Amidst the heaviest of competition, Gilles Peterson's Worldwide deserves the title of best mix album of the decade, or at least the most astonishing. Dividing his mix into two discs (AM and PM), Peterson works though a host of usual suspects -- acid jazz, hip-hop, plus plenty of rare-groove precursors -- but puts them together better than anyone else has. The opener from Raw Deal serves as a bed for dozens of phone-in's and shout-out's from some of the world's best producers, but Peterson gets down to business with nuggets ...
Read More
Amidst the heaviest of competition, Gilles Peterson's Worldwide deserves the title of best mix album of the decade, or at least the most astonishing. Dividing his mix into two discs (AM and PM), Peterson works though a host of usual suspects -- acid jazz, hip-hop, plus plenty of rare-groove precursors -- but puts them together better than anyone else has. The opener from Raw Deal serves as a bed for dozens of phone-in's and shout-out's from some of the world's best producers, but Peterson gets down to business with nuggets from several eras: "We Live in Brooklyn, Baby" by Roy Ayers, "Slowly Surely" by Jill Scott, "Easin' In" by Edwin Starr, and a nice George Benson-meets-Masters at Work cover of Donny Hathaway's "The Ghetto"/"El Barrio." After closing out disc one with nu-house tracks from Vikter Duplaix and Herbert among others, Peterson hits another level for the second disc -- one of the most glorious chill-out mixes ever constructed. It begins with a dramatic Sarah Vaughan vocal on "The Mystery of Man" lilting over Zero 7's "This World," then picks up great female R&B tracks from Kelis, Pariss Clemons, and Rotary Connection before John Martyn's "Solid Air" slows the tempo down. Drifting along in narcoleptic bliss, jazz organist Bugge Wesseltoft gives way to Ski Oakenfull, which gives way to a quintessentially summer-day jazz track from Koop. A reprise of Herbert's "The Last Beat" closes it out with class. ~ John Bush, Rovi
Read Less
