FIRST CHOICE 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: The American female vocal trio First Choice released their rendition of 'Love and Happiness' in 1973. The track is a cover of Al Green's original released just a year earlier in 1972, but First Choice's version was perhaps helped along the way by a peak case of nominative determinism: for us, theirs is the first choice. Featured on their debut album, Armed and Extremely Dangerous, it stood out on the Philly soul girl gang's record as one of the records most propitious to sampling by house and techno musicians, such as Todd Terry and Jungle Brothers. But this time, the legacy of this preceptive soulful-house interplay is honoured by a newly reissued remix by the mysterious but titanic Chicago producer Ron Hardy, whose inclusion on the record is the real star here. Hardy's signature reel-to-reel fuzzes and presence-bled hues effect recollections of a pre-DAW production setup, and the resonances of dub (woodblocks, four-tone hooks, burly basslines) nest the original Al Green vocal nicely.

Review: Hands up - this is one of our favourite ever jams and frankly we can't really understand anyone who doesn't rate it pretty highly. It is a classic of the early dance scene that got hammered everywhere from Warehouse to Paradise Garage and remains in a class of one decades on. Next to the brilliant original, which is from a time when proper songwriting and musicianship defined house and disco, you get a Ron Hardy edit that is more uptempo, with hissing hi hats cutting through the funky rhythms and loopy drums. Sublime.

Review: The 4CD box set of First Choice's essential recordings for Salsoul's Gold Mind imprint is here for the disco, soul and pop fan. This collection spans 45 tracks, including expanded editions of their three full-length albums and a specially curated fourth disc with remixes and re-imaginings. Newly remastered by Nick Robbins, the set highlights key tracks such as 'Doctor Love', 'Let No Man Put Asunder', 'Double Cross', and 'Love Thang', which became seminal dancefloor anthems in the late 70s. Early hits like 'Armed And Extremely Dangerous' and 'Smarty Pants' paved the way for their influential contributions to disco, and the set captures the essence of their impact. The collection features productions from notable names including Norman Harris, Ron Kersey, and Tom Moulton, alongside mixes by prominent remixers like Frankie Knuckles and Shep Pettibone. Included is a deluxe booklet designed by Roger Williams, featuring detailed liner notes by Craig Seymour, a 2024 interview with original member Rochelle Fleming, and essays from reissue producers Tim Dillinger and Joe Marchese. This comprehensive set celebrates First Choice's legacy and their extensive influence on dance music.

Review: Pioneering disco outfit First Choice built up a fine arsenal of hits in the 70s and 80s. Amongst them was their epic "Armed and Extremely Dangerous" which now gets two new versions served up by Brookside. Hot Mix 5 and Chicago house legend Ralphi "The Raz" Rosario is the man doing the work and the brings big drums and vocals with some superbly soulful keys next to Craig J Snider. On the flip, the band's most iconic tune "Love & Happiness" gets a rework by Mike Maurro. It is more soulful and warm, laced with big drums and sweeping pads.

Review: Here are two absolute gold standard Salsoul classics given a new spruce up thanks to the remix skills of T Power. Wisely, they've chosen to take a softly softly approach to such sacred material, but there's a little extra dancefloor oomph where it counts to make these tracks pop off that little more against more modern fare. First up is Instant Funk's evergreen classic "I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)", and on the flip it's the impossibly perfect "Love Thang" by First Choice. Both have never sounded better - full credit to T Power for doing this one right.