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World Clique

Deee-Lite

1990

World Clique
Album Summary

World Clique is the debut album by American dance music band Deee-Lite, which was released in 1990. The album's first single, "Groove Is in the Heart", was a top-five success on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart as well as a No. 1 hit on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart. Three subsequent singles also hit the top ten on the U.S. dance chart, including "Power of Love/Build That Bridge", which also hit No. 1, and "Good Beat". Guest artists on the album include Bootsy Collins, Q-Tip, Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker. When World Clique was released on compact disc, two bonus tracks were added to the album: "Deee-Lite Theme" and "Build the Bridge". "E.S.P." contains a sample of actor Bela Lugosi from the 1934 film The Black Cat.

Wikipedia

Rating

2.88

Votes

12059

Genres

  • Electronica

Reviews

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Sep 23 2021
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3

A Scooby Doo episode in which Fred, Velma and Daphne follow a trail of day-glo, pheremones and good beats, only to find it's led them to each other and their coming of age in the post-disco era. They then Scooby Screw each other with reckless abandon and dance their way through the emotions they don't yet understand, gabbing on the way home about the power of love and the groove in their hearts. Zoo-zoo-wah, indeed!

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Apr 23 2021
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5

This turned from 4 to 5 stars when the "I'd probably put it on again" criteria I use for a 4 rating turned into "I actually put it on again more than once later in the week." It's jam. It's a vibe. And I'm into it.

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Jul 18 2022
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5

Groove is truly in the heart. My heart.

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Aug 05 2022
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5

I was so deee-lited today! (Yeah, I said it.) Smooth and funky love.

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Aug 05 2022
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5

In the late 80s, most folks my age looked with horror at the psychedelic looks and sounds of the late sixties and early seventies. Tangerine, avocado, lemon, tomato: these colors (not foods) filled thrift stores because no one wanted them. Most of my peers were in Goth Black or Eco Earth Tones. Gloomy Grunge was fighting its way into the mainstream. Austin Powers and the Brady Bunch movie were some years away. "Groove is in the Heart" hit me like a truck. It was so fun and so groovy (and we weren't allowed to say groovy anymore), and when I saw the video I swooned. These weren't things we heard and saw. Sampling and mixing sounds at a level such as this was brand new, and on top of that it was catchy and made you want to move! And then the video! Glorious color and movement! Finally something made for me! It would be hard to judge how creative and innovative this album was at the time just listening to it today. This was one of the first CDs I bought when I finally got a player. I may have overplayed it in the 90s, so that I didn't really revisit it after that. It was really fun to listen to the whole thing again for the first time in a couple of decades. Sure, there's a nostalgia element to my rating, but that's one of the reasons I'm here.

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Aug 09 2021
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5

This thing is so vibrant, artists spend years chasing the highs of “groove”

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Aug 27 2021
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2

The question foremost in my mind going into this album was “Is there more to it than ‘Groove Is in the Heart’?” And the answer is a resounding no. That track is the sole bright spot on this album - a funky throwback that sounds like nothing else on this record and was a huge hit around the globe (the fact that it had an eye popping, candy colored music video probably didn’t hurt). The rest of the album unfortunately sounds like bog standard late 80’s/early 90’s electronic/dance music with the occasional strangeness (“Who Was That?” being a prime example of the latter) thrown in. I am someone who tries to find the silver lining in things however - and I’ve got to hand it to “1,001 Albums You Must Listen to Before You Die” for this - the preponderance of electronic/dance albums I’ve gotten so far has moved me from someone who thought it wasn’t a genre for them to someone who knows that it isn’t a genre for them.

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Oct 31 2022
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2

2.9 - "Groove is in the Heart", the rest is in the bin.

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Jun 18 2021
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4

Sweetly optimistic 90's. Refreshing, from having been raised on '00s cynicism.

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Apr 21 2023
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4

One of the top public reviews states that this is Daphne, Velma and Fred from Scooby Doo and their coming of age. You're so wrong, it's Shaggy!! #JusticeForShaggy Really enjoyed this album, very groovy indeed!! Saved tracks: Good Beat, E.S.P., Groove Is In The Heart, Deep Ending

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Mar 10 2022
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5

I JUST WANNA HEAR A GOOD BEAT 10/10

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Nov 03 2021
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4

World Clique grew on me in a shocking way - shocking because it didn't break 90's-dance-album form. Instead, it revealed itself as a better and better project over the runtime. My only theoretical explanation is how well sound-designed the tunes are. The samples move through space in a way that most produced pop does not. This is extra-impressive since the songs are house-minimal. And beyond the theoretical I can only say that I bounced more and more as I listened.

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Oct 08 2021
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5

What a surprise. I knew the hit but didn't expect the album to be so good

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Aug 05 2022
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5

Of course I’m very familiar with “Groove is in the Heart”, but I was surprised to see that this album was already in my music library. So apparently I have listened to this some time ago. It’s hard to believe this is from 1990. The album is a lot of fun with groovy music to match the groovy cover. Great listen!

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Aug 05 2022
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5

A fun and funky blast from my past. It's been a while since I listened to this album but it is still very enjoyable.

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Oct 14 2022
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5

All-time favorite. This album raised me in a couple ways, probably. Lady Miss Kier an all-time legend. All three Deee-Lite albums rock

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May 22 2024
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5

amazing, what is love is a brilliant song, and all of it is a super fun listen

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Mar 30 2022
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3

When I bought this album as a 26 year old I was more than half convinced that guitar based pop was all but dead. The charts were filled (aside from the usual dross) with thinly-disguised, floor-filling paeans to hedonism and disco biscuits and any references to "love" we're usually code for getting twatted with a load of gurning strangers in a field just outside the M25. It didn't really work out that way, I suppose, which is probably for the best. Anyway, it's an absolute age since I've played this record and I'm surprised at how housey it is. Sure enough, as well as locating precisely where groove is, it also defines "love" as a neo-hippyish shared, no doubt chemically-induced, experience. I'd have had no problem with that back in the day but I find it slightly irritating and dated these days. I know, I know... I'm getting old. To be fair, I enjoyed it a lot more than I've let on so far. Aside from the housey piano riffs and hedonistic pseudo-philosophising, there's also plenty of playful and inventive use of break beats and samples and Lady Miss Kier radiates star quality - it's just that I'm not 26 any more and I don't care about this sort of music half as much as I used to.

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Feb 25 2022
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2

Sounds like Americans trying to do Madchester. Not a bad facsimile, but still not the same.

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Jan 23 2024
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1

This a dubious inclusion on this list. I would characterize this band as more of a one hit wonder, rather than one that put out an album that one must listen to before they die.

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May 19 2022
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4

This cheap cake filled with repetitive lyrics and terrible puns is surprisingly enjoyable. It's fun, the beats and the hooks are nice, and it's very '90s.

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Apr 29 2024
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4

I liked this album, nice listening to something different that I like! 4 stars

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Aug 15 2024
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4

Surprisingly good fun. Wishing the ratings were out of 10 as this is a 3.5/5

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Feb 10 2021
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3

Sounds pretty dated and i can't say i love just sitting down and listening to a whole album of dance music. these tracks are all pretty goofy, but i can tell that a lot of them would be really fun to dance to. last song with the animal noises is pretty annoying.

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Jun 23 2021
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3

En ce mardi matin de defaite footballistique, mon humeur etait des plus deplorables. Néammoins, le generateur me fasait une belle promesse en me servant sur un plateau le groupe Deee-Light, aux lettres non sans rappeler les plus belles heures de la voix de nez. Quelle ne fut pas ma deception à l'écoute de cet album, ou les principes fondamentaux de la voix de nez ne sont absolument pas respectés. Deee-Light fait honte a toute une frange de l'industrie musicale, choisissant volontairement un nom de scène faisant référence à l'univers de la nasalité, sans pour autant proposer une performance en adéquation avec les attentes. La quantité d'air insuflée entre les parois nasales de la chanteuse principale est grandement insuffisante, Dee-Light n'est tout simplement pas digne de son nom.

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Jun 23 2021
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3

De la house ma foi sympatoche même si carrément pas terrible en fait.

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Sep 23 2021
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3

I quite enjoyed this actually, although besides 'Groove is in the heart' there aren't really (m)any other memorable songs.

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May 09 2024
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3

Is there a name for that particular sort of piano playing style that 90’s Dance music used so often? The plinky plonky stuff that sounds a little like rag time? Cos it’s all over this album, and I’ve always thought it sounded cool. Although a lot of the album blended into the background a bit, it was never boring or unpleasant, and I could understand why it was possibly influential, although I don’t know if it was for certain. But Groove Is In The Heart is a classic, and the rest of the album was fine

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Apr 13 2024
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2

By 1990, the excess of the 1980s had reached critical mass.  With apex-excess achieved, nearly everyone wore garish fluorescent or neon colored clothing, and if you were particularly cool, you had fluorescent colored clothes that changed color as your body heated up or when someone placed their hand upon your shirt. We were no longer content with only using laces to tighten the shoes around our feet. Our shoes had inflatable plastic reservoirs built into them which we would fill with air by way of pumping a rubber ball on the tongue of the shoe, all in the quest to achieve maximum podiatric comfort.   It was a simpler time…a time when Parker Lewis couldn’t lose, when the C&C corporation unveiled their cutting edge Music Factory, and the mere act of barfing on the Prime Minister of Japan could ruin your chances at presidential reelection.  Our dance music was funky and repetitive with one word vocal samples that echoed throughout dance halls across the nation… It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.  

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Jan 24 2024
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1

really only worth it for the one big hit single huh? maybe the second track too. but, otherwise, pretty unimpressive.

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Jan 19 2022
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5

House. Me ha gustado bastante. Venga, un 5.

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Mar 10 2022
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5

o bootsy collins era fã seloco difícil não dar 5 estrelas

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Nov 09 2022
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5

Wow. An album I disliked to start and it grew on me . Upbeat and quirky. I loved it

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Nov 11 2022
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5

Do I want to hear a whole album by the "Groove Is in the Heart" people? I mean sure, that's a great song. And ... yep, a fun listen. Surprisingly good (and goofy) throughout.

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Feb 22 2023
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5

Every morning I check the genre of the album of the day to see if it’s a workout album or a “dishes and laundry” album. This is a fantastic workout album and a great way to start the day. Nothing but great beats, catchy hooks and positive energy. You could put it on at a party and listen to it front to back. Definitely putting this one in high rotation.

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Mar 12 2023
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5

Bit sickly sweet but not as bad as LL Cool J. Fkn great example of my favourite bell sound in Smile On. WOAH alright came out of nowhere with the verging on 90s trance break, me likey. Ooft coming in real nice with Groove is in the Heart - one of the ultimate Rics tunes. Hard not to give it a five just because of that. Never fully appreciated Q Tip in it either, possibly a perfectly constructed song. Alright this went from what I thought was going to be all sickly sweet to deep, dark, dirty and weird ver quickly and I loved it. Build the Bridge is some real out there shit.

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Apr 12 2023
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5

My second favorite Deee-Lite album, close behind Dewdrops in the Garden. I give this one an absolute 5/5, mostly because it grew on me every time I listened to it, and I realized pretty much every song is a BANGER. "Power of Love" is definitely the best track on here, although I think it needs a glow-up in terms of production. The album overall is pretty quiet and compressed-sounding. But otherwise it's immensely enjoyable! I especially love the techno/electronic dance elements.

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Apr 13 2023
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5

I went in with the most skepticism possible, thinking it would just be mediocre electronic 90s music, a 3 at best, and...… It's fantastic. It has this funky, unique, unbridled sense of energy to it. Production is unbelievably clean without giving the sense of being overly-polished. Bass lines are groovy to the highest degree. Now for the negatives. First off, the cover. Not much to say besides it sucks, but I suppose it also somewhat encapsulates the energy of the record, so I can forgive it. Second, the pianos. I hate midi pianos with a burning passion. So lifeless and overly-bright and uncanny. If they had been more prominent in the record, it may have significantly detracted from the experience, but they are somewhat ignorable in the grand scheme of the album. Another thought: The original vinyl pressing did not contain the first or last tracks, and I think omitting them might have led to a better experience, especially the intro track, Dee-lite Theme. Overall, not flawless, but 4 stars just seems inadequate. It's full of character and life, and leaves you wondering what will be around the corner next.

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Sep 06 2023
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5

This is incredibly fun and exciting

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Sep 24 2023
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5

Relentlessly cheery, great stuff

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Oct 11 2023
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5

A pure delight. Funky house might have existed before Deee-Lite, but Deee-Lite picked it up and ran with it.

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Oct 12 2023
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5

I thoroughly enjoyed this album. More than I thought I would. I knew Groove is in the Heart before but it’s a solid album all the way through

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Dec 20 2023
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5

i like it out of all the albums ive listened so far this one fits my music taste more LOL reminds me of animal jam osts

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Jan 22 2024
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5

Fun Fun Fun album. I knew a few songs from back in the day, but...now that I was able to listen to the whole album, I can say, if I ever feel like putting on my dancing shoes, I have an album to throw on and dance to.

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Feb 08 2024
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5

I really enjoyed it :) at least 50% of this enjoyment was possibly due to how fun I think the album cover is but that's because it's Very Fun. I feel like it's been too long since I gave out a 5 so I'm giving it to this album even though arguably it's possibly not worth it. So yes 5/5 for the silly little guy on the album cover

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Feb 16 2024
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5

Classic for period. Tracks include several major artists, such as Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Bootsy Collins, and Q-tip.

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Mar 06 2024
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5

Easy 5 I love this album so much and I believe in the power of love. And also groove IS in the heart

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Mar 06 2024
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5

Someone took a bath, Mr. Bubble Middle name, must be trouble Bootsy, Qtip, Maceo, great album, fun af! Saw Deee-Lite early 90's WOW, holy psilocybin

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Mar 09 2024
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5

So good. The whole album is great groovy dance music. 5 stars.

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Mar 24 2024
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5

Playful and very fun. So riffy and funky, makes me wish I was older in the late 80s/ early 90s so I could enjoy the queer dances that were most likely happening to this album. Surprise 5 stars for me

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Jan 07 2022
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5

When I was 11, VH1 counted down the top 100 one-hit wonders, and listed "Groove is in the Heart" at #14. They mentioned Bootsy Collins’ participation, who I recognized from the Beginner's Bass book I had gotten that Christmas. I also really liked the snippet they played a lot. So, even though I pretty much only listened to pop-punk at the time, during my next trip to Strawberries Records, I picked up the full CD. My mind was instantly blown. As silly as it sounds, World Clique was my gateway into dance music. (I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that it also inspired me to dig more into the full CDs of other one-hit wonders, which served as my own personal music history education throughout my teens.) While I’ve always loved this album, the older I got, the more it rose in my personal Top 100. By the time I was in college, it was solidly in my Top 10 favorite albums ever, and it’s remained there to this day. It’s bubbly and fun to dance to, but it’s also layered and has all these unique textures that you can unravel if you listen closely. It’s also deeply aware of its lineage, and I think that helps solidify it as a classic, because it’s reverent without feeling academic. This is really what I want most out of music – on the surface, pure fun, and if you want more, you can dig into it, but you can always just enjoy it on that surface level, too. It’s camp and inclusive and cute and catchy and feels communal. I love it so much, it’s flawless through and through.

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Apr 15 2024
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5

House. Me ha gustado bastante. Venga, un 5.

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Sep 08 2024
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5

A forgotten gem from my childhood. I had this album on CD and would use it to fall asleep at night. The songs can be a bit repetitive in nature but they are such bangers that it just doesn’t matter. “Groove is in the heart” is the best and most 90s song in creation. Absolutely adore this album. 10/10

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Sep 13 2024
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5

That was so good, cool beats all the way through!

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Oct 10 2024
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5

Tons of groove on this album. Not my normal listen but this was thoroughly enjoyable.

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Oct 11 2024
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5

You can't help but love those vocals and house piano chords.

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Oct 11 2024
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5

I had never listened to this album before and I LOVED IT!

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Sep 28 2020
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4

Fun album, great pop dance tracks

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Mar 05 2021
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4

Groove Is in the Heart obviously a hit. Had no idea who it was by or that Q-Tip had a feature. Lots of bouncy beats here, just makes me want to dance. Familiar piano riff on Good Beat... is that sampled in some other song? Same thing in Try Me On... I'm Very You.

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Feb 26 2021
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4

Production: 16/20 Songwriting: 13/20 Innovation: 15/20 Bangers: 15/20 Emotional response: 17/20 =76 Cracking album!

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Mar 05 2021
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4

Bubbly, funky, joyous--instantly mood-altering stuff.

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Feb 10 2021
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4

Hilarious album cover and groovy beats. A full album got to be a bit much and some of the music is painfully 90s but that doesn't stop this from being a jam.

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Aug 08 2021
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4

A fun fun album that I had never listened to completely before. Groove is in the heart is great but there are a number of tracks worthy of praise as well. I'm going 4 stars

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Aug 23 2021
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4

Fun and warm. Captures that New York dance club feeling really well. Groove is in the heart is a standout in many ways. Like the heavy infusion of soulful elements throughout.

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Feb 13 2022
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4

4/5. Kinda fire. No guilty pleasures.

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Feb 14 2022
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4

Não conhecia. Bom para usar de trilha sonora de festa.

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Mar 06 2022
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4

Part late 80s/early 90s New York House and garage, part funk and part hip-hop, ‘World Clique’ is a clever, fun and accomplished debut record. Featuring serious star power in Q-Tip, Bootsy Collins, Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker (amongst others) making unexpected but great contributions, it’s the little record that could and the ultimate New York party record of its era.

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Mar 10 2022
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4

Gostei. Mistureba bacana, gostei principalmente das músicas com uma pegada House. De fato soa como um álbum de uma época específica. 7/10

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Mar 23 2022
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4

A dance party that still sounds just as crazy and futuristic today. Fun, with quite an impressive guest list for a group making their debut. At times a little cheesy. Something that only really could have come out in the early 90s and gained traction. Favorite tracks: "Deee-Lite Theme", "Groove Is In the Heart"

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May 06 2022
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4

Super fun album! I put it on for a party after hearing and it really makes a lively environment. Disco vibes. One of the songs I recognized from a Fergie song that was sampled.

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Jun 15 2022
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4

did not expect to see deee-lite knocking about on an album based list, but who knew they had anything else other than one of my all time favourite tracks. did some wikipediafiling and what a fucking mad bunch. american, ukrainian and japanese raised korean making music from new york that to me sounds like it came from the british house scene. not actually a bad album, nice to hear some 90s dance every now and then.

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Jun 20 2022
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4

Another of those classic albums that has so many memories tired up in it for me. Still such a ground breaking and more importantly fun album.

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Aug 05 2022
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4

When I loaded up the 1001 page for the day, I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn't seeing things. It's Deee-Lite! This is an album that my family and I used to jam to together and it's always been a guilty pleasure of mine to go back to from time to time.

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Aug 14 2022
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4

un très bon album, je les ai largement sous estimés

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Aug 23 2022
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4

I can't really think of a better name for this group. They truly are delightful. Dee-Lite was such a breath of fresh air in 1990. Nothing else sounded like them. Between the campy style and the out of this world bricolage of sounds, I think a lot of people treated them as a novelty or just didn't know what to do with them. But musically, Dee-Lite is no joke. Their blending of live playing and samples is so effortless and creative. Their collaboration with Q-Tip and funk masters like Bootsy Collins, Fred Wesley, and Maceo Parker adds a depth you don't always get in club/house music, not to mention some serious musical street cred. Dee-Lite really captured in a bottle this club-centric energy that was so fresh at that time. The music is colorful, exuberant, groovy and soulful. It has a playful sense of humor, but not a whiff of irony. This is earnest and optimistic in a way that music hasn't been in a really long time. It's a real mood lifter and so much fun to listen to. Their subsequent albums lacked the same fire, but World Clique is a classic. Fave Songs: Groove Is in the Heart, Power of Love, Good Beat, What Is Love?, Deep-Ending, Who Was That?, Build the Bridge

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Aug 28 2022
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4

Groove Is In The Heart is a stone cold classic - everyone knows that! The rest of the lp is not quite that standard, but thats forgiven as nothing could really top G.I.I.T.H.

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