Arthur Russell - The World Of Arthur Russell

Like Take That, this album is back for good

The crossover between experimental and dance music is fascinating. After all, many hip-hop backing tracks songs are constructed from bite-sized musical fragments straight out of the Philip Glass and Steve Reich canon of repetitive motifs looped, repeated and underpinned by crisp rhythm.

It’s hardly surprising, then, that some of the early horseshoes of New York dance from 1980 onwards featured the writing and performing talents of an avant-garde cello virtuoso Arthur Russell. Is It All Over My Face, Pop Your Funk, Treehouse and In The Light Of The Miracle remain examples of vibrant, powerful and compelling rhythmic music, coercing both the body to move and the ear to appreciate powerful but simple arrangements.

This compilation was first issued a few years back and returns due to popular demand, as testament to the power of Russell’s music and its relevance to a new and old generation of music fans. Funk, soul, dance, rhythm – this ticks every box and is a target Eno and Byrne missed with My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts. Superb sleevenotes only add to the value and, if you missed it the first time around, there’s no excuse for missing it again.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

Soul Jazz | SJR CD83

Reviewed by Ian Shirley
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