Nuyorican Soul

This one is my upload pick, so obviously I like it a lot. I Am the Black Gold of the Sun/It's Alright, I Feel It are among my favorite things in music. I'll allow that it is a little uneven, with some dull patches, and that in its eclecticism it doesn't totally come together as a unified album. Still a ton of iconic music that has found its way into a whole lot of samples and remixes.

I say this with all the love in my heart: I can see clearly the impact this had on the Sega Sound Team circa the late 90s/ early 00s.

This sure is something 4 Omg the percussion 5 And the damned disco or whatever on sweet tears

9/10. This was kinda sick, I wish people would have quit coming up to me at work and trying to talk to me while I was listening to this, because it was super enjoyable.

A mix of Thievery Corporation and Gotan Project and Motown and Buena Vista Social Club

Masters At Work produce a nice not-so-little mix. The turn into disco is surprising but not shocking and certainly needed: If anything, the record is still a bit stiffer than the jazz creds suggest. Jazzy Jeff's there, a name I'd never considered literally before. The juxtaposition of mostly-rearward looks with what quickly became avant-garde hip-hop production is neat from today.

Loved it, thanks for sending it in. Congrats on finishing!

Cool stuff. 8/10

This was actually really boppin. What a great amalgamation of genres all fused together.

This was a fun collection of tunes

The word my older millennial-ass keeps coming back to is "vibes" and man, if anything has "vibes", it's this. The blending of genres on this thing is impressive, and the whole record slides through in one extremely cohesive burst that it's impressive. It does occasionally fade into background music, but again, the vibes are just too good. Favorite track: "Runaway"

This wasn't too bad, but 2 hours? That's a lot of jazzy cruise vibes or whatever. 3/5 and I'm being generous.

Nice sounds but nothing special

A fine dancey time. Definitely feels like decent driving music.

This made #25 on the UK charts? How did it not make the list?

Solid

Some latin, some jazz, and even some disco. It's a fun album, but not really worth a re-listen for me

A bit too jazzy for my tastes, but it's alright innit? 3 stars.

Seeing the names of the all-stars on this album was encouraging, but the songs with vocalists (mainly Jocelyn Brown) are too poppy for my tastes. The few instrumental numbers that lean towards jazz are a significant improvement. Overall, this easy listening latin jazz/pop went down easy, but it left me wanting a bit more substance.

Disco, Jazz and Soul.... sorry, not my cup of tea.

Although it sounded quite upbeat, I couldn't get into it and it made pretty restless.

Enjoyed the Afro-jazz fusion going on here for a while, but then the album kept going... and going... and going. Definitely a function of my personal tastes here, as the instrumentation is airtight and the arrangements at least somewhat varied throughout. However, there just wasn't enough variance to sustain the whole runtime for me and I was checking out there at the end.

Acid jazz from the 90s? Not in the mood, sorry. I have enjoyed the 'disco' vibes of 'Runaway' though. Great song

Not for me

What a nice album. Makes you want to move. And dance. And bounce. I am the black gold of the sun was delightful.

Wow! Another really great addition from one of those brilliant folks - this was jazzy at times, covered a variety of styles, and hit me in so many good places! I wanted to DANCE DANCE DANCE!

Delightful! Thank you!

This was a nice jam!

Nice!

This is really good. One of those collections that I'm sure I've been aware of in the past, but never really arrived into my conscious mind as something. There's quite a lot of quite a lot in here - and it is very clearly contemporary to the likes of Thievery Corporation and Nightmares on Wax. It reminds me a bit of Mr Scruff's selections in places, and the four-to-the-floor disco revival of late 90s Moloko in others. Naturally, anyone who had this playing in their bars in the late 90s was aiming for a cosmopolitan, too-cool-for-school Tribeca warehouse kind of feel. And I get that - I totally do. It's not something I'd want to sit down and actively listen to for over 2 hours really. It's absolutely, 100% the sort of thing that should be playing in the background while Martinis are mixed for you. You need to be chatting up people with way better fashion sense but way less money than you. You'd have looked into the production of this album, and you'll have interesting facts prepped about it - like did you know that Jazzy Jeff was involved? Yes, that dude that Uncle Phil kept throwing out in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. You absolutely won't have pulled, but at least you'd be charitably waved at by the immaculately dishevelled young thing you were trying it on with next time you went to that warehouse bar. You see - this is the difference between the 90s and the 00s. This music is funky, relaxed, effortlessly cool and makes you think that you can do everything. Even get a number from someone dressing for the cover of Vogue from charity shop finds and dumpster dives. The equivalent to this in the 00s was angry, aggressive, cynical and overconfident to the point of arrogance. You definitely would get that number in the 00s, but you'd also have woken up with them, covered in kebab and chlamydia. And that's the difference. In the 90s, it was OK to be optimistic, because there just wasn't anything left to worry you. In the 20s there are hints of optimism coming back through in music, but it is (rightfully) imbued with a sense of responsibility. This is absolutely a record of its time. After The End of History but before Dubya. It represents a world that genuinely didn't think it had anything to worry about, and I like that. Sure, I appreciate the maturity and the compassion of 20s music, and I'm glad that we're less naive about who we have around us. We can reflect on the sheer fucking hubris of the 90s with a degree of guilty shame. But holy god damn I miss how good it felt to be this amount of cool.

Just the kind of latin groove jazz that I like. A few oddball additions of disco pop and 90s club sounds and record scratching, but majority is a kind of 70s Latin jazz fusion. Very good.

This was super enjoyable and very listenable. The percussion was fantastic and the high energy throughout made this long album flow very well.

Disco funk jazz. Yeah! Rating: 3.5 Playlist track: Runaway Date listened: 02/08/24

Nice Latin album music with a long list of guest appearances.

This might be one of the more eclectic songs I've heard even counting the main list. Went from sault-type soul to pure jazz a little disco like on runaway, which was also a banger of a song. Thought this one was pretty fun.

Salsa, Latin, soul, house, jazz. Me ha gustado bastante. Un 4.

like the ultimate chill out album loved it

Nice! Jazz/I.S.S soundtrack vibes

A really nice album. It lost a bit of momentum in the second half but amazing how good it sounds over 25 years after its release.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, but it's pretty great. This has a really rich sound that grooves, which makes sense given the deep bench of talent working together here. Some of the stylistic wanderings were a little off the wall, but in the end it all works. Fave Songs: It's Alright, I Feel It!; Runaway; You Can Do It (Baby); I Am the Black Gold of the Sun; Shoshana; Habriendo el Dominante

Dope stuff. Somewhat long but this kind of jam based album can get away with it if the music is good, which this is! Cool Nautilus cover too

Better than I thought it would be.

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Nautilus, Runaway

Ok

Fun for the most part

Næs lounge kind of thing.

This is a pretty fun and groovy compilation album from some solid producers. This is like some older less electronic version of Jungle. The assortment of instruments and production is great mainly due to different people and their influences. This could easily be played for hours in the background and it would be enjoyed the whole time. 7.0/10

Some highs & lows on this album for me! Good vibes, crunchy grooves, but too much jazzy jazz (the genre not Jeff)

Sweet tears just keep falling... from your... Ass! Enjoyed!

This album is all over the place, in a good way. Jazzy, groovy, soulful, with a little prog influence for good measure. Foot tapping good time music

Enjoyed this, chilled laid back dance album, not sure I’ll come back to it, but that might change over time.

Perfectly pleasant. Not a whole lot more than that, a bit too coffee table for me.

By far the worst album in the user list so far. It's a mix of broken jazz (which is already broken by its nature) with bad Latin rhythms...