York hip-hop created during 81-82, but rather the sounds that inspired it. pThe breadth of music covered on here is both excellent and interesting. Although the emphasis is on the electronic sounds that led New York to give birth to hip-hop, taking in obvious pioneers like Grandmaster Flash, there are other equally startling, less obvious choices. Malcolm McLaren's "Buffalo Gals" sounds right at home, as do artists as diverse as Kraftwerk, The Clash and The Mohawks. As an added bonus, the CD also serves what should be its prime objective; it makes a damn good party record. The premise is interesting, but never gets in the way of allowing you to move your body as was originally intended when this music was made. Perhaps this is the future; historically pertinent music you can talk about and dance to? I--Thom Allott/I

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2009-05-21 rating:
Not all as it seems
The music on this album is great, exactly as A.Customer said in october 2004. The problem is with the packaging, It must have changed since 2004 as it is just a single thin cardboard sleeve, with no liner notes or information other than a tracklisting. Not great for a cd going for between ten and twenty quid.


review by: date: 2004-10-15 rating:
It's A Party Album!
This territory is in danger of being exhausted, but Don Letts has compiled a rockin' set that will have you breaking on the floor with your shell-toe Adidas in the air. Some good liner notes detail the scene, where Don himself was an observer, filming The Clash on their first major shows in New York. There are plenty of photos of notable scenesters who you'll either know or not, and the sound quality and mastering is excellent (the Kraftwerk track is the 2004 master!). As an overview this set rivals the Grandmaster Flash comp on Strut (there are also several track duplications), and in some ways is better because it's a little more diverse. Recommended if you want some great party music that doesn't sound like so much of today's hip hop sludge.

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