Reviews (page 4 of 8)
This was better than I expected, some bops
I did not care for this
Not the most compelling listen, but it’s plain that this record influenced a lot of 90s pop.
I like the soulful R&B groove this album has, but it just doesn’t hold my attention through the end of most of the songs.
Painfully boring. I never want to hear this again.
Meh. Didn't care for this one really.
I thought it was pretty groovy. gives like 'late night drive' vibes or 'im in this randoms person's house and this is the music in their living room' type vibes. Pretty cool. I dont think I would listen to again tho. I liked like 2-3 songs
Not bad, funky soul feel. Just wasn’t in the mood to appreciate it
Kivaa laulua vokalistinaiselta, mutta ei tuollaiset klubimönkötykset kiinnosta
Not sure what this is. It's like "We have C&C Music Factory at home" - but this is what you have at home. It's not bad but it's not good. I guess this was what Britain had for R&B in the nineties, sorry 'bout that. I got halfway through this album before finally giving up.
?? schon wieder vergessen c
This had a couple pleasant tunes, but also many really lame ones.
Some good moments, very solid production.
a few good songs. alot of mid songs. a few terrible ones
This album is essential- ly generic garbage. But it was short and relatively painless. And as pathetic as it may be, that's enough to clear the failure bar so many other albums on this list could not.
This was alright. Pretty lame though. No need for it to be on this list.
A classic of its time and still sounds great today. Timeless !
Some nice vibes but I struggled to really get into it.
The vocals on every song are awful and real don’t suit the chilled vibe of the music.
Wow, that was a weirdly cathartic experience. This album was the scene of my first childhood (14yrs) musical trauma of spending hard earned paper round money on an album, off the back of one single (Back to life), and absolutely hating it. The crushing disappointment was hard, leading to years of solid risk averse album purchases. Seeing this album today therefore gave me the fear somewhat. But hey, how musical tastes can change! While I still despise ‘Keep on movin’, and the vocal performance on ‘Holdin’ on’ is about as bad as anything on this list. It’s actually a really nice album, flavours of early house, funk, soul bringing a nice variety and flow. Some real bangers on here, obvs including the aforementioned Back to Life, and the flute on African Dance is sweet. It’s clearly an ‘influential’ album on a few future scenes. So, well played my 14yr old self, you were actually a musical visionary but just 36yrs ahead of your own musical tastes. Trauma begone!
Really not a fan of this sub-genre of hip-hop Best Song: Keep on Movin Rating: 4.0/10 Stars: 2
Keep On Movin' is alright but the rest is just as dire as I had expected. So 2 stars for Keep On Movin' but without it it would only be 1.
Nostalgic but not a must listen in my opinion
Great background music for a trendy restaurant serving sundried tomatoes, but not a record I feel I need to dance too. Maybe this was to set the tone for a hip party?
Honestly thought most of the songs were boring.
Really liked.
Funky songs with African vibes. Pretty good.
The single is a banger, but levels more complex than the rest of the material. The a capella version was a really nice surprise.
It's not bad. Honestly, you could throw this on in the background while doing stuff and have a great time.
The bass at the beginning of that first track sounded like Enigma. This was pretty good. Has kind of a DeeLite type vibe.
Spawned so many dance classics
There’s nothing wrong with it I suppose. I appreciate this genre in a way… but the other half of me is saying this is pretty crap. I’m not a fan of mindless vocalising over a beat. And that’s what a lot of this is. There’s parts that make me wanna dance and there’s parts that make me want to turn this off. Not for me.
Dated and boring. Back to Life saves this album from being completely uninteresting.
Enjoyed this just fine, while driving around on errands…nothing special, though. 3 stars.
Never fully gets going but groovy. Liked the more house influenced tracks in middle.
Lot of bangers on here. Listened to this in the early AM hours wandering around my neighborhood. Was a great time and the music undoubtedly helped
After already being well acquainted with the fantastic Back to Life, this was a little disappointing, as nothing else on the record came close to it. It's perfectly fine house music, but nothing special whatsoever compared to other records in the genre. Fave track on this listen: Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)
Bland 80s nonsense
You can listen to it, but should you? Nothing new after hearing it. Is club music and is from the late 80s, I get it. Hedonistic thingy. Basically is just another sterile attempt to add something new to the music history. You can record this album, but should you?
Dated. Repetitive. Lacks depth. And I don’t appreciate dance music.
Not to give away too much about my demographic but I grew up loving Streets of Rage for Sega Genesis and my mom was a step aerobics instructor in the early 90s. This music was part of my DNA before I was even able to know the artists and titles.
Sympa sans plus, oubliable
Sympa. Un peu trop calme… pour moi, c’est de la musique avec une tension sexuelle donc à ne pas écouter n’importe quand haha
J'ai vraiment beaucoup aimé ! Des sons qui me rappellent un peu Peggy Gou ou Jazzatronic par moments. En tous cas ce site me fait réaliser que j'aime beaucoup la hip hop (même si cet album est un peu plus varié) 4/5
(26/100)
Meh. I like soul but meh
Pretty generic, sounds like music written to avoid copywrite infringement for keywords "hip hop and soul".
The one banger back to life back to reality, some of the other tea ks were plain bad
Not bad- but everything here is secondhand in comparison to the big single "Back 2 Life"
It’s like a mix of Reggae music and rap and sorta like a santanaish vibe if made black… it’s not horrible but not my vibe. If 1.5 stars was an option that would be my rating.
Het eerste album van je kersverse bandje meteen al 'classics' noemen, en dan ook nog 'Vol. 1', de dames en heren van Soul II Soul hadden geen last van valse bescheidenheid. En in ieder geval hebben ze de hierna volgende albums netjes doorgenummerd. Wat horen we hier? Toen ik het opzette, dacht ik er dat er monniken doorheen zouden gaan zingen (à la Enigma), maar het bleken gezellige dansbeatjes uit onze basisschooltijd. Lauwe cola en bakken paprikachips op het klassenfeestje. Het is vrolijk, funky en klinkt nog altijd fris. Ik zou zomaar Vol. 2 opzetten.
Onmiskenbaar eind jaren '80. Een periode waar we al veel meer van hebben gehoord in deze lijst en waar dit album totaal niets aan toevoegt. Toegegeven. De hit geeft het genre prachtig weer. Maar die staat niet op het album. Althans op het album is gekozen voor een a capella versie. Even het boek erbij dan. Waarom deze schijf? Het zorgde volgens het boek 'eigenhandig voor een opleving van de Britse soul'. Ja daaa-aaag. Het is niet dat het soul muziek is, omdat de band twee keer het woordje soul in de naam draagt. Natuurlijk, er zijn onmiskenbaar invloeden vanuit de soul. Maar de bekende nummers van deze groep werden toen waarschijnlijk disco genoemd en zouden we nu als vroege Eurodance kunnen zien. Dat kan je geen opleving van de soul noemen.
Dit is zo'n typisch eind jaren 80, early 90s R&B-product. Veel drums en samples uit een computer, heavy op de bas en dan een zanger of rapper eroverheen laten jengelen. Soms komt er zo'n verschrikkelijk irritant CeCe Peniston pianootje bij. Daarover gesproken, die oorwurm Finally moet toch echt in de top10 van meest afschuwelijke nummers ooit staan lijkt me, dat is echt nagels op een krijtbord. Er staan gelukkig ook nog een paar meer dance georienteerde tracks op, zoals African Dance en Dance. Dat doet me door de panfluit een beetje denken aan So Flute van St Germain, redelijk relaxte loungemuziek. Het is allemaal niet per se slecht gedaan ofzo, maar het voelt zo ontzettend 13 in een dozijn. En bovendien is dit niet mijn genre muziek, dus ik kan hier moeilijk veel plezier aan beleven. Het tweede, dancegedeelte is wat fijner om te luisteren, maar ik kom nog steeds niet verder dan een vergeetbare 2 sterren.
Vaguely satisfying music but sort of mindnumbing, I can hardly remember what I just listened to Perhaps there is merit to this album if your favorite drink is water
Alright. Some nice beats and a really distinctive clean hifi production style that I never quite noticed in this kind of 80s/90s house/hip hop. I'm not a fan of the style with the female vocals quite so much. But definitely more to like than I first thought.
A great start to the generator. This is an album I would never have selected on my own. My preconceived ideas were all the way wrong. Almost sounds like trip-hop. Loving it.
While bookended by standout tracks, the album gets pretty generic.
Soulless. Go away.
Nellee Hooper's production style defined the sound of 90's more mainstream styles of electronica, like downtempo and trip-hop. This album, however, despite probably being what introduced Hooper to the wider music world, barely gives indication of any of that influence. While Hooper's work with Massive Attack or Björk still sounds fresh, albeit a bit of its time, this album sounds incredibly dated, and not in charming way. I'm sure the reason this sounds so basic it because a lot of artists were influenced by it, but I don't really see the reason to come back here. Key tracks: Fairplay
This was… not great. Apart from three (entirely unnecessary) iterations of the one hit, the rest of the album was really nothing to write home about.
Nice background dance music. Didn’t like Back to Life as much as its popularity would suggest. African Dance was groovy
Awful in so many ways.
Smooth, soulful, jazzy.
Not bad, enjoyed it though it sounded monotonous at times to me due to the dance rhythms.
This was... fine. Pretty mellow dance music that has a decent beat and a couple catchy songs but nothing real special about it.
Weird
back to liife back to realitee
Pretty smooth R&B joint. I was aware of the big singles going in ("Keep on Movin'" and "Back to Life") and I'd argue that both are R&B classics (especially the "Back to Life" remix). The rest of the album fill was pretty interesting in comparison. There were some instrumental tracks more suited for ambient music you'd hear in a public space or an elevator. I was a little disappointed in the lack of depth to be honest. Side note: I feel like "Club Classics Vol. One" is an odd choice for an album title. Gives off the wrong idea and makes people think that this is some sort of compilation album part of a larger series. Or perhaps that was the intention?
Same issue I have had with all these techno dance albums: repetition. The songs are too long with not enough variety in each individual songs and for this one between each different song as well. 4/10
Not bad. I remember it well...
I'm really struggling to see why this is on the list or even what the "hit" is on this album. It's kinda sad when your best songs rely on guest stars, when the rest of the bands open their mouths, you can see why. There's some funky bass lines on a few tracks. Oh I enjoyed Ron Burgundy's guest appearance on flute in African Dance.
This was the album that made me get the book. I had to find out why this was on the list. This was just boring. Every song felt like 2 beats on repeat. One of the vocalists managed to make it even worse and the lyrics detracted even from that experience. This felt like nothing, and I have no desire to ever give it a second listen.
nice, not my normal listen but enjoyable
The actual debut album is much better
3.5/5 - Smooth and vibey; maybe early Trance -Solid music for the dancehall or headphones working in the library. - Full of Soul and that fawnk - Solid effort and some good work, but this is a tape that is best fit for the background noise to living.
Cool but not my thing.
All that I dislike in music wrapped up in a single album. 1/5 26/8/25
90's vibes but pretty meh..
3 stars
I am an electronic music guy, so i was pleased with what first seemed to be a classic house album. Unfortunately it was more R&B and overall quite low energetic, i have the feeling this did not age very well, compared to todays standards.
As charming as it is to hear an album from the 80s where someone emcees in a thick Caribbean North London accent, the songs really lack the groove and drive to really get me moving. I wouldn't have lasted long in the Fridge. The production is thumping, and at least it has Back to Life... just not the one you remember.
Salad beats and a fun album overall. Not particularly memorable with a couple of exceptions.
Unfortunately not a very interesting, nor compelling dance album. Paper thin beats, duplicate songs, and just the teaser "Back to Life" - apparently the expanded remix was a B-side? Really could be a bit more impressive. 2/5
Really close to a 1 but not quite there. Totally bland , no highlights
Although some of the productions on this album sounds a bit dated today, ("Holding on", "African Dance") it certainly has it charms as one of the first electronic/dance albums. Furthermore the vocals on this album are sublime, and the classics "Keep on Movin" and of course the cracker "Back to life" made this album a very enjoyable listen. Caron Wheeler's vocals really are the star here - her voice gives the electronic elements real warmth and humanity. And Jazzie B's vision of combining club culture with soul tradition was genuinely innovative for 1989. 3/5
Good, just not for me
Interesting to listen and hear the influences on later stuff
C'est hot !
So groovy
Pretty good. Probably a 3.5-3.75. Most tracks were great, especially the ones with female vocalists. His vocals are good too, kinda sounded like Wesley Willis in a way. A couple tracks that drag a bit, which holds it back a tad
Back to Life 's a banger and so is Keep on Movin (all be it slightly lesser) - rest of album is very pleasant 80's house - but fairly unremarkable except when Jazzy B starts rapping and it goes a bit wrong.
Club Classics Vol. One Part dated, part ahead of its time, part still fresh sounding. The rapping/spoken word bits, both lyrically and stylistically fall into the dated camp (Feeling Free, Dance, Jazzie’s Groove), but the excellent mix of house, hip-hop, jazz, disco and soul signposted a lot of great music (MA, Portishead, Tricky etc) that came after, and the two big songs, Keep on Movin’ and Back to Life still sound superb. Alongside those two tracks, Holdin’ On and African Dance with their African influences are great tracks, as is Feel Free with more excellent Chic-esque strings and an excellent, soulful vocal. Happiness is a soulful, dubby track with a nice house piano line and Jazzie’s Groove’s use of samples with a great bassline. I enjoyed this, more than I was expecting. Keep on Movin, Feel Free and Back to Life are excellent and there are some very good album tracks too. And despite some things that do date it, it’s a very good album, edging to a 4. ♣️♣️♣️♣️ Playlist submission: Back to Life
When it's good, it's great. It's the London warehouse dance scene captured on record. It can sound dated, but in a retro way. The mix of piano, strings, beats etc are top-notch. There's a couple of slower and less successful numbers which border on bland, but they aren't enough to drag a very fine album down (especially Back to Life and Keep on Movin', two all time classics).
Mostly not my thing, but did my find myself jamming to a couple songs. "Dance" and "Jazzie's Groove" in particular
Very soulful fancy album, just not my taste
Was not really into this to start but it did grow on me as the album progressed. When Back To Life came on I was like, hey I’ve heard this. Was going to give it a 2 but, despite probably never listening to it again, I think it deserves a 3.
Enjoying this more than I expected. Really like Do'Reen's voice
Good to have something different. Definitely more soul than dance.
On paper, this is music I assume I would hate. Upon listening, I'm surprised to be enjoying it some. Sure it's dance music, but there are little snippets of jazz peppered in all over the place that bring a level of interest I didn't expect.
not super memorable but easy listening
That's not my taste in music - But ok
eh ja. 2 highlights (die singles), und der rest der gleich tönt wie erstere.
Für Discomusik ganz akzeptabel
The first 2 tracks were good. The rest of the record fell into the descent territory. The sound wasn't for me. Favourite Track(s): Keep On Movin' Least Favourite Track(s): Feeling Free, African Dance
I only listened briefly!
Kinda boring….i feel like I would hear this at a store that’s too hip for me to go into. Yawn
Solid background music with some great vocal guests here and there. But pretty much exactly what I expected out of an album like this - it certainly sets a pleasant mood. I'll say I like this album cover and the song 'Holdin' On' quite a bit.
Really good vibes, a chill fun album. Best song: Ambition Notable(s): Back To Life, Feeling Free
Some groovy tracks, however album doesn't flow too well with multiple versions of the same track scattered throughout
Nice
Enjoyed it!
Caught myself grooving to multiple tracks, not bad
Other than the hits was a little nothingness
It was ok, I don’t really know the genre well but nothing grabbed me. Felt more like background music than club classics.
Ab album that was pretty much exactly what I expected and was fine/good
Soul and excellency of finest form of music, incredible!
Below average for me. I like Afrobeats and house, but this feels like kid stuff in comparison to what came before (Fela Kuti) and what has come afterward (too many to choose from, but WizKid comes to mind first). The end of the 80s produced a lot of boring beats, in hip hop and dance music especially.
Fun, but repetitive. I was itching for the next song but then didn’t really notice the shifts. I liked some songs individually but as a whole this was a little too much of the same thing
Keep on moving and Jazzie’s groove are fun. The vibrato on Feel Free was super annoying. Didn’t realize Little Mix had sampled from Back to Life for Bounce Back. Overall, a fun time but probably won’t be going back to
Fun listen, not sure I'll come back to it
Honestly Kinda Hot!!!!
This hasn't aged well, and with the exception of one track feels very disposable.
Is there a word in English to express "the opposite of nostalgia" ? Because that’s what I feel when listening to this album. I was a teenager when that kind of music was around, and I hated it. I really tried to give it a fair chance by listening with a fresh ear - but no, I still hate it with a passion. It’s the by-product of a bygone era that should absolutely remain bygone. Did it pave the way for other stuff like trip-hop ? Maybe. But I cannot think of any circumstance where I would want to submit myself again to such musical torture.
Nice, smooth, R&B
Look at me, I'm walking straight out of 1989 in silk pants! You can hear the seeds of '90s dance and R&B coming to form here. It sounds a little vintage now, but not in a bad way. Spins: 2 Playlist Additions: - Keep On Movin' - Back To Life - Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)
Throwback
I found this to be a pretty boring listen. Maybe these are great dance club songs, but listening as an album it just didn’t do anything for me.
Some grooves in here
I was surprised how much I liked some of this. Definitely a period piece but when it all comes together (especially when the lead vocals are on the money) it's pretty great.
The singles are fine; the rest is tedious.
1. Repetitive beat and lyrics. Not horrible, but not my thing. Nice piano. 2. Really don't like the vocals. 3. No bad, but wouldn't listen again. 4. Feel like I've heard this one before, not sure where. 5. Don't like 90s preprogrammed beats or flute. 6. Same song as song 5 but with vocals. No. 7. Fast, distracting vibration in vocals. Ugh. No. 8. Too much dead space. I understand needing to breath, but too much. 9. I've heard this. Will Neff. Good. Wouldn't be an everyday listen. 10. Continuation from last song. Changed up a little. Talking. 11. Not bad if your in a 90s dance rap mood. 12. Liking the accapella moments off this album more than anything. Good song. Feel like I've also heard it before. Songs that stood the test of time. 13. Heard before. Definitely been an earworm in the past. 14. Decent instrumental. 15. Different version of song 12. "However do you want me..." mash up of previous songs. 16. Don't like the samples. Annoying. 3/10 Would likely never listen again. Not my thing.
Meh. I don’t want to go back to life. (Back to reality.)
Siento que no escuché nada novedoso, siguieron bien el estilo de música pero siento que no se destacaron en ningún tema, fueron temas genéricos sin nada trascendental
Me sacó de mi zona de confort y me re divertí. Posta me gustó mucho, sentía el flow mientras lo escuchaba
Estuvo interesante pero no termino de convencerme
Baile Funky de defensa personal
Это было… Очень вайбово, но очень будто бы невыразительно. Лучшая песня - Back To Life.
Aikansa tuote mutta yllättävän hyvä kokonaisuus 3/5
aika laimeaksi jäävä r'n'b-setti. 2/5
This is a bit dated but still quite enjoyable, particularly the tracks with female vocalists.
les deux premières musiques sont très bien, après j’ai l’impression que ça reste pas mal la même chose, sauf quand les feats reprennent (en fait les musiques sont mieux quand c’est des autres personnes qui chantent mdr), y’a aussi beaucoup de moments de vide
This was cutting edge stuff back in the day, and influential on 90s dance pop. Sure it has some dated elements, but still uplifting.
Most of the components are here, but missing choruses and largely rigid dynamics have me hearing through it aside from the singles, one of which wasn’t on the original album in its best form. The vibe - including the title itself - capture the popular moment perfectly, but listening to this next to more exciting contemporaries - including a heck of a lot of city pop - does not flatter it.
As a voracious consumer of compilations at the time, I remember picking this up, scanning the track listing and thinking "there's no classics on here, and they're all by the same group.. oh wait..". I revised my impression today: two half-classics, still a long way off. Arrogant fuckers
Kind of interesting, but feels a bit too long for the substance.
Inoffensive
really great!
Kult men den a kapella versjonen var litt meget
The album opener and track 9 are sweet reminders of a simpler time. The album’s sound is consistent and the production is immaculate. I really enjoyed the layering of the multiple instruments on each song. I would’ve preferred more singing by the female leads. Some of the beats and melodies felt a bit wasted with subpar singing or rapping and mediocre lyrics. Definitely a certain vibe throughout though and would be a fine album to chill with.
Some moments sounded nice but overall I was not feeling this
Club Classics Vol. One - Soul II Soul ⭐️ This would likely be a three maybe a four at a happening nightclub after a few cocktails but just as a regular listen it's pretty dull. I just finished listening to it & I already forgot it almost entirely. OK, I have to go now.
R&B continues not to be my genre
So I've got a history of finding R&B painfully dull, but I'll give this a shot. NOPE this hurts. Ouch. Back To Life is just good enough to rescue it from the one star pit of despair, but I DO. NOT. ENJOY. R&B.
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme
not in 5001
From the title I expected some house stuff. I would've not enjoyed that at all. Listening to the thing now and I'm pleasantly surprised by the groovy, organically sampled sound. It's nice for the background - and that's a positive assessment here.
Better than Coldplay
Really cool. Just as soon as you've had your fill of the buttery pipes of Charlotte Kelly you start getting a heavy dose of Jazzie B and his disaffected-yet-soulful rapping. It's on his tracks where the album really starts to feel like the UK twin of A Tribe Called Quest (something I'd never have thought to look for) - I find it interesting that this released the same year as Low End Theory. I bet they hung out. And if it's possible to get sick of both of the leads before the album's end, there are some very vibey instrumentals like African Dance. And if you then get sick of that too, you can go fuck yourself. High 4*.
Danced through
Okay - not all cuts were great
Nice, but the beat is too dominant.
9/10 super fun, kinda cheesy, really liked it
This album wasn't crazy interesting to me. Just meh, got nothin else to say really.
Nothing really exceptional here, at least to my ear. It's fine, just not something that at any point makes me think "wow, never heard something like that before." Side note, the falsetto garbage she keeps doing on "Feel Free" just pisses me off.
Top to bottom a solid genre-busting album that goes far beyond the normal house or dance context and veers solidly into pop music. Really enjoyed this.
First thoughts, I like the vibe and beat.
Classic
Took me back to my late teens. Not my style. But some iconic songs. Hopefully the last time I ever hear some of them.
kjedelig
More chill than I anticipated. Not bad, but nothing here to bring me back.
Tbh they all sound a bit dated. More deep house than anything. Has a similar rhythm to 80s hip hop. Not too bad overall.
Funky and groovy leaning into early hip hop and lite club mixes. Shades of J-Dilla. Sunny afternoon at Parrotdog vibes.
Club classics, club club classics. This was pretty good in the background. Another high 3.
Liked this more than I expected to. Good rhythms and beats for dancing and strong vocals.
Enough British electronica. I'd like to put a total and complete freeze on these albums being on the list until we can figure out what the hell is going on. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.
I liked the songs sung by the women, the man rapping/singing wasnt my thing. Its a british thing, innit?
Club Classics is an appropriate title as it feels like someone messing around as a DJ. Pretty cool beats and the bass work is really good. But this collection is super basic and the iconic Back To Life is not even on the original release in the single version everyone knows. When that song hit the world lit on fire. It's so good, but it's not here except as an acapella song.
2.5, rounding up to 3. The album name “club classics” threw me for a loop. I thought this was going to be umph umph clubby dance music the 80s is known for but alas it was not. I did come away liking two songs but will likely never listen to the rest.
More British bias. No reason for inclusion on this list. Pretty sure most of the stock beats were included on Casio keyboards you could buy in 1993.
A little better than some of the other electronic albums cause of the vocals. Still not really my thing though. 2.5/5 Probably won’t listen again
I knew a few songs, but this album was great
Nice bouncy soul like club music
1,2/5
Classic of its time and still sounds relevant today. Cuts some mean grooves
Nothing extraordinary, but super groovy and fun. A lot of sampling coming from this stuff.
I like the confidence of titling this “club classics” because this album certainly delivers on that. It’s all killer and no filler and plain and simply banger after banger. The rapping is excellent, the singing performances are excellent, and so are the lyrics in general, I like what they talk about especially on the track “feeling free”, real stuff. Also I have to mention the production is fantastic as well I can definitely picture this in a club setting. No problems with this album from me at all. Favorite Tracks: Fairplay and Feeling Free (2 Best), Keep On Moving, Back To Life, Feel Free, and Dance.
Some smooth 90's club house cuts in here and I'm here for it. All the stuff I want to hear when I'm immersing in 80's or 90's house.. big percussive piano chords, organ tones, belting divas on the mic, flute solos being ripped, and programmed 4/4 boots and pans on the beat. This is a chill, good time and includes some classic 90's club house bangers, taking me back to some of my first memories of the genre when it started getting radio play. The singles aside, it also features a robust palette of aesthetics within the aesthetic cannon of that era. Damn do I love this genre in this era. It's music just made to dance forever to. The vocals usually range from a diva raised on gospel just going beast mode in the booth on a hook to spoken word male vocals ranging from awkward rhyming schemes to outsider rap verses. In other words, 90's house figured out a formula on how to capture a vibe and milked the shit out of it during this period. Still gets me movin and God bless em for it.
ass
Dire. The two big hits are both musical annoyances, and the rest of the album was just a constant drab noise. Very glad to find that everything after the first ten tracks is a "bonus" so I could skip it.
Det høres ut som r&b fra nittenåttini. Det e hverken en fornærmelse eller en kompliment, og det e cirka det æ tenke om musikken også. Helt ok selskap på bussen fra Varangerbotn til Høybuktmoen, men usannsynlig at æ noensinne høre på det igjen.
I. REALLY. HATE. CONTEMPORARY. R&B. ESPECIALLY WHEN THE ALBUM GIVEN TO ME YESTERDAY AND THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY IS TWO OF MY ALL TIME FAVS. 1/5
Keep On Moving
Don’t appreciate the genre-style
This sounded like nothing else when it came out as far as I was concerned. Fresh, modern and distinctly London. Still makes me proud to be British and of what multiculturalism really means.
I liked it when released and I liked it yesterday. Smooth groove.
not my kind of soul
Couldn't be less for me, but fun
Had a lot of fun listening to this one! Fun/5
You gotta love to dance
hey, this was fun and awesome... thanks!
Netter R&B aber nicht spektakulär.
Alright. Couple good tunes.
Great. But back to reality now
Back to Life is a pretty solid track, but the rest was pretty dull. If I could have gone back in time, I'd tell the producer that they should feature Caron Wheeler on every track, and no track should be longer than 3:30.
For a few years the S2S beat was inescapable in the charts. this is a great album, but has to be docked a star for only including the short accapella version of Back To Life, with Keep on Movin (also here) their two truly great tracks. It is bitty and piecey, but the bits are pretty good.
I’m pretty sure my sister had this on tape. Pretty nostalgic
1. moving - 1 2. fair - 0 3. holding - 1 4. free - 1 5. african - 1 6. dance - 0 7. feel - 0 8. happinezz - 1 9. life - 1.5 10. groove - 1.5 11. ambition - 1.5
5.5/10
I like club music. Don't love it, but like it. But I really like (almost love) this record. I don't know if t's because it's just cool, or because I have listened to it at 2 am, time at which lounge music sounds better. But yes, four stars from me!
It's fine
Very nice. Enjoyed this a lot.
"Holding On" is surprisingly fun, in its unabashedly epic earnestness and sweeping instrumentals. Otherwise, this is at best a "blurs into the background" album for me.
This is definitely not my jam… Too buttery soft at times, and too boring at other times
The challenge with this album is that it doesn't make a convincing case for its own genre. Musically, its fine, but as I develop a stronger appreciation for R&B, I don't get why it is special.
I'm sure some people like this, but it's not for me. For having "soul" in their name, this felt oddly soulless to me.
It's OK, but I'm not suitably impressed or interested.
It seems almost like a parody of the 90s, but I love it!
Enjoyed this a lot! But I always like me some club classics.
This album lives up to its name. I was very, very tempted to give this a 4 - there's a lot here that I think is phenomenal, and I can mayyyybe see myself returning to it in the future, but it's just not quite there. I hope to see more like this on this list in the future.
Some absolutely jammin' club tunes.
Most of it was ok, but I had to skip too many of the more annoying for it to be highly rated. Back to Life (However Do You Want Me) slaps though.
Now I'm a sucker for soul and disco, so I was very easy to please with this album. Some of the sounds are pretty dated by today's standards, and from a critical listening standpoint, a lot of the songs overstayed their welcome by 1-2 minutes. None of this stopped me from 🕺 BOOGYING 🕺 though. The 6-minute pan flute track hit me by pure surprise, and was ironically one of the few songs that never got old/repetitive - banger the whole way through. Highlights: Holdin' On, Feeling Free, African Dance
Started as a 3 for me but quickly became a 4 on an appropriate sound system. So funky and I will definitely be dancing to this while cleaning the house or cooking in the future. I love the sampling.
Good overall album. Not a huge dance music fan but this had some great beats and some good vocals whether singing or rapping. Favorites are “African Dance”, “Feel Free”, and “Back To Life”.
I remember when this one first came out. Didn't listen to the whole thing back then, but always liked "Back to Life." Nice to hear the whole thing. Not a flawless album, but an enjoyable one. Favorites: "Back To Life", "Feel Free" (Do'Reen has a powerful voice)
I feel like if this was the "1,001 albums that would play well in a 80s and 90s dance club to dance to before you die" This album would be high on the list. But this is getting away from being a good album as a whole. I feel like this is a "one hit wonder" kind of album, with Back to Life, and the original studio album doesn't even include the version we all heard everywhere and saw on MTV. I spent a lot of time in 1989 watching MTV. When these kind of songs came on, It really wasn't my thing, some were fun and some I would tune out. But I went in with an open mind, enjoyed African Dance, Back to Life from the bonus tracks, and the end of the album. Is it just me or in Jazzie's Groove and Ambition, does Jazzie B just not start sounding like Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords after awhile. Sorry, but that is all I could picture at the end.
I don't know what it is about the 80's, and especially 80's soul. It just kinda washes over me. It's like a Thomas Kinkade painting, appropriately also very 80's. It's competent, comforting, and appealing, but ultimately manufactured and soulless. Huh. I just called soul soulless. I stand by it.
Not really my jam. Back to Life is the only song I had heard before this listen. The rest was pretty generic to me.
Not much is really grabbing me, but "Back to Life" is enjoyable in its familiarity.
Relatively low-key, however this is club music before the genre really even existed, surprisingly good stuff.
This was a pretty good classic dance album. It’s definitely a good combination of soul, jazz, R&B, and house music, but I think it probably stood on higher ground back when it first came out. I can’t say it stands the test of time as well as other classic dance albums from the same period, such as "Paradise" by Inner City. It’s worth a listen, but I’ll probably never go back to it like I do with other albums from the past.
Listened to whilst barbequing and perfect listening out in the garden and other people can hear so pick something they won't mind music. Smooth and chilled out. Good stuff.
Mix tape style, not for me
Steady beats overlaid with a cool variety of instruments and voices. Enjoyed this a lot. Favorite song is "Dance".
Never heard this before, and I loved it. Great listen that caught me by surprise.
This was fun, it didn't blow my mind, it quickly became background music with fairly similar hip hop beats. I did really like the jazz flute and favorites one song.
I had never heard of this band or this album. The first thing I thought when I saw this record cover was "New Jack Swing"? I was 100% right. This album asks and answers a couple questions. Can you judge an album by it's cover? Sometimes. In this case, yes. Do raps REALLY need to rhyme? Yes. Yes they do. What is New Jack Swing? It's like Trip Hop, but really lame. Why is this album on this list? That song "Back to Life"? I really don't know. Were the pop charts in 1989 full of straight garbage? For the most part, yes. This must have seemed super innovative at the time. Was Ice Cube Right? .....um about what? "And you can New Jack Swing on my nuts" Yes, truer words have never been spoken.
I think this was very interesting in the year it was released but in 2025 it sounds a bit outdated. I would say that there are better electronic music albums from that year.
3-
we have different interpretations of a club classic
There's not much I found interesting about this one. The beats / backing tracks are repetitive and boring. There's some good singers on here but they aren't given much to work with lyrically. I can hear the influence that this had on later acts like Massive Attack. The production is good. Ultimately I found this dull and it just isn't something I would choose to listen to again.
Amazing, I didn't realize how boring you can make soul. Back To Life was the only song that was a bit more interesting. However, I never really liked it. 2/5
80 luvun rottien mielestä tämä oli päheintä paskaa mitä koskaan kuullut...soft generation.. onneksi ollaan siitä lähtien kovennettu. hars times greate soft men, soft men create hard times. man stay soft. ihmisluonto pysyy. narkomaanikot ja psykopaatit yhtälailla mumisee kaduilla ja joulupukki tuo joka vuosi lahjat. kuoleman lahjan. kylmän ja kavalan. turvallisuutta ei maankamaralla ole taattua. selviytyä pitää pystyä jaksamaan jos hengittämään halajaa. kaikilla ei taidot ole hallussa, ja siitähän sen ongelman juuret periytyvät sukupolvesta toiseen.. kun suuri sentineeli pysyy, mutta ihmiset hautautuu ja maatuu.. korkealta katsotaan ja pohditaan. - tom waits african dance
My Rating: 4.6/5 Silky Grooves of Self-Worth This is grown-folk music for people with taste, but also mild baggage and great shoes. Put this on and you are 30% cooler instantly.
2.5 - Meh
One or two good songs does not a good album make.
Really enjoyed listening.
Day474 - pretty good head boppin songs
Pretty groovin', though there are a few songs where I'm not the biggest fan of the vocals.
Decent listen, but didn’t grab me. Worth it for the acapella version of Back To Life though!
Drum machines, insipid disco strings, monotonous rhythms and vocals. It's all great and appropriate for dancing and dance clubs. So, it's perfect for that. But, I never went to dance clubs because I don't enjoy dancing. So, this music just bores me.
Interesting to hear a mix of R&B, dance, and reggae. It shouldn't work as well as it does. I could see this doing really well at a club. It's not quite my thing for home listening but it was still pleasant to listen to.
eh. it’s alright. the acapella version of “back to life” is superior imo
What a classic album with some 90’s bangers! Always enjoy me some Soul II Soul, and this album features “Back To Life”, which was an essential track to our generation growing up. Wild how low the rating for this album is on the challenge site, but then again some of the folks rating this low have Bob Dylan as their favorite artists. So I can tell those folks find Ketchup to be the height of spicy.
2.5... late 80s early 90s sound, not timeless, some beats and synthesizers sounds... Dates (repetitive electro beats)... Hip hop, soul, rnb (good). However, 3 stars because the melody/harmonics of the songs sang by the ladies/women are actually impressive. Human voice can not be topped. Do not know if I'll listen again, but good artifact of the late 80s.
Yet another British entry to the list, was expecting to be disappointed. However, although it probably doesn't deserve to be on this list, it is a fun listen. Keep On Movin', Back to Life (Original and Popular Mix), Jazzie's Groove (Piano Version) all great. Good vibes overall. A low 4*, enjoyable but not groundbreaking.
3,5
too fabricated to me ;/
Original, groovy, serious, English - a lot of my favourite things - captures the late 80's to mid 90s era well, crystillises the US hip hop and soul influence with a bit of UK urban dance that acts as a backdrop to this broadly quite dim country. Deserves a 5 star, hits each spot perfectly
Honestly was excited for this one. Not thrilled with it. Not necessarily bad but just not for me. 3.1/10
Good, not great
Boring
Loved it when it came out but dance music has moved on since then and so have I. I don’t seem to listen to many albums that were once indispensable to me.
More like, Club Classics, there’s only one.
I probably wouldn’t listen to this by choice but I enjoyed parts of it at least. Now I know what ODB was making fun of.
They were very popular when I was in junior high. I didn't like them then. I still don't. I prefer songs with more than 2 chords. Favorite song: back to life
There's a bar somewhere playing this album thinking it makes them hip... Another shining example of the regional bias of this list. Maybe this album had a place in time that it stood out, this is not that time.
What club is playing these classics?
Not a huge fan of this. I think it has moments where you kinda get lost in a trance, but I think it's primarily because it's boring. There were some shining moments throughout the album, but not anything you couldn't find better somewhere else. I would skip the GTA radio station if one of these songs came on unless I was in an interesting mood. I liked Happiness and Jazzie's Groove 2/5
Dance sounds like flight of the concords which I found amusing. If I were in a club in the early 90s then maybe this wouldn’t have been as boring and monotonous, but I’m not so it was. Also what is going on with track names on this album? We get Dance and African Dance? Feeling free and feel free?
It's fine R&B but I could not have needed to hear this album less. This could have been a clean 1000 albums instead. Honestly this could have been like, 300 albums but whatever.
Good easy listening. Some of it felt a bit repetitive, with some rough vocal work, but it was still enjoyable overall. 'Dance' was my fave.
Dig the some of African influenced inspired tracks, better than I was excepting but nothing mind blowing.
Unnecessary. Aside from Back to Life and African Dance this was completely forgettable.
Wasn't great. I guess Back to Life is ok.
Not really my type of music, but nothing here that was annoying. It was fine.
The only Soul II Soul song I know is “Back to Life (However Do You Want Me),” which sadly isn’t on this album. However, if that’s any indication for how this album is going to sound, then I think I’m going to be in for a pretty fun experience on Club Classics. Well, that was certainly an experience. There really wasn’t much that I enjoyed on this album. The beats and production work weren’t really very interesting or unique in my opinion. The rhythm was somewhat fun to groove along to, but I didn’t feel like Soul II Soul left much of a unique fingerprint on these sounds. These songs were a bit on the longer side, and I felt like most of the songs just dragged on for too long. I couldn’t find any personnel credits for this album (I didn’t put a ton of effort into that search), but I really didn’t care for the male vocalist at all. I thought I was going to enjoy “Holdin’ On,” but as soon as the vocals kicked in, I lost interest. The album did have a few bright spots though: “Feel Free,” “Happiness,” and “Back To Life.” “Feel Free” had a good rhythm to it, and it was one of the more fun songs to groove along to. The bass line was fun, and the vocals were good too. The piano on “Happiness” was excellent, and it was one of the few songs on this album that I thought justified its runtime. The vocals and atmosphere on “Back to Life” were great. Even though I’m not familiar with this version of the song, I thought it was really good. The echo on the vocals created an icy atmosphere that made it really stand above these other songs. I loved when the bass and percussion kicked in towards the end of the song. Even though there were three songs that I thought were good, the rest of the album was enough of a clunker to earn a two-star rating from me. This album may have been big for dance music, but it’s not for me.
Niet helemaal afgeluisterd helaas maar genoot van wat ik hoorde. Niet echt een goede mening kunnen vormen maar ik geef het toch een rating lekker puh
Very enjoyable, great grooves and female vocals. I can imagine this being a huge success in clubs around this time. The raps on certain songs are definitely very bad, but are at least very funny. Back to life is an incredible song
nice 90's club vibes, recognized some of the songs even if i don't hit the club all too often. cool stuff, needs a dj over it thoooooooo
I'm surprised by the different music influences on this album for being a club classic album. Mostly, a vibe however that Back to Life song ruined the flow. I'd be hitting the clubs if they played this type of music.
Wow, boring. Listen to “Back To Life” and skip the rest. Easy-listening hip hop.
I had a bad feeling from the get-go with the digital drums and soaked R&B production. But as the album progressed I got more and more lulled into this danceable record and the various tweaks and influences spread across the runtime. 'Holdin' On' stood out in particular.
Better than I initially feared. Those Jazzie B beats are quite funky. I don't see myself visiting this at any point though. Not really my jam.
Surprisingly good
Really danceable and enjoyable music. 4 stars
Eh.
It was alright
benvinguts a la biblioteca de sintonies per la ràdio moltes gràcies igualment
Not bad background music, but probably not something I'd revisit.
Ok so Back to Life was the hit off of this I figured out. That song is nothing extraordinary. The rest of this pretty mediocre with some songs bordering on cringe (I’m looking at you Dance, or is it Daahnce?). Needless to say I was not impressed and did not need to hear this before I die.
honestly just kinda bland forgettable funk/R&B. nothing stuck out at all
i really thought that one guy was from New Zealand but I'm assuming they're Jamaican or something
It's alright but can't say it was particularly exciting
Groovy baby
A great club classic.
Nostalgic chill
Takes me back to daytime radio in my teenage years.
Back To Life is killer, the rest is filler.
It was okay. Notably, recognized a lot of musical themes or sounds that have been used/reused elsewhere.