Club Classics Vol. One

Sounds like what I would hear in a hotel lobby

"Club Classics Vol. 1" is the Fruity Pebbles of music. It's technically breakfast but is utterly devoid of nutritional value. It's just bright colors and empty calories. Soul II Soul managed to put out an album that's technically music but utterly devoid of musical value. It's just bright colors and empty lyrics.

I thought clubs in the 80s were going to be way more exciting with how much Cocaine they were doing. Apparently I was wrong, they listened to slow elevator music. I guess the only way they could dance to this was with stimulants.

Like the female vocals. When the dude starts singing on the third track I had the urge to skip but held on. The general sound is fairly nostalgic for me. Goes down easy but not my favorite.

I’m a little upset by this album. I have very few 1 star albums, and almost this whole work was so dreadfully boring that I thought I’d finally found another super-dud. But then Back to Life just had to go and be a bop, so this album earns its second star.

hasn't aged well

The best part of doing this is dicovering artists from my younger days that I woud never have given a chance then are actually worthy of my time. This is just such an example. Some great, funky soul here along with some seeds of trip hop. I am reminded often of Massive Attack (is the female singer the same as on Safe From Harm or other MA classics?) A really enjoyable listen this album was. I was only familiar with one song but found the whole album quite engaging. 4 stars

so far it's pretty good. I can see this is an influential album. There are several songs I recognized and several beats that I can tell have been sampled by some of my favorite artists years down the line. This is a cool record.

This album certainly brought me back to life!

Memories of being in the dance clubs come flooding back!

Production is very clean and sounds like it could have been produced today. Tends to blend together pleasantly, and the vocals are really beautiful! "Back to Life" was a huge hit for a reason - it's hypnotizing, catchy, and very well produced. Overall early house music isn't much to my taste, but I understand why it was so popular and innovative for its time. 4/5.

A record that I own, but don't spin nearly as much as I should. Smooth, funky, and beautifully orchestrated. Caron Wheeler's vocals (unsurprisingly on the big singles) are a real stand out. String arrangements are lush and sophisticated. This really is a precursor of Massive Attack a few years later, although perhaps with a little less grit and less depressive/gloomy. I really enjoyed listening to this. If this had been made even two years later, it would have been based on grainy loops rather than drum machines, but this really is an album a few years ahead of its time.

Not devoid of charms, but mostly bland. Really shows its age. Could only be from 92-95.

1*. Hated it. Smug, lazy raps, all about themselves. Really weak production. Getting drunk uncles to sing is not a vibe. Bad. 'Back to Life' is a belter though.

It's dreadful and I hate it. Without the singles, it's a 1. Some songs sound like sung by drunk uncle, self-congratulatory throughout. Lame beats. Awful lyrics. Bad.

First off, Nellee Hooper is a cheat code of a producer. Everything I've listened to that he had his hands on sounds absolutely gorgeous. Second off this is the most appropriate album title I've ever seen. Every song is a club classic, the Back to Life into Jazzie's Groove alone makes this 5 stars, and that's probably the weakest part of the album. It's that good

Masterpiece

Absolutely incredible. Groovy, funky, endlessly sampleable. Love the interplay between the vocals and breaks, the tension created in "Back to Life" is immense, but fully satisfied by the drums when they come in. I was surprised how album-ey it was despite the title suggesting it was a compilation. The production / mastering is consistent throughout, and the songs flow perfectly into each other (they even avoided those common mp3 tails to preserve the beat). I only wish the additional tracks at the end were included in a separate release. But that would have been a waste back when this was released, and more expensive vs today with streaming. Gonna come back to this one for sure.

4.9

Transported immediately back to late 80s/early 90s. This is a certified banger for anyone who loves jazz, dance, and Living Single.

Maybe I should recuse myself, since I have many fond memories of my co-judge and I arriving in Toronto in ’89, going to restaurants, clubs, bars and record stores and hearing this all the time. It was the sort of thing I would have never listened to a couple of years earlier. It’s a very urban sound, smoove soul with hints of reggae and African rhythms. Caron Wheeler is dynamite and Jazzy B is a great songwriter and producer, but I’m not as smitten when he grabs the microphone. Between a 4 and a 5 for me.

Getting that vinyl

Jams

Dancyyy

Easiest 5/5 ever ?

Okay I kind of loved this more than I thought I would?! Super fun!

Title says the truth, classics are here

cool

Actually a very approachable album.

Great collection

very groovy and very nice sounding!

Late 80s R&B is a place I really haven't spent any time; I'll do my best to keep an open mind. Album opens with Keep On Movin', which is R&B on the groovier side of the spectrum. Complete with sterilized electronic drum beat and simple bass line. Instrumental is flourished with some piano meandering and sweeping strings ebbing and flowing behind the vocals. Sounds like something I would hear in a hair salon if I had hair to warrant the experience. Fairplay is a substantially more interesting song. The backing bassline walks throughout, referencing the same progression but modulating to keep things interesting. It along with a tight drum beat propel the track with some soulful vocals. Favorite song so far. Three songs in, three very different sounds. I'm into the variety. Holdin' On is driven by a more classic drum and bass high-hat beat with some disco-like elements. Not a great song, but its not bad either. Feeling Free finds Soul II Soul in hip-hop territory with an instrumental of drums and scratching with backing horns. Surprisingly effective, like proto-ATCQ jazz-rap. African Dance is an instrumental dance track putting the yazz-flute front and center. Great energy with an improv feel. Particularly enjoy the mixing effects thrown in around the 3 minute mark that send the backing rhythm through an inverter of sorts. Dance gives over to the exact same backing rhythm sans flute soloing. In place of the flute we instead find spoken-word vocals. Unsure why they decided to do this. Surely 6 minutes of jazzy instrumental dance were good enough that we did not need 4 additional? Feel Free jams right out of the gate with a sick double-bass drum line and some tight string accompaniment. Song also features a damned fat bassline, which I'm admittedly a sucker for. Second favorite song thus far. Happiness is a fine enough jam that I found myself bobbing along to. I could easily see this embedded in a DJ set to keep the crowd moving in transition. I've only heard the remix of Back To Life. The A Capella arrangement that forms the first 3 minutes of the song are damned impressive on a technical front -- credit where it is due. Hands over to a hip-hop beat that then bleeds seamlessly into the original album closer Jazzie's Groove. And what a groove it is. Stopping my review here because it is where the original album ends. I will say that I am thoroughly surprised by this album. It jams front to back and is filled to the brim with different styles, textures, and personnel. Standouts from my memory are Fairplay, Feel Free, African Dance, and Jazzie's Groove. I also do love the remix of Back To Life that is included in the 10th anniversary edition; classic jam. This is nearing a 5 IMO, but is held back by a few questionable choices. Strong 4 / 5.

I have not listened to these guys in ages. Great combo of simple beats and electric vocals. The lyrics are simple and unspectacular, but the solos and harmonies are infectious. Well, at least when the women (Caron, Rose, Do'Reen) are the focal point (less enamored when the men are front and center). Both the band and album are so appropriately named - funky soul and you could fill up a night at a club playing these tracks. Everybody knows Keep on Movin and Back to Life (a definite classic) but spend some time with Feel Free, Fairplay, Happiness or African Dance.

Seminal dance music album that melded soul and R&B with house and reggae. It's legacy and influence is such that it still sounds like it could have been recorded yesterday.

Some bloat but a really great album. Jazzie B acting as the master of ceremonies conducting his hip-hop, jazz, soul leaning in whichever way he sees fit.

Pretty average. The man's voice kept sounding like Monster Mash which threw me

This album was disappointing, it starts off with some good potential but quickly devolves into 80s dance cliches. I recommend you replace "Back to Life" with the single version of the song (subtitled "(However Do You Want Me)") as it fits better and is also probably the best song on the album.

ugh, maybe i’m just sick of this list

Hard to give an album a high score when so many of the songs are remixes of each other. Otherwise, not my favorite club hits from the 90s but some of the tracks are classic and full of nostalgia.

more like "90s dance tutorial background music" classics

Another album strengthening my argument that this list is way to Anglocentric. That being said, while this album is incredibly dated, it has a certain simple charm as an early 90s dance/r&b hybrid sort of thing. Generally inoffensive and fairly pleasant but it gets old fast.

Pretty much sounded like a typical 80s/90s club album to me. Nothing special.

Some good songs, Back to Life and Jazzie's Groove were bangers. Other tracks were filler to me. Rapping with a heavy London accent has always seemed a little off to my American ears; nothing wrong with it, just not what I'm used to. Decent album, but definitely a product of its time and it hasn't aged well in my opinion. 2.5/5.

Seminal R&B album.

This is great. Its a super conditional rating but I am just vibing to the easy loops. There isn't anything too crazy happening in the sample work, just locked in grooves that make your body move.

This is #day87 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and listening to Club Classics Vol. One (for the very first time) feels like tapping into an endless beat that flows through time... Released at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, this album serves as a time capsule, reflecting the vibrant sound system culture, Belgian New Beat, and The Second Summer of Love, all intertwining to create a dizzying mix of genres—dub, reggae, house, soul, gospel, downtempo, jazz, and more. When they sing "with this music I'll put you in a trance" on "Dance", they don't joke, they will do it. The record brilliantly reflects the spirit of its era. And I love this era! This is a 5 out of 5 without a doubt. Looking forward to #day88.

Back to life

Thoroughly enjoyed. A good find. Some heard before, some worth discovering. 4 stars plus bonus 1 for rediscovery credits.

This appearance of this one excited me. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I thought that I would, but it was a great feel of college times for me. So, it gets credit for that.

A solid late 80s hip-hop groove. Loved it.

Aka Keep on Movin here in the colonies. I wore this thing out during college. Haven’t listened to it in many years, until now, and it is still a near perfect album.

Absolute classic

Absolutely outstanding 11/10. Every song was so unique and incredible to listen to.

Balancing out the one because they had one really sick song

Groovy

This is like KAYTRANADA before KAYTRANADA existed. "Back to Life" will always be a banger. The whole album is seamless.

Certified classic

Que álbum sensacional! Vontade de ouvir o dia todo ahahaha

Soul muy animado. Un megahit. Vinilo.

Soul muy animado. Un megahit.

Very groovy, reminds me of GTA SA for some reason.

I really enjoyed this album. Great song and great memories from nights out 20 years ago. I can’t believe this came out in 1989. I can see why this is an influential album and a trend setter for this genre. Lots of songs and beats that have been heard on many different albums and nights. This is a brilliant record. Favourite song: Back to life and feeling free are great tunes. Least favourite: Nothing is bad on the album. Album artwork: Cool cover.

A record that I own, but don't spin nearly as much as I should. Smooth, funky, and beautifully orchestrated. Caron Wheeler's vocals (unsurprisingly on the big singles) are a real stand out. String arrangements are lush and sophisticated. This really is a precursor of Massive Attack a few years later, although perhaps with a little less grit and less depressive/gloomy. I really enjoyed listening to this. If this had been made even two years later, it would have been based on grainy loops rather than drum machines, but this really is an album a few years ahead of its time.

Pretty good

Good R&B.

From their name, I thought there would be double what I don’t like, but they brought the funk to each and every song.

I liked enough tracks to round 3.5 to 4.

Very nice and groovy

Overall, this was fine. It was a bit generic, but still groovy and funky. The production was clean and I think has held up to this day. I really liked the female singer, but the male singer sounded like Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Concords to me and I couldn't take that seriously. I also enjoyed the instrumentals in "African Dance." 3.5 rounded up Favourite tracks: Keep On Movin', African Dance, Back to Life

01) Keep on Movin - 9,5 02) Fairplay - 8,0 03) Holdin' On - 8,0 04) Feeling Free - 7,5 05) African Dance - 7,0 06) Dance - 8,5 07) Feel Free - 7,0 08) Happiness - 7,5 09) Back to Life - 10,0 10) Jazzie's Groove - 8,0 TOTAL: 8,10 (81/100) Current ranking: 98/310

I’m a fan of R&B and soul from the 70’s and this was really enjoyable

Wasn't bad at all. Enjoyable listen, great vocals.

Rating: 7.5/10 A fun dance and R&B album, nothing too revolutionary but a damn good time. Favorite songs: Keep On Movin', Holdin' On, Dance, Feel Free, Happiness, Back To Life, Jazzie's Groove. Worst song: Feeling Free.

I've heard of them, but never listened to this record. There is a huge amount to admire. Smooth and expressive soul/R&B vocals. Samples and loops. A cerebral spoken word sermon. A hip-hop track that puts me in mind of Native Tongues questing. A flute-led dance track. Funky electric bass playing. It's an adventurous and varied album. The house-adjacent beats feel quite dated, and that's very nearly a deal-breaker for me. I also probably don't know enough about modern R&B for their innovations to mean that much to me. But it certainly is a groovy and enjoyable record. 3.5*

Enjoyed it! Probably sounds a bit different outside of the club context. Pretty good background music. 4

The change from African Dance to Dance is jarring, because it's essentially the same track except just generally worse. Asides from this mistake, and I can only call it a mistake, the album is kinda soulful, as you'd expect from an outfit called Soul II Soul. But it's also jazzy, funky and building up around a central core of just lovely house music. Some of the bass work is great. And crosses nicely with some of the soaring symphonic strings.

I was very much a fan of "Back to Life" when it came out, so it was somewhat unsatisfying to hear the album version. However, although I don't often say this in this project, hooray for bonus tracks! Other than that, this was a good, solid listen, and hard to imagine that it was 1989 as I agree that it influenced a lot of music to come with its smooth beats.

I was familiar with back to life from back in the day. The album is along those lines with a nice groove. Not squarely my thing but a nice listen.

Lekker houseplaatje hoor. Had hier precies ff zin in gister, daarom 4/5

bangers na bangers, dit wil je

Lekker weer hoor, goeie albums laatste tijd

Divertido, bastante pivotal me imagino.

Effortlessly souflul and elegantly groovy. One digs also the positivity and the calling for love, equality, racial harmony, etc. etc. "Keep On Movin'" has lost absoultely not one iota of its utter and total hookiness and vibesiness. And several of the instrumental tracks are nearly as good. Like a lot of dance music albums, it falters here and there and can't really sustain its peaks (something that seems baked in to the genre). But actually S2S make this weakness into a strength, by modulating the mood and energy throughout. Back in the day, this record made one think one might actually be a dancer or could become a club kid – a testament to its unique attractions perhaps, though it couldn't do the impossible. Still, it remains great and a very enjoyable and satisfying listen straight through. Too bad they couldn't continue.

I enjoyed a lot

This is fun. I’ve spun it a couple times now, and I like it. My wife was familiar, but I was ignorant. No surprise, my loss.

Gets a bonus point for pure nostalgia.

What a nice album. Literally. The lyrics all seem positive and inspirational, just a good hearted bunch of tracks. Holdin On doesn't have crazy vocal range, but you can tell from the tone the simple honesty it has. I also like the wholesomeness of titling a track as 'live from a studio". Now that could be a weird British venue name, but it fits the vibe. Then we got Rockin flute solos, I don't see how anyone can dislike this album. It's not the greatest, but it's fun and objectively unobjectionable. Favorite track"Holdin On" 4/5

From the moment the beat hits on the first track, you know exactly what you’re in for over the next hour. Soul II Soul epitomize the 90s London R&B dance sound, and this album sets the standard. Maybe it comes off as corny, but I really enjoy the positive, funky, danceable sound of songs like “Feel Free” and “Keep On Movin’”. I even like the completely ridiculous vocals from Jazzie B on “Holdin’ On” and “Dance”. It just makes me want to move.

I like the blend of hip hop and R&B, the African instrumentals keep it interesting, and the flute stuff in “African dance” is just amazing.

This sound was so exciting as a kid in the early 90s. This album doesn't have many deep cuts but the singles are amazing.

Börjar starkt med Keep on Movin', Holdin On och Back to Life (som är en stark 5a) många bra låtar. Det är riktigt bra. Älskar den här skivan. Visar sig att jag kan texterna till alla låtar fortfarande. Antagligen denna skiva jag kommer rappa på demensboende. När jag lever i det förgångna. Stark 4.

Soul II Soul made positive, post-disco dance music. Late 80s London club music relied heavily on a mechanized back beat, and vocals in a disco/R&B style. Soul II Soul had a rotation of lead vocalists, which gave the band a range of sounds. Some of their most successful track featured Caron Wheeler, like "Keep on Moving." This is a strong collection of the dance tracks of the era.

Takes me back to when this came out and Jazzy B changed everything

Pretty good.

Favourite tracks: jazzy's groove; back to life

😎

Love, love it.

It was a very dinamic, fun and creative use of Jazz and soul music, so enjoyable. 7/10.

Fun to listen to!!

I remember listening to this album when it was released and I thought to myself “Welp, the 90s have definitely started”. It was just different, ya know? Still feels that way. Comfy. Groovy.