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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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 was a fun collection of tunes

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

Cool stuff. 8/10

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

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

Solid

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

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

Nice sounds but nothing special

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.

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.

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

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

Not for me

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

This has to be up there for coolest album ever. Easily a 4 from the start. Think it had just enough juice to give it the bump to 5. There just isn't a single blemish on here and I could easily reach for this as an instant mood booster.

So cool, amazing flow, incredible groove

9/10 whatever specific, niche genre this is, it sounds absolutely fantastic; extremely creative and versatile

Yea this is killer. It's Alright, I Feel It is a great track. This was an absolute delight.

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.

Nice!

This was a nice jam!

Delightful! Thank you!

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!

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

This was a cool one with a lot of familiar sounds that I've heard sampled/flipped elsewhere. An interesting fusion of salsa, jazz, hip-hop, and dance/house/disco. Of the familiar sounds, two in particular stand out: Nautilus (Mawtilus) was flipped prominently into Extradite by Freddie Gibbs and Black Thought as well as Danny Brown's Pac Blood (and a number of others based on SampledBy); and I know I've heard I Am The Black Gold of The Sun though I couldn't say where. The rest of the album is sprawling, but effortlessly cool. Mood music of sorts that ventures from salsa club atmospheres (Habriendo El Dominate, Maw Latin Blues) to downtemp trip-hop (Roy's Scat) to ATCQ-flavored hip-hop sampling (Jazzy Jeff's Theme), and something disco-funk adjacent (Sweet Tears and Runaway). Makes for a varied listen that, while a bit overlong, is nonetheless entertaining and fairly innocuous. Solid enough 4 / 5 imo

What a sweet album that had so much going on in a great way. Definitely zoned out of it at many times because of the length and the nature of the album with the fact that it all blended together. But a really awesome album that I am glad someone chose.

About halfway through and I'm enjoying this. Great background music while working, although there is a sound in the song Taita Caneme that sounds exactly like a slack notification. This was unexpectedly super fun. Idk how often I'll come back to it but I definitely enjoyed the hell out of it. Straddles the 3/4 line and going up.

This is unique, interesting, beautiful, and tickles a certain part of my brain that albums don’t often get at, yet never tickles enough of the brain to be worth it, to me, to listen to again. Great production, too. Good pick, comrade. Hope listeners are enjoying it. 4/5

Fun

I enjoyed this one a lot, it was very unique!

Groovy and relaxing – right on time for what one needed when one listened (was fearing it was going to be spoke word). Seems ahead of its time in some ways (pointing to lounge/chill explosion) but also vintage (the Bob James cut). And nice blend of dance and chill, overall (though one much prefers the latter.) Also seems pretty fluid and light-touched for an all-star compliation work, which too often feels weighted down by reputation of the its stars. List proper seemed short on such warm and listenable and crowd-pleasing feel-goodness so let's have this replace The Shamen or Justice or Les Digitales, eh?

I liked this one a lot, relaxing but still pretty up-beat.

Its great. Soul jazz hybrid that would sound so sweet on a warm August eve with a few beers. It doesn't go with a cold drizzly UK December

This is like jazz crossed with hip hop or electronic dance back beats, and Latin (samba) undertones. Very unique, very interesting. The lively back beats kinda add something to the normally bland jazz, plus they got in a few heavy hitters like Jocelyn Brown and George Benson on a few songs as well. Reminds me of that band Gotan Project we had in the 1001 list. Favorite songs: Sweet Tears, Runaway, Nautilus (Mawtilus), "It's Alright, I Feel It", Jazzy Jeff's Theme, Gotta New Life, Maw Latin Blues, Roy's Scat Least favorite songs: Taita Caneme 4/5

I was expecting this to be more salsa or soul influenced but to my surprise it's very jazzy. I'm not complaining though as I really enjoyed that. There's even a bit of hip-hop influenced mixed in. Quite a cool mix of influences.

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

After reading the Wikipedia page for this album/band, I'm still not entirely sure who made this, but it's great. Just tons of dope latin-inspired grooves 4/5

Hell yeah! I absolutely loved this. So varied and cool and fun.

This was great fun. I looked up the album and my goodness a lot of musicians worked on this. I really recognised the second track but couldn't place it, I think it must be sampled or used in a film somewhere.

Lots of this is great, although a bit all over the place (understandably). When it really gets cooking, like in Maw Latin Blues and Habriendo El Dominate, or turns sentimental like Taita Caneme, or suprises like Sweet Tears, I love it. Not sure what is going on with the last track, pretty and then pretty weird.

I cannot say I love this kind of album, but it's always nice to discover the origins of my everyday "lo-fi girl study and chill" video, so I'll give it 4 stars.

Garage house music legends Masters At Work flip their usual sound into more latin-influenced acid jazz. This gives the duo an excuse to play around with different jazz styles, including straight swing, scat, salsa-jazz, and a solo piano song. Some work better than others, but the album shines brightest when they just do acid jazz. This is likely due to the overlap with their DJ backgrounds which allows them to employ refined production techniques. To the extent of it's influences, Nuyorican Soul feels like a distinctly New York album. It's like a block party where a number of diverse backgrounds come together to celebrate their colorful styles. Overall, perhaps a bit too spotty to be truly excellent, but when it's good it's great. That's gotta be worth something. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: No, a bit too niche to be representative of Masters At Work's influence.

I've been very picky about the house music that is on the list and this one does pass the test. Louie Vega is a fantastic house DJ and has been there for a long time and still produces great tracks. Saying that, this is a long album. For me, house music isn't for albums but for dancing and vibing to. You don't actively seek out albums but long DJ setlists. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Very cool soul/jazz album. Saved a few from here and really enjoyed the fusion.

Really cool album! Awesome assortment of sounds and styles, I was shoveling the driveway to this one and it was just what I needed. Very nice pick, thanks for sharing!

Better than I thought it would be.

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

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

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.

Nice! Jazz/I.S.S soundtrack vibes

like the ultimate chill out album loved it

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

Most of them are good, but it doesn't feel like all these songs belong on the same album.

Yesss, this is the type of music this list needs more of.

A chill little album. 6/10

Rentoa tunnelmointia. 3/5

Didn’t do a lot for me. I can see how others would really like this.

Pleasant with bits that are pretty good, but too long winded and a bit meandering at points.

Though not what I was listening to in 1997 and was under my radar, it has elements of good sounds from the 60s through disco through early hip hop era. The dance songs are a pleasant escape.

Even after 3 listens I can say that I expected more of an album studded with star musicians

Salsa, Latin, soul, house, jazz. No está mal. Pero demasiado salseo. Si no fuera por las canciones tipo salsa y músicas del mundo, le daría más puntuación. ¡Olfos, no sabía que te gustaba tanto el salseo, hermano!

Good vibes if you are in the mood for it

Bounces and bumbles between weather channel funk and disco throwback. Weirdly uncohesive for it

There’s a fair amount to like on here but also a big lack of direction or focus. Black Gold of the Sun was a staple of my favourite bar back in the day, and there are other tracks on here that can keep up with that vibe. But then we get some really messy/stressful jazz jams and it seems to settle in to some shitty funky house towards the end. It’s funny that even OP can’t give this one 5 stars. I think the good bits and the bad bits are levelling me out to a 3.

I did like this. Not so much a 'band' as such but it was so well produced and at the same time it captures the vibrancy and Latin feel.

Not bad

Somebody beat me to the Sega video game music comparison.

A slide back to disco while incorporating late 90s hip hop.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is different. Okay, I'm vibing. At points it sounds like the kind of music that would play in the one random alternative health/spirituality shop in the mall. At other points it sounds like the perfect music to feature at a poignant moment in an indie coming of age flick. Respect for this choice. I won't be adding it into my regular rotation, but I liked it.

Næs lounge kind of thing.

Fun for the most part

Ok

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Nautilus, Runaway

It’s a peppy background album with admirable musicianship but I can’t fathom how it would reach iconic status.

starts off well but tails away very badly. Feels like they ran out of ideas.

Stundtals ganska soft och skön men om det är så jäkla bra vet jag inte.

Not as good as I was expecting it to be, but given other comments maybe it merits a second listen.

Not my thing

Nuyorican Soul starts quite well but drags after a while, it doesn't really have enough to keep it interesting for over an hour, just becomes background music quite quickly. 2/5.